Team Profile -Club The Strongest is a Bolivian football club based in La Paz founded on 8 April 1908. Their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, the Rafael Mendoza Castellón (capacity: 15,000), they play most of their games at the Estadio Hernando Siles, Bolivias national ground (capacity: 42,000). The club is the oldest active football club in Bolivia and the only team to have played continuously in the countrys top Division for longer than a century. Full Name - Club The Strongest Nicknames - Tigre, El Derribador de Campeones, Gualdinegro, El Decano Country - Bolivia Stadiums - Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia (41,143) or Estadio Rafael Mendoza Castellón (15,000) Date Formed - 8 April 1908 Manager - Néstor Craviotto Current Squad - 1 Bolivia GK Andrés Jemio 2 Argentina DF Marcos Barrera 3 Bolivia DF Abraham Cabrera 4 Brazil DF Jefferson 5 Bolivia DF Ronny Jiménez 6 Bolivia MF Alejandro Chumacero 7 Bolivia MF Marcos Paz 8 Bolivia DF Diego Bejarano 9 Bolivia FW Gastón Mealla 10 Bolivia MF Pablo Daniel Escobar 11 Paraguay MF Ernesto Cristaldo 12 Bolivia DF Jair Torrico 13 Bolivia DF Enrique Parada 14 Bolivia MF Diego Wayar 15 Bolivia FW Luis Hernán Melgar 16 Bolivia MF Wálter Veizaga 17 Bolivia MF Nelvin Solíz 18 Colombia FW Jair Reinoso 19 Bolivia GK Daniel Vaca 20 Bolivia MF Sacha Lima 21 Bolivia FW Gabriel Ríos 22 Bolivia MF Daniel Chávez 23 Paraguay FW Alejandro Da Silva 24 Bolivia MF Víctor Hugo Melgar 25 Bolivia GK Gustavo Fernández 26 Bolivia MF Raúl Castro 27 Bolivia FW Freddy Abastoflor 29 Bolivia FW Daniel Coca Hurtado 30 Panama FW Boris Alfaro History - The Strongest were originally known as The Strong Football Club, before later becoming The Strongest Football Club. Its first President and founder was José León López Villamil. Its first championship was in 1911, well before any of the current Bolivian teams had even been created. In 1930, The Strongest became the first and only Bolivian team to win a League championship with no goals scored against them. The same year, The Strongest inaugurated the Hernando Siles stadium, with a 4–1 victory against its classical rival (at the time), Universitario. It is the only football team in the world to have a battle named after it. In the Chaco War (1932–1935) the players, staff and members of the club enlisted in the Bolivian Army to defend the country against the Paraguayan attack. A division largely composed of these stronguistas played a vital part in the Bolivian Armys most important victory. As a result of that, the battle is named Batalla de Cañada Strongest in Bolivian history books. In 1965, The Strongest participated in its first Copa Libertadores, at a time when only national champions were entered into the tournament. The Strongest scored Bolivias first victory outside of the country on a club level, defeating Deportivo Quito. The team finished 2nd in its group that year, second to Boca Juniors (Argentina). The highest achievement in an international competition for The Strongest was achieved in the 2005 Copa Sudamericana, when the squad led by coach Villegas eliminated its classic rivals with two 2–1 victories in La Paz, in front of a packed stadium. Later, the team went on to defeat Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (Ecuador) – including a 3–0 victory in Quito. The Strongest was eliminated by Pumas UNAM (Mexico), who later went on to become runners-up to cup winners Boca Juniors (Argentina). On 24 September 1969, a local holiday, the team was invited to participate on a special game organized by the Asociacion Cruceña de Fubol (Santa Cruzs football association). For the team, it was simply another visit to Santa Cruz. On 14 September, the team had played its last official match and this game was part of a break from their local competition. On 26 September, the day the team was due to return from Santa Cruz by plane, it was announced that the aircraft carrying most of the team (A Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano DC-6) had disappeared. Incidentally, on the same day, a military government was being established in Bolivia. A day later, with no real information as to what had happened, the news that the plane had crashed around a rural area called Viloco (between the Tres Cruces Peaks) were received. All 69 passengers and 9 crew members were dead. The members of the team who died that day were: Eustáquio Ortuño (Coach), José Ayllón (manager), Felipe Aguilar (staff). The 16 players that died were: Armando Angelacio, Hernán Andretta, Orlando Cáceres, Juan Iriondo, Jorge Durán, Julio Díaz, Héctor Marchetti, Angel Porta, Jorge Tapia, Ernesto Villegas, Germán Alcázar, Eduardo Arrigó, Oswaldo Franco, Raúl Farfán, Oscar Flores and Diógenes Torrico. The Strongest adopted the yellow and black stripes upon foundation in 1908. While looking for a proper uniform, a friend sent the founders a shirt from Germany that sported a dark green with horizontal, yellow stripes. Upon this, one of the founders commented on how a local bird, the Chayñita, had similar colors. The club adopted the idea and since 1908, the main outfit has been vertically striped yellow and black with a varying number of stripes. The supplementary uniform has commonly been white with yellow and black, though there have been several other combinations such as a full yellow top and black shorts and even full yellow outfit. More recently, an all black secondary uniform has been adopted for Cup matches. Many people say that the similarity between the Penarol Club of Montevideo, Uruguay, suggests that due to lack of originality, The Strongest imitated those colors. However, the more versed will know that Penarol did not adopt a full striped kit until the 1905 season and was an unknown team at the time (won 4 titles in its 24 year existence, up to that point).
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 21:23:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015