Millonarios F.C.


Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium.
The team was initially created in 1937 by students from the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé. After the team initially was unsure about which name it would want to use, Unión and Juventud were originally favoured, it got under the influence of the city administration of Bogotá and operated as Club Municipal de Deportes. Millonarios was formally founded on June 18, 1946, thanks to the efforts of Alfonso Senior Quevedo, who became the first chairman.
Millonarios has won the Colombian league 15 times. They are also the third Colombian team to achieve a major international title, the Copa Merconorte in 2001. Since the beginning of the Colombian professional football league, Millonarios has won many domestic tournaments, the last one in 2017.
Millonarios is also one of only three teams that have played every first division tournament in the country, along with their traditional rivals Santa Fe and Atlético Nacional.

History

The ''Ballet Azul''

Millonarios greatly benefited from a major players' strike in the Argentinian league in 1948, which caused a great diaspora of players towards Colombia. The most successful period for the club was during the early 1950s due the notable Argentinean presence. During this period with the squad that was known as The Blue Ballet, that featured great players such as Alfredo di Stefano, Adolfo Pedernera, Néstor Rossi, Julio Cozzi, Antonio "Maestrico" Báez, Hugo Reyes, Reinaldo Mourin and other figures in Argentina, mainly from River Plate. Thanks to the great football that showed these players on the field, Millonarios was named by several media outlets in South America and Europe, as the best team in the world in the early 1950s.
In 1951, Colombia was suspended by FIFA due to the recruitment of international players without a pass; the teams were forced to return all expatriate players that had participated in the tournament through irregular means. This edict marked the departure of di Stefano in February 1953, receiving bids from Barcelona and Real Madrid, who came to win the bid for the player. The Colombian national team was also banned from the 1954 FIFA World Cup for the same reason.

Small Club World Cup

In 1952, a group of Venezuelan sports entrepreneurs created the Small Club World Cup, a friendly competition that brought together leading European and South American teams. Millonarios was invited to participate in the 1952 and 1953 editions. In its first appearance, the team finished with seven points, behind Real Madrid and Brazilian Botafogo ; the tournament was played in a two-round scheme, and involved host La Salle of Venezuela.
In its participation in 1953, the team was crowned undefeated champion with 11 points, above River Plate of Argentina, Rapid Wien of Austria and Spanish Espanyol of Barcelona. This friendly tournament is considered by some to be a predecessor of the Intercontinental Cup, now known as FIFA Club World Cup, though not its equivalent.

2000s

Millonarios had further improvement when former Manchester City assistant manager Juan Carlos Osorio was appointed as the new Millonarios' Manager, which led the club to 3rd position in the League Stage of the Mustang Cup, and 5th in the addition of all the year's performance, taking the club once again into the Copa Sudamericana, while the financial situation of the team also had a notable recovery. In July 2007, Osorio left Millonarios to manage Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire, and he was replaced with Martín Lasarte; after a brief, but very unsuccessful period with Lasarte, Millonarios then hired Argentinian Mario Vanemerak as their new manager. Under Vanemerak, Millonarios began to shine again, most notably in the Copa Sudamericana 2007, where they eliminated several powerful teams, most notably Brazilian champions São Paulo in the quarter-finals, thanks to two goals from Ricardo Ciciliano; although they had a less impressive performance in the local tournament.

2010s

Plagued by financial problems, and with no major titles in the last decade, the club finally initiated a bankruptcy process that led to its being bought by a society composed of about 4,000 fans, Azul & Blanco, SA This movement also meant a change in playing style which started with the hiring of Venezuelan coach Richard Páez. The change has proved successful, both financially and as related to championships. With Páez as coach, the team was able to win the Copa Colombia 2011 tournament, after winning both games against Boyacá Chicó, thus classifying to 2012 Copa Sudamericana. In June 24, 2012, it was confirmed that Hernán Torres would be the new coach.
In Copa Sudamericana, the team was highly successful, reaching semi-finals after eliminating Inti Gas, Guaraní, and the Brazilians Palmeiras, and Gremio, being eliminated by runner-up, Tigre. This came as a relief after an embarrassing defeat to Real Madrid in a friendly match to honor Alfredo Di Stéfano.
Despite the defeat, the team played a great first phase in the Colombian tournament, classifying to the play-offs as the best team of the semester. After a very difficult series of matches, the team reached the Finals which were to be played against Independiente Medellín. The first match was played in Medellín, and ended in a 0–0 tie. The final game was played December 16, 2012 in Bogotá, and ended up 1–1, thus the result had to be determined by a penalty shootout. Goalkeeper Delgado managed to stop a final shoot, and Millonarios won its 14th championship, the first Fútbol Profesional Colombiano title in about 24 years.
As the 2012 Finalización champion, Millonarios qualified to 2013 Copa Libertadores, where it played the second stage against Bolivian San José, Mexican Tijuana, and Brazilian Corinthians.
Under coach Ricardo Lunari, Millonarios started 2015 with three home victories against Patriotas, Cúcuta Deportivo and Cortuluá. Meanwhile, their debut in the Copa Colombia came with defeat against La Equidad.
In the 2017 Finalización League, Millonarios achieved their 15th division title after defeating Santa Fe in a final that saw 2 goals at the ending of the second half. Said final ended with a tie, that concluded an aggregate 3-2 win over their home rival.

Rivalries

Millonarios has forged many rivalries with several teams from the league, most notably with local rivals Santa Fe. This derby is popularly called El Clásico Capitalino. There are also strong rivalries with other teams like América de Cali, Atlético Nacional and Deportivo Cali.

Honours

Domestic honours

First-team squad

On loan

Former players

Records

Most capped players

Source:
PlayerCareer
1 Bonner Mosquera1990–2001, 2002–2006550
2 Alejandro Brand1969–1978, 1981–1982385
3 Julio Edgar Gaviria1968–1977382
4 Euclides "Tizon" González1971–1981371
5 Rafael Robayo2005–2011, 2012–2016360
6 Arnoldo Iguarán1983–1991, 1993–1995336
7 Alonso "Pocillo" Lopez1974–1980, 1982–1985335
8 Willington Ortiz1972–1979328
9 Miguel "El Nano" Prince1989–1998321
10 Arturo Segovia1972–1979316

Last updated on: 3 October 2018

Top scorers

Source:
PlayerCareerGoals
1 Alfredo Castillo1948–1957131
2 Arnoldo Iguarán1983–1991, 1993–1995120
3 Marino Klinger1957–196699
4 Willington Ortiz1972–197996
5 Alejandro Brand1969–1978, 1981–198291
6 Alfredo Di Stéfano1948–195388
7 Miguel Ángel Converti1975–197785
8 José María Ferrero1967–196985
9 Juan José Irigoyen1977–197981
10 Jaime Morón1971–1974, 1977–198280

Last updated on: 3 October 2018

Managers