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El Dorado (football)

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El Dorado is the term used to refer to the era in the Colombia football league from 1949 to 1954, when the league broke away from FIFA.

The DIMAYOR, the organizer of the league, broke away from FIFA after a dispute with Adefútbol, the existing amateur football authority in Colombia. Therefore, all Colombian teams were suspended from playing international football. The Colombian national team was also under sanction. However, FIFA sanction did not hurt the league; instead, the Colombian league reached its golden era during the period.

History

The Colombia football league turned professional in 1948. That year, Independiente Santa Fe had been champion. Later, the DIMAYOR decided to leave the Colombian Football Federation, due to internal disputes, thus FIFA suspended the league and the national team from all the international tournaments.

In 1948, the Argentine Football Association faced General Juan Domingo Perón and began a strike that caused the migration of several of the most important footballers of Argentina to the Colombian league. The Colombian league was saved by two factors: the arrival of Argentinian players into Colombia, and as the Colombian league was not affiliated to FIFA, the Colombian clubs were not required to pay transfer fees under FIFA rules. Alfonso Senior, the chairman of Millonarios, decided to bring several Argentine players taking advantage of the condition in which they were.

In 1949, Millonarios signed Adolfo Pedernera, a star of River Plate. He joined to Millonarios on June 8, 1949. He arrived in Bogotá on June 10 and was greeted at the Aeropuerto de Techo by 5,000 fans. The club made 5 times more money on the day of the player's presentation than they earned on a regular league. All the clubs in Colombia realized how a star as Adolfo Pedernera generated revenue and they also started to sign players from South America and Europe:

  • Atlético Junior brought the Brazilians Tim and Heleno de Freitas; and the Hungarians László Szőke, Imre Danko, Béla Sárosi, Fernes Neyrs and Mihail Uram.
  • Boca Juniors de Cali brought the Paraguayan Atilio López.
  • Cúcuta Deportivo brought a lot of players from Uruguay: Julio Terra, Alcides Mañay, Juan José Tulic, Dardo Acuña, Lauro Rodríguez, Washington Barrios, Luis Alberto Miloc, Carlos Zunino, Abraham González, Ramón Villaverde, Julio Ulises Terra, Juan Deluca, Juan Carlos Toja, Schubert Gambetta, Eusebio Tejera, Antonio Sacco and Bibiano Zapirain, some of the Uruguayan players of the team that won the 1950 World Cup.
  • Deportes Caldas brought the Lithuanian goalkeeper Vytautas Krisciunas.
  • Deportivo Cali brought players from Peru, as Valeriano López, and Argentina.
  • Deportivo Pereira brought players from Paraguay: Carmelo Colombo, Enrique Avalos, Marcelino Vargas and César López Fretes; and a player from Italy: Luigi Di Franco.
  • Deportivo Samarios was founded by the squad of the Hungária FC when it was disbanded. The first team consisted in 10 Colombians, 8 Hungarians, 2 Yugoslavs, 1 Austrian, 1 Argentine, 1 Italian and 1 Romanian.
  • Independiente Medellín brought players from Peru: Roberto Drago and Segundo Castillo Varela.
  • Independiente Santa Fe brought the Argentines Héctor Rial, who would later be star of Real Madrid, and René Pontoni, as well the Englishmen Neil Franklin and George Mountford from Stoke City, and Charlie Mitten from Manchester United.
  • Millonarios, called the Ballet Azul due its greatest performances, went back to Argentina and brought Alfredo Di Stéfano, Julio Cozzi and Néstor Rossi; and the Britons Billy Higgins of Everton FC and Bobby Flavell of Hearts.

    • In 1950, the DIMAYOR agreed to end El Dorado through the Pacto de Lima with the FIFA, but with the requirement that the foreign players would return to their countries in 1954.

    References

    El Dorado (football) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA