| Full name | Corporacion Club Deportes Tolima | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | El Vinotinto y Oro, Los Pijaos | ||
| Founded | 1954 | ||
| Ground | Estadio Manuel Murillo Toro (Capacity: 31,000[1]) |
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| Chairman | Gabriel Camargo Salamanca | ||
| Manager | Hernan Torres | ||
| League | Fútbol Profesional Colombiano | ||
| 2010 |
1st (playoffs semifinals) 1st (league phase) |
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Deportes Tolima, is a Colombian football club based in the city of Ibagué. The club was founded December 18, 1954 and play their home games at the Manuel Murillo Toro stadium, which has a capacity of 30,000.
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Deportes Tolima was founded by Manuel Rubio Chávez in the year 1954 when he gave Juan Barbieri (an Argentinian living in Ibagué, Colombia) a sum of $5.000 Colombian pesos in order to hire soccer players from his native country, Argentina. Barbieri went back to Colombia with players such as Jorge Ariel Gandulfo, Oscar Enrique Ferrari, José Oscar Jamardo, Enrique Laino and Carlos Robelle. With those players and some Colombians, Deportes Tolima competed for the first time in the Colombian football league in 1955 using the uniform of Racing Club de Avellaneda Argentina. Deportes Tolima finished 7th in the league competing with 9 other teams.
In the late 1970s and beginning of 1980s Deportes Tolima, according to many people, had its best team, ever. Senator Gabriel Camargo Salamanca was given the opportunity to work for the team. He accepted becoming the biggest stock holder of the team. He bought important players such as Victor Hugo del Rio, Francisco Maturana, Cristiano Centurion, Óscar Héctor Quintabani, Gustavo Mendoza, Hugo Gallego, Osvaldo Redondo, Heberto Carrillo, Aparezido Dozinette de Oliveira aka "Sapuka", Arnoldo Iguarán, Óscar López, Tito Ramon Correa, and Janio Cabezas. With this team Deportes Tolima finished second through years 1981 and 1982. In the year 1983 Tolima participated for the first time in an international tournament, the Copa Libertadores of 1982 reaching the semifinals. Playing against many highly-regarded teams of the time such as Estudiantes de Mérida and Deportivo Táchira; both from Venezuela; Cobreloa from Chile and Olimpia from Paraguay; As a consequence, this was the best international performance that Deportes Tolima has ever had in an international tournament. At the beginning of the 90's, Tolima left the professional league due to poor results. Tolima played for one year in the second division of the Colombian Football league before rejoining professional football again in year 1995.
Deportes Tolima had a very interesting group of players for the second half of 2003. These players included Ricardo Ciciliano, Henry Zambrano, Rogerio Pereira, Yulian Anchico, Oscar Briceño, John Charria, Jorge Artigas, Hernando Patino, Nelson Rivas, and Diego Gomez among others. Deportes Tolima played in semifinals against Atlético Nacional, Atlético Junior, and Independiente Medellín. When everyone predicted Atlético Junior would finish first in the mini league and would go to the final, Deportes Tolima beat Atlético Nacional 2-0 in Ibagué and Atlético Junior lost 1-0 to Independiente Medellín in Medellín. Deportes Tolima played against Deportivo Cali in the final games winning the first game 2-0 in Ibagué with an exceptional performance of Rogerio Pereira, scoring both goals. In the second game of the final Deportes Tolima lost 3-1 forcing penalty shots, with an aggregate score of 3-3. In the penalty shots Deportes Tolima won after only missing one shot and the golie Diego Gomez blocking two from Deportivo Cali, this way Deportes Tolima was crowned champion of Colombia for the first time in their 49 year history.
2006 was a great year for Deportes Tolima, the team was second on the reclasificacion (overall points in the year), was the team with the most goals scored in the year, over 80, and were runners up in the Copa Mustang II. At the beginning of 2006 Deportes Tolima did not seem like a very strong team for the season as it did not sign any players. The coach was Jorge Luis Bernal who had been the coach for the reserve team for many years. Deportes Tolima played amazing both home and away games which included victories against Envigado 7-3, Nacional 5-1, and Millonarios 3-0. They reached the semifinals of the Copa Mustang I and was placed in a Group with Deportivo Pereira, Deportivo Cali, and Once Caldas but did not made it into the finals. The Copa Mustang II was even better than the first one. Tolima ended first in the league, and played the semifinals against Nacional, Pasto, and Chico. Nacional were leaders of the Group for most of the time while Deportes Tolima remained a point behind. A dramatic 2-1 away win over Nacional made them leaders, they advanced the final against Cúcuta Deportivo after a 2-0 win over Chico. The first game was away and Tolima lost 1-0 then in Ibague the game ended tied 1-1 with Yulian Anchico scoring Tolima's goal.
For the 2007 season Deportes Tolima signed very important players like Nicolas Ahyr, Diego Cochas, Gustavo Savoia, Gustavo Bolivar, Leiner Rolong, Jorge Perlaza, Hernando Patino, Roller Cambindo, Javier Arizala, Bramhan Sinisterra, Ricardo Alvarez, and Haider Arboleda. With new coach Jaime de la Pava started competing in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Mustang. In the Copa Libertadores Tolima defeated Deportivo Táchira in 2 games, that way Tolima entered to the group of Gremio, Cerro Porteño and curiously Cúcuta.
In 2010, the team qualified for the third colombian place at the first stage of the 2011 Copa Libertadores. In the first game, Tolima drew against Corinthians in a goalless game, then defeating Corinthians 2-0 at the second leg, upsetting the brazilian team.[2]
As of Jan 30, 2011
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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