Atlético Nacional

For Panamanian club, see Sociedad Deportiva Atlético Nacional. For Honduran club, see Atlético Nacional (Honduran football club). For Uruguayan club, see Club Nacional de Football.
Atlético Nacional
Full name Club Atlético Nacional S. A.
Nickname(s) Los Verdolagas (The Purslanes),
El Verde (The Green),
Rey de Copas (King of Cups),
El Verde de la Montaña (The Green from the Mountains),
El Verde Paisa (The Paisa Green),
El Siempre Verde (The Evergreen)
Founded 1947 (1947)
Ground Estadio Atanasio Girardot
Medellín, Colombia
Ground Capacity 44,765
Owner Organización Ardila Lülle
Chairman Juan Carlos de la Cuesta
Manager Reinaldo Rueda
League Categoría Primera A
2015 1st (Finalización champion)
Website Club home page

Club Atlético Nacional S. A., also known as Atlético Nacional, is a professional Colombian football team based in Medellín, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Considered to be one of the strongest clubs from Colombia, it is one of the most consistent clubs in the country.

The club was founded on 7 March 1947 by former president of the league of Antioquia, Luis Alberto Villegas López. The club was first placed under the name of Club Atlético Municipal de Medellín. In 1996 the current owner, Organización Ardila Lülle, officially acquired Nacional.[1] Many Colombian legends have originated from Nacional such as René Higuita, Juan Camilo Zúñiga, Iván Córdoba, Juan Pablo Ángel, David Ospina and most noticeably, Andrés Escobar and Víctor Aristizábal, among many others.

They play their home games at the Atanasio Girardot stadium, with a capacity of over 40,000. They share the same stadium with local bitter rivals, Independiente Medellín, said rivalry is known as El Clásico Paisa. Infamous for its aggressive background, it is considered to be one of the most important derbies in Colombia, as well as one of the most important in South America. All while being recognized by FIFA as a 'classic' match-up.[2][3][4][5] Nacional is also known to have rivalries with Millonarios by the El Clásico de la rivalidad regional derby, and América de Cali. Although these rivalries are based on rivaling success; with Millonarios originally being the club that had the most domestic trophies before Nacional surpassed their count in 2015, whereas America has met with Nacional on numerous occasions during league/cup finals.

A club with a strong and rich history, Atlético Nacional has won 15 league titles, two Superliga Colombiana titles, and two Copa Colombia titles, earning a total of 19 domestic titles, making them the most successful team in Colombia. It is also the first Colombian team to win the Copa Libertadores de América in 1989 thus marking the era of Colombian football. They also have the most international titles of any Colombian club, having won also the Copa Merconorte twice and the Copa Interamericana twice, having a total of five international trophies to their name. They are also one of the only three teams to play every first division tournament in the country, with the other two teams being Millonarios and Santa Fe.[6]

In the ranking by IFFHS, Atlético Nacional is the 13th best South American club and 62th in the world.[7] The club is also ranked as the best Colombian club within the 21st century.[8][9] It is also credited as the best Colombian team in CONMEBOL club tournaments.[10]

History

The club Unión, now known as Club Atlético Nacional, was founded in 1947 by Luis Alberto Villegas Lopera, Jorge Osorio, Alberto Eastman, Jaime Restrepo, Gilberto Molina, Raúl Zapata Lotero, Jorge Gómez Jaramillo, Arturo Torres Posada and Julio Ortiz. Atlético Nacional was the first Colombian team to win the Copa Libertadores de América, which they did in 1989. They were also runners-up in 1995. The winning of this cup was done in a special manner, since all of the team's players were Colombian; thus Atlético Nacional earned the nickname "Puros Criollos" (All Creoles). The late 1980s to mid-1990s teams are considered as the best individual teams of all time in Colombia, partly because of contributing to forming the framework for the teams that disputed the 1990 and 1994 FIFA World Cups, considered the best Colombian national teams of all time to that day. The club is the most successful team of the short tournaments, first instituted in 2002, with six titles out of twenty one that have been played to date (2013-II).

The team has won the Categoría Primera A title 15 times, in 1954, 1973, 1976, 1981, 1991, 1994, 1999 (when there was only one champion per year), 2005, 2007-I, 2007-II, 2011-I, 2013-I, 2013-II, 2014-I and 2015-II. For fifteen years, from 1989 to 2004, the team was the only Colombian team to win the Copa Libertadores (until Once Caldas defeated Boca Juniors). Until 1999, it was the only Colombian team to win any major international tournament (when América de Cali defeated Independiente Santa Fe in the Copa Merconorte). Regarding the Copa Libertadores, it was the first out of only four American teams representing a country with a Pacific Ocean coastline to win the tournament, followed by Colo-Colo from Chile in 1991, Once Caldas in 2004 and LDU Quito from Ecuador in 2008.

Atlético Nacional has been home to international stars like Faustino Asprilla, René Higuita, Víctor Aristizábal, John Jairo Tréllez, Andrés Escobar, Iván Córdoba, Albeiro Usuriaga, Aquivaldo Mosquera, Juan Camilo Zúñiga, Mauricio Serna, Juan Pablo Ángel and Juan Fernando Quintero among others. Historical legends of the team also include: Humberto Álvarez, Javier Santa, Gerardo Moncada, Abel Álvarez, Hernán Darío Herrera, Pedro Sarmiento, Victor Luna, Luis Fernando "Chonto" Herrera, Leonel Álvarez, Alexis García, Aldo Leao Ramírez, and Jairo Patiño. The best foreign players in its history include Oscar Rossi, Manuel "Tito" Gómez, Cesar Cueto, Raul Navarro, Sergio Santín, Lorenzo Carrábs, Hugo Morales, and Gaston Pezzuti. The team is currently owned by Carlos Ardila Lülle of Organización Ardila Lülle, and Jaime Restrepo. Restrepo is the only person remaining from the founders (see above); the others sold their ownership to Carlos Ardila. The team wears green and white vertically striped jerseys. Nacional's mascot is Nacho, a tiger with green and white striped shirt, created in 1998.

The team is the only Colombian squad that has won the two domestic short-format tournaments twice, awarded in 2007 and 2013, as well as the only one that has achieved two consecutive titles since the format was changed in 2001. América de Cali also has consecutive titles in 2000 and 2001-I, but the 2000 tournament was held with the long format.

More recently, Nacional's head coach from 2012 to june 2015, Juan Carlos Osorio, was one of the most successful yet controversial steersman in team's history, as he used a rotatory system that varies with each match that is played. As such, and for the first time in the team's history, there were not a definitive main team nor nor permanent subs. With this system, he achieved a Copa Colombia and a Superleague in 2012, and three domestic leagues the two leagues disputed in 2013 and the first tournament in 2014. In the middle of 2015 Osorio left the team towards the opportunity to manage in Brazilian football league, being replaced by the World-Cup-class manager Reinaldo Rueda, former Ecuatorian and Honduran absolute national teams manager, who had a terrific start by earning the 2015-II domestic tournament and the Superliga in January 2016.

Rivalries

Main article: El Clásico Paisa

Atlético Nacional has had a long rivalry with Independiente Medellín. When the two teams face each other it is considered one of the most important matches in Colombia. The rivalry increased in the early 1990s as Independiente Medellín was growing stronger year by year. Currently both teams are considered among the top teams in Colombia.

Colors

The colors of the team are derived from the flags of the province of Antioquia and the city of Medellín.

The club's main nickname, Verdolagas was coined early in the club's history, with association to the purslane plant, endemic to the Paisa region since pre-Columbian times though very few people make the association. The plant blooms a diminutive yellow, white or red flower; the white variety is the most common in the region, giving the color scheme to the team. It is also noteworthy that Antioquia has a great tradition regarding the planting of flowers, most notoriously during the Festival of Flowers. The nickname is also associated with the Argentinian club Ferro Carril Oeste, that shares the same color scheme.

The purslane plant or verdolaga; the white variety is associated with the club's color scheme.
FlagUse
Flag of Antioquia
Flag of Medellín

Stadium

Further information: Estadio Atanasio Girardot

Atlético Nacional plays at the Estadio Atanasio Girardot, which is owned by the Municipality of Medellín and is shared with Independiente Medellín, this scenario is located in the west of the city and has a capacity of 45,000 spectators, all seated.[11] It was inaugurated on March 19, 1953 in a quadrangular between Nacional, Alianza Lima of Peru, Flamengo of Brazil and Deportivo Cali. The first game in the new stadium was played between Atlético Nacional and Alianza Lima with a 2–2 draw.[12]

Before the construction of the stadium, when Union FC still existed in 1935, the parties of the Antioquia Football League were played on the soccer field of the Racecourse Los Libertadores.[13] Then by 1948, with the creation of Colombian Professional Soccer, Atlético Municipal played his first professional match at the racetrack-stadium San Fernando from Itagüí until 1952 when it stop playing there.

The club has played six finals of the Colombian championship at this stage which has won four and lost two, also played in the final of the 1995 Copa Libertadores, the final of the 2002 and 2014 Copa Sudamericana, the final of the 1990 Copa Interamericana, 1998 Copa Merconorte and the final of the 2000 Copa Merconorte.

Honours

National honours

Winners (15): 1954, 1973, 1976, 1981, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2005-I, 2007-I, 2007-II, 2011-I, 2013-I, 2013-II, 2014-I, 2015-II
Runners-up (10): 1955, 1965, 1971, 1974, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2002-I, 2004-I, 2004-II
Winners (2): 2012, 2013
Winners (2): 2012, 2016
Runners-up (2): 2014, 2015

International honours

Winners (1): 1989
Runners-up (1): 1995
Semifinals (2): 1990, 1991
Winners (2): 1998, 2000
Runners-up (2): 2002, 2014
Semifinals (1): 2003
Winners (2): 1990, 1995
Runners-up (1): 1990
Runners-up (1): 1989
Winners (1): 2013

Players

Current squad

As of 13 January 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Colombia GK Cristian Bonilla
2 Colombia DF Daniel Bocanegra
3 Colombia DF Felipe Aguilar
4 Colombia MF Brayan Rovira
5 Colombia DF Francisco Nájera (vice-captain)
6 Colombia DF Daniel Londoño
7 Colombia MF Sherman Cárdenas
8 Colombia MF Diego Arias
10 Colombia MF Macnelly Torres
11 Colombia MF Andrés Ibargüen
12 Colombia DF Alexis Henríquez (captain)
13 Colombia MF Alexander Mejía (on loan from Monterrey)
14 Colombia MF Víctor Ibarbo (on loan from Cagliari)
15 Colombia MF Juan Pablo Nieto
16 Colombia FW Jonathan Copete
17 Colombia FW Rodin Quiñones
No. Position Player
18 Venezuela MF Alejandro Guerra (on loan from Mineros de Guayana)
19 Colombia DF Farid Díaz
20 Colombia MF Alejandro Bernal
21 Colombia DF Juan David Castañeda
22 Colombia DF Gilberto García
23 Colombia DF Diego Peralta
24 Colombia MF Sebastián Pérez
26 Colombia DF Davinson Sánchez
27 Colombia FW Luis Carlos Ruiz
28 Colombia FW Orlando Berrío
29 Colombia FW Marlos Moreno
30 Colombia FW Arley Rodríguez
31 Colombia MF Dayro Mosquera
32 Colombia DF Tomás Maya
34 Argentina GK Franco Armani
35 Colombia GK Luis Enrique Martínez

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Colombia GK Camilo Vargas (at Argentinos Juniors)
Colombia GK Christian Vargas (at Atlético Huila)
Colombia DF Felipe Álvarez (at Alianza Petrolera)
Colombia DF Juan Arboleda (at Alianza Petrolera)
Colombia DF Deivy Balanta (at Alianza Petrolera)
Colombia DF Cristian Cassiani (at Leones)
Colombia DF Julián Franco (at Leones)
Colombia DF José Luis García (at Real Santander)
Colombia DF Esteban Morales (at Bogotá)
Colombia DF Miller Mosquera (at La Equidad)
Colombia DF Luis Muriel (at Alianza Petrolera)
Colombia DF Jeisson Palacios (at Alianza Petrolera)
Colombia MF Jonathan Álvarez (at La Equidad)
No. Position Player
Colombia MF Daniel Arango (at Bogotá)
Colombia MF Níver Arango (at Alianza Petrolera)
Colombia MF Víctor Cantillo (at Leones)
Colombia MF Rafael Carrascal (at Alianza Petrolera)
Colombia MF Yulián Mejía (at Millonarios)
Colombia MF Julián Mendoza (at Real Cartagena)
Colombia FW Leonardo Acevedo (at Porto)
Colombia FW Diego Álvarez (at Envigado)
Colombia FW Jefferson Duque (Atlas)
Colombia FW Jhoaho Hinestroza (at Cúcuta Deportivo)
Colombia FW Ángelo Rodríguez (at Envigado)
Paraguay FW Pablo Zeballos (at Libertad)

Notable players

Managers

Affiliated clubs

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Corporación Deportiva Club Atlético Nacional.

References

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