C.D. Motagua

Foundation

The club was founded on 29 August 1928 as the idea of Marco Antonio Ponce and supported by Marco Antonio Rosa at a meeting held in the house of Mrs. Marta Vélez de Ramos; located next to the Bank of London and Montreal, taking advantage of the disintegrated clubs América, Honduras Atlética and Águila. That day, they decided to call all members of these clubs to form Motagua. In the same meeting the Board of directors headed by Marco Antonio Rose and the doctor Alejandro Lara followed by another group of personalities were elected. This board of directors supported the female basketball, baseball and athletics teams.

First game

The first game was against Tejeros del España of the Guanacaste neighborhood, held on 25 November 1928 in the football field La Isla. The final result was 1–1. The referee of the encounter was Herasmo Velásquez and the Motagua team captain was Constantine Gálvez "Tatino". The team was managed by Daniel Bustillo.

First International game: On 9 April 1939 against Costa Rican side Orión at the San Felipe field in Tegucigalpa; Motagua were managed by Honduran coach Lurio Martínez and won the match 3–0 with three goals from "Gorgojo" Ramos. Lurio Martinez's favored player, Julio Valladares, was injured and was out 3 games. Valladares scored a total of 40 goals for the team.

Club history

The "blues", were founded on 29 August 1928 as an idea of the poet Marco Antonio Ponce and supported by Marco Antonio Rosa, and is a fusion of the disintegrated teams America, Honduras, Atlético and Aguila; and being inspired by the Motagua River which in those days was being disputed between Guatemala and Honduras, thus gave rise to its name, and is nowadays one of the teams with most achievements, popular and oldest of Honduras.

The metropolitan club is one of the best in Honduras and Central America and has already accumulated several championships, being also a well-known competitor in international tournaments like the CONCACAF Champions League, where it has participated in many occasions but still has not been able to reach a final; In 1986 it had its best finish getting the fifth place.

The team debuted professionally in the 1965–66 season, it was on 18 July in La Ceiba against Vida, where they won 1–0. Three years later they got their first professional championship under the management of coach Rodolfo Godoy. This year Motagua also won the first ever Honduran Cup, winning the double that season.

The so-called "Mimados" repeated in 1970–71 and 1973–74, these being one of the best times of the club. Unfortunately in 1972–73 the championship was declared null, depriving Motagua to get another title that was almost conquered.

After having achieved the regular season in 1978–79, Motagua qualified to the final stage falling behind Real España and being forced to play the finals series where they raise their fourth cup.

When the Honduras qualified to the World Cup Finals in 1982 for the first time in its history, most of the players came from Motagua and Real España, a total of five Motagua players attended to the World Cup. Also worth mentioning that the first goal for Honduras in the mentioned cup was converted by one of these players, Héctor Zelaya against the host Spain in that remembered 1–1 draw.

They spent 13 long years until the 1991–92 season to lift another trophy in one of the most special moments in Motagua's history breaking the drought of wins. In 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1998 obtained four second places in the discontinued Honduran Cup.

In 1997–98 the league brought the innovative Apertura and Clausura system, and Motagua was able to achieve both titles, being this the first time to get two leagues in a row, only two years later successfully achieved the 1999–00 Apertura and Clausura. In January 1999, they won the 1997–98 Honduran Super Cup against Platense.

In 2000 again Motagua contribute to the National team offering 6 players to the Olympic National team, and Honduras achieves for the first time the right to compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

The last two league titles came in the 2006–07 Apertura and 2010–11 Clausura season after defeating neighbors Olimpia twice. In December 2007, they won their first international competition at the 2007 Copa Interclubes UNCAF, winning it undefeated.

In their football record, Motagua was crowned in 17 opportunities, this number includes amateur and professional tournaments, and is one of the clubs that has given more glory to Honduran football by forming players of high level contributing to the different National teams, as well as in foreign clubs.

Motagua's traditional colour is dark blue representing the blue waters of the Motagua River. This is because that at the time the club was founded, the Motagua River was in dispute between Honduras and Guatemala. Since 2011, Motagua plays all their games in pink jerseys for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month during the month of October.

The Motagua badge has a blue eagle. This is because one of the desintengrated club that united to become Motagua was named CD Águila, which means to Eagle.

Stadium

Motagua plays their home matches at Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino in Tegucigalpa. The stadium is named after the Honduran president Tiburcio Carías. The stadium is divided into Sol Norte, Sol Sur, Sol Centro, Preferencia, Silla and Palco. The Motaguan supporters "La Revo" are located at Sol Norte and the "Macro Azurra" sits in Sol Centro.

Traditions

There are some traditions within the Motagua institution.

Debuting players– When a new player debuts, he must shave his head. This is optional, most of the players that do shave are recently promoted from the reserve team or are young of age.

New Signings– Usually on the first day of training new players are surrounded by their teammates and are kicked.

Supporters

Motagua has many supporters throughout Honduras. Motagua has one Barra Brava and three other supporters' groups. The barra brava is "Los Revolucionarios del Motagua 1928", who call themselves "La Revo". This fan group has "bandas" or smaller groups inside La Revo such as (from Tegucigalpa) "Los Fuser", "Los Dementes", "Escuadron 57", "Comando 21", "Los Poltershe", "Irreverentes", "Capone", "Infernales", "Danger's", "Anarkia", etc. (from Comayagua) "C26", (from San Pedro Sula) "Los Del Norte", (from La Ceiba) "Revo Ceiba", (from Choluteca) "Revo Choluteca", (from El Progreso) "Revo Progreso", (from Siguatepeque) "Revo Sigua". All of the "bandas" hang "mantas" or huge pieces of cloth saying their banda's name inside the stadium. They also hang one with the barra's website and many of Che Guevara. Matches from Motagua against Olimpia it's illegal to hang these mantas because some of the members go to steal them and cause great scandal so police prefer banning this. La Revo don't cause many scandals between other barras bravas in Honduras only with Olimpia's Ultra Fiel. Throughout 2006–07 La Revo had problems with Marathon's Furia Verde but they came to peace under the same belief in all of Honduras. "Por Una Honduras Libre De Chucos" which translates to "For a Honduras free of Dirtbags" (Chucos being Olimpia). Marathon, Real España and Motagua's barra bravas all have a manta with this phrase.

Another of the biggest fan group is named "Macro Azurra" which is supported by the club. They can be easily be spotted in the stadium because they generally always have blue ballons. This group is bigger in the northern territory and is sponsored by the club and by Fed-Ex.

There are also two smaller groups one being "Fortaleza Azul" and "JAH" which stands for "Justicia Amor y Humildad" which means "Justice Love and Humbleness". JAH is a religious based fan group which was founded by seven members of the Jehová es Nuestro Pastor church. JAH say that their trips are paid by God.

Honduran Superclásico

El Clasico Capitalino (The Capital's Classic) is played between Olimpia and CD Motagua. Their matches are also known as El Clasico Local (The Local Classic) in Tegucigalpa. There is a huge rivalry between the clubs and their fans; (La Ultra Fiel [of Olimpia] and La Revo [of Motagua]).

Clásico de las M's

El Clásico de las M's (The Classic of the M's) or El Derbi de las M's (The "M" Derby), is a derby football match played between Motagua from Tegucigalpa and Marathón from San Pedro Sula, two of the most successful and popular football teams in Honduras.

Motagua–Real España football rivalry

The Motagua–Real España classic is not as fierce as the other two already mentioned as these both teams have a good relationship with each other from the players, to the board and the fans; however they had played six intense league finals, three won by each side.

Short Lived

One smaller rivalry, which might be called extinct, was against Universidad (also known as UNAH). The club named Universidad, represented the Honduran National Autonomous University in Tegucigalpa, and therefore shared the city with Motagua. This inspired a local derby until UNAH was relocated to Choluteca. UNAH in various occasions left Motagua out of the play-offs, intensifying the rivalry. This derby can now be called extinct since Universidad were relegated to the Liga de Ascenso. The club was eventually sold to, and renamed, Universidad Pedagogica Nacional-Francisco Morázan (also known as UPN-FM) (National Pedagogical University-Francisco Morázan).

Achievements

Motagua is the second most successful club in Honduras having won 14 domestic leagues since the inauguration of the Honduran Liga Nacional in 1965–66.

Domestic

International

League records

All time top scorers

International level

First-team squad

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

Retired numbers

16 – Edy Vásquez, retired for 2 years (2007–09) in memorian of Edy Vásquez's death.

20 – Amado Guevara, retired.

Notable former players

See also Category:Motagua players