Deportes Tolima

Foundation

Deportes Tolima was founded by Manuel Rubio Chávez in the year 1954 when he gave Juan Barbieri (an Argentinian living in Ibagué, Colombia) a sum of $5.000 Colombian pesos in order to hire soccer players from his native country, Argentina. Barbieri went back to Colombia with players such as Jorge Gandulfo, José Jamardo and Enrique Laino. With those players and some others Argentines and Colombians, Deportes Tolima competed for the first time in the Colombian football league in 1955 using the uniform of Racing Club of Argentina. Deportes Tolima finished 7th in the league competing with 9 other teams.

1980s and 1990s

In the late 1970s and beginning of 1980s Deportes Tolima, according to many people, had its best team, ever. Senator Gabriel Camargo Salamanca was given the opportunity to work for the team. He accepted becoming the biggest stock holder of the team. He bought important players such as Víctor del Río, Francisco Maturana, Cristino Centurión, Óscar Héctor Quintabani, Gustavo "La Piña" Mendoza, Hugo Gallego, Osvaldo Redondo, Heberto Carrillo, Sapuca, Arnoldo Iguarán, Óscar López, Tito Ramon Correa, and Janio Cabezas. With this team Deportes Tolima finished second through years 1981 and 1982. In the year 1983 Tolima participated for the first time in an international tournament, the Copa Libertadores of 1982 reaching the semi-finals. Playing against many highly regarded teams of the time such as Estudiantes de Mérida and Deportivo Táchira; both from Venezuela; Cobreloa from Chile and Olimpia from Paraguay; As a consequence, this was the best international performance that Deportes Tolima has ever had in an international tournament. At the beginning of the 1990s, Tolima left the professional league due to poor results. Tolima played for one year in the second division of the Colombian Football league before rejoining professional football again in year 1995.

2003 title

Deportes Tolima had a very interesting group of players for the second half of 2003. These players included Ricardo Ciciliano, Henry Zambrano, Rogeiro Pereira, Yulián Anchico, Oscar Briceño, Jhon Charría, Jorge Artigas, Hernando Patiño, Nelson Rivas, and Diego Gómez among others. Deportes Tolima played in semi-finals against Atlético Nacional, Atlético Junior, and Independiente Medellín. When everyone predicted Atlético Junior would finish first in the mini league and would go to the final, Deportes Tolima beat Atlético Nacional 2–0 in Ibagué and Atlético Junior lost 1–0 to Independiente Medellín in Medellín. Deportes Tolima played against Deportivo Cali in the final games winning the first game 2–0 in Ibagué with an exceptional performance of Rogeiro Pereira, scoring both goals. In the second game of the final Deportes Tolima lost 3–1 forcing penalty shots, with an aggregate score of 3–3. In the penalty shots Deportes Tolima won after only missing one shot and the goalkeeper Diego Gómez blocking two from Deportivo Cali, this way Deportes Tolima was crowned champion of Colombia for the first time in their 49-year history.

2006 Runners Up

2006 was a great year for Deportes Tolima, the team was second on the reclasificacion (overall points in the year), was the team with the most goals scored in the year, over 80, and were runners up in the Copa Mustang II. At the beginning of 2006 Deportes Tolima did not seem like a very strong team for the season as it did not sign any players. The coach was Jorge Luis Bernal who had been the coach for the reserve team for many years. Deportes Tolima played amazing both home and away games which included victories against Envigado 7–3, Atlético Nacional 5–1, and Millonarios 3–0. They reached the semi-finals of the Copa Mustang I and was placed in a Group with Deportivo Pereira, Deportivo Cali, and Once Caldas but did not made it into the finals. The Copa Mustang II was even better than the first one. Tolima ended first in the league, and played the semi-finals against Atlético Nacional, Deportivo Pasto, and Boyacá Chicó. Atlético Nacional were leaders of the Group for most of the time while Deportes Tolima remained a point behind. A dramatic 2–1 away win over Atlético Nacional made them leaders, they advanced the final against Cúcuta Deportivo after a 2–0 win over Boyacá Chicó. The first game was away and Tolima lost 1–0 then in Ibagué the game ended tied 1–1 with Yulián Anchico scoring Tolima's goal.

Apertura 2007 and Copa Libertadores

For the 2007 season Deportes Tolima signed very important players like Nicolás Ayr, Diego Cochas, Gustavo Savoia, Gustavo Bolívar, Leiner Rolong, Jorge Perlaza, Hernando Patiño, Roller Cambindo, Javier Arizala, Jésus Sinisterra, Ricardo Álvarez and Haider Arboleda. With new coach Jaime de la Pava started competing in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Mustang. In the Copa Libertadores Tolima defeated Deportivo Táchira in 2 games, that way Tolima entered to the group of Grêmio, Cerro Porteño and curiously Cúcuta Deportivo.

Decade of 2010

In 2010, the team qualified for the third Colombian place at the first stage of the 2011 Copa Libertadores.

Honours

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

First-team squad

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

Out on loan

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