C.D. Dragón
Club Deportivo Dragón is a Salvadoran football club, based in San Miguel, El Salvador; founded in 1939. Dragón has won the league title twice in the 1951 and 1953 and finished as runner-up on three occasions.
CD Dragón have played their home games at the 10,000 capacity Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza since 1956 when the stadium was built.
Their traditional home kit consists of Green and White shirts with white shorts and green socks.
The club has a long-standing rivalry with national opponents Águila, and matches between the two sides are known as the "Derby Migueleño".
History
C.D. Dragón was founded on 18 September 1939; during this period no national league was available, so they played against teams from different zones. Dragón represented San Miguel department.Dragón played their matches at the Estadio Charlaix, which would be their home stadium for several decades.
Under the coaching of player-coach Esteban Blanco, the direction of Samuel Córdoba and key players such as Juan Francisco Barraza, Rómulo Granados and Domingo Flores, the club experienced their most successful period in the 1950s, when they won two league titles and lost two other championship finals.
However, Dragón's fortune would change when a new club was founded during the latter part of the 1950s, Águila. Águila began to assume the mantle as the top representative of San Miguel and began to drain Dragón of quality players such as, sponsorship and fans which led to Dragón not only developing a fierce rivalry with Águila but also led to the club being relegated to the Second Division after the conclusion of the 1963–64 season.
The club spent 13 years in the Second Division, during this time they were one of the founding members of UCLA in 1971. However, on 12 February 1977, under Brazilian coach Jorge Tupinambá who had previously coached ANTEL and Platense to the First Division, helped Dragón win their promotion game against Santiagueño 1–0 and helped elevate Dragón back to the First Division.
Dragón's stay in the First Division was a short one, the club only achieved two final series participations during the 1977–78, 1978–79 where they were quickly eliminated and the club was relegated to the Second Division after the conclusion of the 1980 season.
Under the coaching of former player and idol Juan Francisco Barraza, the club almost achieved promotion back to the First Division during the 1984–85 season; however, they lost their promotion game to CESSA and had to wait another four years to gain promotion.
Mario Martínez, whose name will become entwined with Dragón, helped the club gain promotion to the First Division thanks to a 2–1 aggregate victory over Halcón de San Cayetano Istepeque, during this period a new crop of talented players were identified including future highest goalscorer for the El Salvador national football team Raúl Díaz Arce, Moisés "Pecho de Mono" González, and others.
Despite the success, the club were struck with financial troubles and had to sell those players and in just one season the club was relegated back to the Second Division.
The club waited four years to achieve promotion once again thanks to the coaching of Miguel Aguilar Obando, who helped Dragón win their promotion game 4–0 over Arcense.
Their most recent spell in the top tier lasted from 1996 through 2003; during this period several players shone including Honduran Williams Reyes, William Torres and others and they achieved a few final series. However they were relegated back in 2003 to the Second Division and have played there for ten years.
Dragón won promotion to the First Division mainly due to the coaching of Mario Martínez second time in which he helped C.D. Dragón gain promotion, Dragón defeated Ciclón del Golfo over the two legs with an aggregate score of 3–1.
Despite having a very poor Apertura campaign in which Mario Martínez was sacked and replaced by Nelson Ancheta, with the recruitment of club legend Williams Reyes and the emergence of stars like Rommel Mejía, Santos Ortíz, and Aurelio Vásquez the club reached the Clausura grand final, However, despite the game ending 0–0 after 120 minutes, two missed penalties in the shootout meant that Isidro Metapán would win the grand final 6–5 on penalties.
On 29 of May, 2016, the club had its most successful period in its modern history under the guidance of Salvadorian Omar Sevilla, the club were able to win their first championship in 63 years. Dragón won the match 1–0, Wilman Torres was the lone goal-scorer for Dragón in the final..
However, despite winning their first championship in 63 years their fortune dwindled first showed a poor international performance at the concacaf losing 3 games and drawing one, with 6–0 loss against Deportivo Saprissa being the worst of the result.
Soon the club struggled to win games and eventually during the 2017–2018 season, the club finished equal 12th with Sonsonate, this meant they were forced to play a relegation playoff game with Sonsonate, they lost 3–2, which meant they to fell back to the Segunda division.
On the 14th of January, 2018 due to failed payment to player, the club would not be registered and caused the club to be de-registered from the Segunda Division .
Performance in CONCACAF competitions
- CONCACAF Champions League: 1 appearances
Stadium
- Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza
- * Estadio Jose Ramon Flores; Santa Rosa de Lima games played in this location, during the renovation of the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza
- * Estadio Charlaix; San Miguel Dragón home ground before moving to the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza.
- * Estadio Flor Blanca; San Salvador International games prior to the building of Estadio Cuscatlán.
- * Estadio Cuscatlán; San Salvador games played in this location for CONCACAF Champion League games, during the renovation of the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza
- * Cancha de Chapeltique games played in this location, during the renovation of the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza
Supporters
There is currently one officially recognized supporters group, El Monstruo Verde.Mascot
Throughout their history, a dragon was the club's official mascot. On March 9, 2014, the club, after consultation with the fans, decided to call their mascot Mito .Rivalries
Dragón's main rival is Águila. This stems from the fact that both teams come from the San Miguel region, and Águila, early in their history, were able to recruit several key Dragón players. The derby has been labelled Derbi Migueleño.Honours
Dragon is historically the second most successful team from San Miguel in El Salvador football, as they have won the second most championships with 3 titles.Domestic honours
Leagues
- Primera División Salvadorean and predecessors
- * Champions : 1951, 1953, 2016 Clausura
- Segunda División Salvadorean and predecessors
- * Champions : 1977, 1988–89, 1994–95, 2013 Clausura
- Tercera División Salvadorean and predecessors
- * Champions : Clausura 2013
Minor Cups
- El Salvador Benefit Tournament
- * Champions : 2000
- Copa de la Historia
- * Champions : 2015
- Copa Roberto "Burra" Rivas
- * Champions : 2016
Current squad
Players with dual citizenship
Reserve Category Football
As of:Personnel
Coaching staff
Management
Notable managers
Period | Manager | Notes |
1950–51 | Jorge El Choco Méndez | Won 1 Primera Division Titles |
1951–53 | Miguel Herrera | Won 1 Primera Division Titles |
1954 | Armando Chacón | - |
1955–56 | Gregorio Bundio | First manager from outside El Salvador |
1970–71 | Guillermo Gutiérrez | |
1976–78 | Jorge Tupinambá | Segunda Division champion/Promoted to First Division 1977–78 season. |
1984–85 | Juan Francisco Barraza | |
1987–89 | Mario Martínez | Segunda Division champion/Promoted to First Division 1987–88 season. |
1989–90 | Rolando Torino Flores | |
1993–94 | Juan Ramón Paredes | |
1994–95 | Miguel Obando | |
1999 – Dec 00 | Nelson Brizuela | |
2000–01 | Saúl Molina | |
2001 | Miguel Obando | |
2001–02 | Saúl Molina | |
2001 | Alfredo Encalada | |
2002 | Carlos Vieira | |
2002 | Nelson Brizuela | |
2003 | Mario Martínez | |
2003 | Domingo Ramos ' | |
2005–06 | Saúl Molina | |
2009 – Oct 09 | Mario Martínez | |
Oct 2009 – Dec 10 | Eduardo Santana | |
2011 | Joaquín Pérez | |
2011 – March 12 | Marvin "La Perica" Benítez | |
March–May 2012 | Abel Blanco | |
June 2012 – Aug 13 | Mario Martínez | Clausura 2013 Segunda Division champion and winner of promotion play-off / Promoted to First Division 2013–14 season. |
Aug 2013 -May 14 | Nelson Ancheta | Runner-up in the Clausura 2014 |
May 2014 – Feb 15 | Roberto Gamarra | |
Feb 2015 | Santos Rivera | Interim |
Feb–March 15 | Guillermo Rivera | |
March–April 2015 | Santos Rivera | Interim |
April–May 2015 | Abel Blanco | Interim |
June 2015 – September 2016 | Omar Sevilla | Won 1 Primera Division Titles ' |
September 2016 – February 2017 | Nelson Ancheta | |
March 2017 | Víctor Coreas | |
March 2017 – September 2017 | Henry Vanegas | |
September 2017 – November 2017 | Efrain Burgos | |
November 2017 – April 2018 | Diego Pizzaro | |
April 2018 – May 2018 | Santos Rivera | Interim |
May 2018 | Abel Blanco | Interim |
June 2018 – October 2018 | Rubén da Silva | |
October 2018– | Santos Rivera | Interim'' |