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Club Deportivo Los Millonarios
Club Deportivo Los Millonarios is a Colombian football club based in Bogota. As of 2009, Millonarios shares with rival America de Cali being the team with the most Futbol Profesional Colombiano championships, 13 in total, although they haven't won this tournament since 1988. They are also the third Colombian team to achieve a major international title, the Copa Merconorte in 2001. The team was initially created in 1937 by students from two schools in the city of Bogota: "Colegio San Bartolome" and "Instituto La Salle". Millonarios, as the team it is now, was officially founded in June 18, 1946, thanks to the efforts of Alfonso Senior Quevedo, Millonarios first chairman. From the beginning of the Colombian Soccer Tournament, Millos won many domestic tournaments.
History
Throughout its history, Millonarios has had famous players, including: Alfredo di Stefano,Adolfo Pedernera, Juan Gilberto Funes, "El Bufalo", Willington Ortiz, Arnoldo Iguaran, Daniel "Tito" Onega, Fernando Arean, Carlos Valderrama, Carlos Angel Lopez, Alfredo Castillo, Sergio Goycochea, Delio "Maravilla" Gamboa, Miguel Angel Converti, Jaime Moron, Amadeo Carrizo, Alejandro Brand, Rene Higuita, Mario Vanemerak, John Mario Ramirez and Pedro Alberto Vivalda. Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama was actually expelled from Millonarios as the Coach and Board of Directors thought he was not good enough for football.
'The Ballet Azul'''''
The most successful period for the club had place during the early 1950s due the notable Argentinean players incoming. Alfredo di Stefano,Adolfo Pedernera and Nestor Rossi made the legendary team that built the renamed 'Ballet Azul'. These notable player abandoned Millonarios in 1954, some of them returned to their original teams while others that remained continued their careers in Europe, this was the case for Alfredo di Stefano who transferred to Real Madrid; He is still considered one of the best player of all time [*]
2000s crisis and recovering
During the 2000s, Millonarios has endured a financial crisis. The club had two of their worst crises in 2 seasons: In 2002 the club had their worst financial situation, to the point that many people feared the possibility of Millos coming to an end. After a decent 2003 performance, chaos reappeared in later 2004 (while playing the Copa Mustang II), when Millos had their worst league campaign, finishing second from bottom. Millos also played in the Copa Sudamericana 2004, where they were knocked out by Atletico Junior in the preliminary phase.
From this point, Millonarios began a slow process to recover their former glory, managing to get again into the cup's group stage in 2006, something they didn't do at the previous tournament. Millos had further improvement when former Manchester City F.C. assistant manager Juan Carlos Osorio was appointed as the new Millonarios' Manager, which led the club to 3rd position in the League Stage of the Mustang Cup, and 5th in the addition of all the year's performance, taking Millos again into the Copa Sudamericana, while the financial situation of the team also had a notable recovery. In July 2007, Osorio left Millonarios to manage Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire, and he was replaced with Martin Lasarte; after a brief, but very unsuccessful period with Lasarte, Millonarios then hired Argentinian Mario Vanemerak as their new manager. Under Vanemerak, Millonarios began to shine again, most notably in the Copa Sudamericana 2007, where they eliminated several powerful teams, most notably Brazilian champions Sao Paulo FC in the quarter-finals, thanks to two goals from Ricardo Ciciliano. As of October 25, 2007, Millonarios has qualified for the Copa Sudamericana semi-finals, although they had a less impressive performance in the Colombian Copa Mustang II 2007 so far. The club currently is involved in a bankruptucy process that promises to cancel the team's debts.
Honours
National honours
Futbol Profesional Colombiano
*Winners (13): 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1972, 1978, 1987, 1988
*Runners up (9): 1950, 1956, 1958, 1967, 1973, 1975, 1984, 1994, 1995/1996
Copa Colombia
*Winners (2): 1952/1953, 1962/1963
*Runners up (1): 1951/1952
International honours
Pequena Copa del Mundo de Clubes
*Winners (1):1953
*Runners up (1):1952
Copa Merconorte
*Winners (1): 2001
*Runners up (1): 2000
Copa Simon Bolivar
*Winners (1): 1972
Performance in CONMEBOL competitions
Copa Libertadores: 14 appearances
Best: Semi-Final in 1960, 1973, 1974 - Quarterfinal in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1989, 1995
Copa Sudamericana: 2 appearances
2004: Preliminary Round
2007: Semi-Final
Copa Merconorte: 4 appearances
1998: Semi-Final
1999: Group Stage
2000: Finalist
2001: Champion
Stadium
El Campin, opened in 1938, has been Millonarios' main field since the club former creation. The stadium has an actual capacity of 48,600 seated spectators.
Honours:
Copa America 2001
2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup
Current Squad 2010
As of March 8, 2010.
First team players
Youth team players
Coaching and Medical Staff
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Rivalries
Millonarios has forged many rivalries with several teams from the Mustang Cup, most notably with local rivals Santa Fe, in fact, the match between both teams is called El Clasico Capitalino; there are also strong rivalries with other teams like America de Cali, El Clasico con mas estrellas, Atletico Nacional, El Clasico de la rivalidad regional, and Deportivo Cali, El Clasico con historia.
External links
Millonarios Official Web Site
Dimayor profile of the team
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Club Deportivo Los Millonarios
