Corporación Club Deportivo Tuluá, commonly known as Cortuluá, is a professional Colombian football team based in Tuluá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded on October 16, 1967 and play their home games at the Doce de Octubre stadium.
History
Cortuluá was founded in 1967 by a group of people headed by Paraguayan former player and coach Hernando Acosta. In 1993, Cortuluá wins its first title in the Categoría Primera B, being promoted to the Primera A for the following year. Its first game in the top flight was on February 26, 1994 at the Estadio Hernando Martinez Azcárate of nearby Buga against Envigado. In the 2001 Copa Mustang Cortuluá won the Torneo Apertura and qualified for the 2002 Copa Libertadores. However, in 2004 the team were relegated to the Categoría Primera B. In 2006, the United States Treasury identified the football club as one of ten businesses allegedly operating on behalf of one of the most wanted Colombian drug barons, Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla. The move by the United States authorities placed a freeze on any assets owned by the club within the United States, and prevented United States residents from having dealings with the club. After five years in the Categoría Primera B, the club was promoted back to the Categoría Primera A in 2009. Cortuluá qualified for the final of the "Torneo Apertura", surpassing Deportes Palmira, Deportivo Rionegro, and Atlético Bucaramanga in Group A of the semi-finals. In the final instance against Itagüí Ditaires, the first leg ended 3–1 with a win for Cortuluá, but it lost 2–0 in the second leg. In the penalty shootout Cortuluá won 6–5, thus winning the "Torneo Apertura" and qualifying to the Final of the year, where Cortuluá defeated Atlético Bucaramanga and returned to the top tier for the following season. In the 2010 season, the team were relegated again and returned to the second division, where they played for four seasons until the 2015 season, when they were once again promoted in a special tournament played to increase the size of the Categoría Primera A to 20 teams. They came on top of Group B, ahead of Unión Magdalena, pre-tournament favorites América de Cali, and Deportivo Pereira and thus earned promotion for the 2015 season. In 2016, its reserve team placed third in the U-20 Copa Libertadores. On the final matchday of the first round of the 2017 Torneo Finalización, Cortuluá were once again relegated to the Primera B, after losing 2–1 to Once Caldas in Manizales with a last-minute goal.
