Full name Club Atlético Colón Ground Capacity 47,000 2016 8° place Location Santa Fe, Argentina | Nickname(s) Los Sabaleros Chairman José Nestor Viganatti Manager Eduardo Domínguez Founded 5 May 1905 | |
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Ground Estadio B.G. Estanislao López,
(Cementerio de los Elefantes),
Santa Fe Arena/Stadium Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López League Argentine Primera División Profiles | ||
Club Atlético Colón ([ˈkluβ aˈtletiko koˈlon]), commonly referred to as Colón de Santa Fe [koˈlon de santa ˈfe], is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina. The football team plays in the first division of the Argentine football league system, the Argentine Primera División.
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History
The club was founded on 5 May 1905, as "Colón Foot-ball Club" by a group of friends that were enthusiastic about football. It was named after Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus), whose biography was being studied by one of the boys at the time.
In 1965 Colon won the Primera B title.
The first game played by Colón in Primera was v Chacarita Juniors on 6 May 1966. After the first season in the top level Colón finished 16th, but the following year the structure of Argentine football was changed so as there were two championships each season, the Metropolitano and the Nacional, with entrance to the latter originally only available to the higher placed Metropolitano teams. Colon did not qualify for the Nacional until 1968, although the squad did then managed a 6th place finish.
Colón finished 2nd in their group in the 1972 Nacional.
In 1975 the team made a good campaign in the Metropolitano, finishing in 6th place. This got better two years later, when Colón finished 5th in the Metropolitano, although the team then struggled in the Nacional. In 1978 Colón reached the knockout stages of the Nacional but was beaten in the quarter-finals by Independiente.
Colon was relegated from the Metropolitana in 1981 having won only 6 games that season It was to take 14 years for Colón to return to the top division (for the 1995–96 season). During the intervening period the team came close to promotion on a number of occasions, and lost Promotion Play-off games in 1988–89 to arch-rivals Union 3–0 on aggregate, and in 1992–93 Colón lost the championship play-off, being defeated by Banfield and then failed to qualify through the secondary play-offs.
After a few mid-table finishes Colón was placed 2nd in the 1997 Clausura tournament, which is team's highest placed finish to date. As River Plate won both titles that season, a play-off was required between the two runners-up. In December 1997 Colón defeated Independiente 1–0 to qualify for the Copa Libertadores 1998.
South American Tournament Qualification
Colon made their South American debut in the Copa CONMEBOL 1997 against Universidad de Chile. They subsequently reached the semi-finals where they lost to fellow Argentine side Lanús.
They made their debut in South America's most prestigious club tournament (Copa Libertadores) the following season. Their first game in the group stage was a 1–2 home defeat to River Plate, although they were still to qualify for the knockout stages. After beating Olimpia on penalties they were again drawn to play River Plate, but were defeated 5–2 on aggregate in the quarter-final.
In 2003, they qualified for their 3rd different continental competition (Copa Sudamericana), and they defeated Vélez Sársfield before losing to Boca Juniors.
Stadium
The club's current stadium is the Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López, which holds 33,500 spectators. The ground was inaugurated in 1946, and received a renovation in 2002.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Current squad of Club Atlético Colón as of 17 October 2016 (edit)
Sources: Official website and Argentine Soccer
Manager: Paolo Montero