Alianza Lima
Alianza Lima is a Peruvian professional football club based in Lima. Along with Universitario de Deportes, It is one of the most popular clubs from Peru. peru.com/futbol/ In Spanish It was founded on 15 February, 1901 and currently plays in the top tier of the Peruvian Football League (Liga Peruana de Futbol) known as the Copa Cable Magico. The club has won twenty-two First Division titles, two less than Universitario's record and seven more than Sporting Cristal. They play their home games at the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva which has a capacity for 35,000 people.
History
Beginnings
The club was founded on February 15 1901 as Sport Alianza by a group of young workers of a horse stud called "Alianza", property of former President of Peru, Augusto B. Leguia. The stud was located in downtown Lima at the time.
Its first uniform consisted of vertical green and white stripes, similar to the uniforms worn by the stud's jockeys. It later changed to the current uniform, dark blue and white vertical stripes. The closeness between players earned them the nickname Los intimos ("The intimates").
Alianza participated in the Peruvian football league since the first season 1912, winning its first title in 1918. During its first years, it played irregularly against other teams from Lima and the port of Callao. Its matches against Atletico Chalaco from Callao stirred interest as a clash between limenos and chalacos. Sport Alianza had started to become a popular team drawing large support.
Three-peat and relegation
While the Alianza stud changed owners and locations continuously, the team was forced to constantly relocate in turn, until 1928, when under the new name Alianza Lima, the club settled in the third block of the Manco Capac avenue in the La Victoria District, where it would stay and become emotionally attached.
That same year they played against the Federacion Universitaria (University Federation) for the first time, which would be later renamed Universitario de Deportes and become their greatest rivals in what is today the most important Peruvian derby.
The 1930s brought great joy and frustration to the team. In 1931, 1932 and 1933, Alianza Lima won three championships in a row for the first time in Peruvian football. But the memory of this achievement should be tainted by the relegation in 1938. After a year in the Second Division the team returned to the first level and has stayed there ever since.
Titles
Alianza Lima has traditionally fought for the first places in Peruvian leagues, and yielded great players to the country. During the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Alianza would win 10 championships, with two in a row in 1977 and 1978, when its players formed almost the entirety of the Peru national football team. By this time, the club already played at the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva in La Victoria, located in the neighborhood of Matute where there is vast identification with the team.
1980s decade
The 1980s were probably the most bitter years in the club's history. During the first years of the decade, despite having very good players, Alianza could not obtain titles, some which were snatched by Sporting Cristal, which was establishing itself as one of the three big clubs.
1987 air disaster
In 1987, Alianza Lima was first in the standings with a few matches left, and it looked like a new title would be obtained, but tragedy would get in the way. On 7 December of that year, Alianza made a trip to Pucallpa to play against Deportivo Pucallpa for the league. The match was won 1-0, with Carlos Bustamante scoring. The team took a charter flight for the round trip. The return flight departed on 8 December in a Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 airplane, which crashed into the sea when it was a few kilometers away from the Lima-Callao Airport, close to the Ventanilla district in Callao. The only survivor was the pilot, all the players and the coaching staff died.
Alianza finished the championship playing with youngsters and a few players on loan from Chilean club Colo Colo, which had suffered a similar tragedy and offered to help. Friendship between both teams has been strong since then. Alianza could not keep the first place and its greatest rival, Universitario de Deportes, obtained the title.
The team had to restart from scratch and even former players who had already retired, like Teofilo Cubillas, or others who were about to, like Cesar Cueto, returned to play to help the club get out of these bitter times.
Alianza Lima was close to relegation in 1988, but it managed to hold on in the last matches. In the next few years, despite being competitive, it failed to obtain a title. This drought extended until 1997, which closed 18 sad seasons without winning a single championship and having lost a very promising team.
The titles and the centenary
In 1997, Alianza Lima obtained its first title since 1978, under Colombian manager Jorge Luis Pinto. In 1999 it came in second place, after losing to Universitario in the finals. In the early hours 2000, tragedy struck again, when the young captain, Sandro Baylon died in a car accident after crashing with a post.
In 2001 the club celebrated its centenary and obtained the national title after beating Cienciano in Cusco, after penalty kicks. Later on, Alianza Lima would win the 2003 and 2004 championships, after defeating Sporting Cristal in both finals, this time under Argentinian manager Gustavo Costas. In 2006 Alianza Lima won again the championship beating Cienciano del Cusco in the play-off, becoming so far the most successful team of the Peruvian League in the 21st century.
Right now Alianza Lima is the most popular team in Peru
Colours
The team's home colours consists of a shirt with navy blue and white vertical stripes, navy blue shorts and navy blue socks. Its away colours are not commonly used nor well established, playing sometimes in blue or in white.
During the month of October, as a tribute to the "Senor de los Milagros", patron saint of the team, the regular colours are switched for an alternative purple one. The color purple is often associated with the religious image and its procession.
Stadium
The Club's headquarters are located at the district of la Victoria, city of Lima.
The infrastructure includes the Stadium Alejandro Villanueva with a capacity for approximately 35,000 spectators, training facilities and administrative offices.
Fans
The fans from Alianza Lima are mostly people who life in the populous and poor areas of Lima like El Augustino, San Juan de Lurigancho, Lince, Chorillos, San Luis, parts of San Martin de Porres and other poor neighbourhoods but most of the fans come from the notorious neighbourhood of La Victoria.
Throughout whole Peru the poor will mostly support Alianza Lima this gives the club the nickname "Los Del Pueblo" (The Team of The People).
The main fan organization is known as "Comando Sur". They receive this name because they locate themselves in the Southern Bleachers of the Stadium. The word Sur (which means South in Spanish) is written with a v because the letter "U" identifies their eternal rival (Universitario de Deportes).
Comando Svr is not one group of fans but its an organization of groups of fans: barras bravas. The neighbourhood you came from decides to which barra you are part of. Since every district has more neighbourhoods every barra has a name for example: if you are born in Chorillos you can be part of AsALto, VandALos, MALicia or Los ALiados.
Note that if you have al (Alianza Lima) in your name you must write it in capitals (AL).
The biggest barra brava is Barraca Rebelde named after the notorious street a few blocks from the stadium.
If you say to someone in Peru you're in a barra brava of Alianza Lima (but actually every barra brava) they will consider you a criminal because barra bravas of Alianza Lima have a reputation of violence, the most known is the conquering, sacking and almost razing the old stadium of Universitario Lolo Fernandez. More recently is the sensational stealing of almost all the flags and instruments of Trinchera Norte, the organization of barra bravas of Universitario.
There is a strong rivalry between Comando Sur and the Trinchera Norte (the biggest fan organization in la "U").
Current squad
As of February 6, 2008
Noted players
Many of the most notable players in Peruvian football have played in Alianza Lima, with the following standing out:
Alejandro Villanueva
Luis Escobar
Pacho Bustamante
Victor Zegarra
Teofilo Cubillas
"Mago" Valdivieso
Cesar Cueto
Waldir Saenz
Pedro Pablo "Perico" Leon
Guillermo Rivero
Carlos Gomez Sanchez
Alberto Montellanos
Ernesto Arakaki
Domingo Garcia Heredia
Miguel Rostaing La Torre
Juan Eugenio Rostaing La Torre
Adelfo Magallanes Campos
Juan Valdivieso
Jose Velasquez
Jaime Duarte
Guillermo Delgado
Victor Benitez
Juan Joya
Teodulo Legario
Cornelio Heredia
Oscar Gomez Sanchez
Claudio Pizarro
Jefferson Farfan
Juan Jayo
Jose Soto
Sandro Baylon
Roberto 'Cucurucho' Rojas
Wilmer Aguirre
Christian Del Mar
Gustavo Roverano
Jacinto Espinoza
Luis Fernando Saritama
Johnny Baldeon
Pedro Monzon
Palinha
Tressor Moreno
Victor Hugo Marulanda
Galileo Perkovich
Carlos Enrique
Marquinho
Martin Liguera
Achievements
Peruvian First Division
*Winners (22): 1918, 1919, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006.
Peruvian Second Division
*Winners (1): 1939
See also
Peruvian football league
External links
Club Alianza Lima Official Club Website
alianzalima.tv Fan Website
Comando Svr Official Ultra Supporters Group Website
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Alianza Lima
