On May 20, 1926 there was a meeting of 47 alumni of the Colegio Nacional Iquitos, their principal, Pedro A. del Águila Hidalgo and Isabel Aguilar, with the purpose of establishing the Asociación Deportiva Colegio Nacional Iquitos. This club represented Iquitos in Primera División Peruanaa for 20 years, from 1973 to 1992. Their best performance came in 1977, when the team won a match in Cusco against Cienciano with a Henry Perales goal. At that conclusion of the first stage of the national championship, they tied for first with FBC Melgar. In the subsequent stage national title contest, and Copa Libertadores qualifiers, the team could not maintain their first-place position and lost. Notable players for CNI were: national team starters Otorino Sartor, Juan "Papelito" Caceres and Ramon Quiroga; and notable defenders such as César Adriazola, Juan Manuel Toyco, Roberto Arrelucea, Ernesto Guillén, Florentino Bernaola and Israel Quijandría; in addition to forwards Juan Jose Oré, Bernabé Navarro, Ernesto Neyra, Juan Michael of the Eagle, Nehemías Mera, and Richard Vinatea. In 1992, CNI had a surprising beginning under manager Henry Perales ranking second in the first half of the Decentralizado 1992. During the second half of tournament play, institutional problems arose and the team did not maintain score as was made in the first half of the tournament. CNI lost to León de Huánuco, 5-0; then was relegated. On December 11, 2008, CNI returned to the top flight through the Copa Perú. CNI was runner-up in the final stage of the 2008 Copa Perú in a decisive group stage match against Atlético Torino which ended in a 1–1 draw. CNI defeated eventual champions Sport Huancayo 1–0 in the final round opener and also tied 2–2 with Cobresol F.B.C. of Moquegua. After spending two years in Peru's highest tier, the club relegated in 2011 after finishing last of the season. It decided not to participate in the Peruvian Segunda División but moved to the regional stage of the 2012 Copa Perú where it ended a short two-game campaign after finishing second in their group with 3 points.
Historic Badges
CNI F.C.
CNI F.C. is CNI's reserve team which plays in the Iquitos District League. After CNI's bad campaign in the 2012 Copa Perú, it was forced to start from its league of origin. As the original club carried previous debt the club owners decided to start over by reinforcing the reserve team for the upcoming season. CNI F.C. made it to the Copa Perú 2013 where it was eliminated by Unión Huaralin the Round of 16.
