Corporación Deportiva Popular Junior[1], known simply as Junior or by its old name Atlético Junior, is a Colombian football team based in Barranquilla. The club was founded in 1924 Known as "Los Tiburones" (The Sharks), or "El Equipo Tiburón" (The Shark Team) they have won the Colombian professional football championship five times (1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004). Famous players before 1985 included Heleno de Freitas, Garrincha, Juan Ramón Verón, Efraín Sanchez, and Julio Cesar Uribe.
The pride of Colombia's Caribbean coast, it had a golden age in the mid-90's, when under the conduction of Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama, it won two of its championships, in 1993 and 1995. The team also included players such as Alexis Mendoza, Victor Danilo Pacheco, Miguel "Niche" Guerrero, Cristian Montecinos and Ivan Rene Valenciano, which is the all-time scorer of the team with 158 goals.
Thereafter, the club owners focused on creating talent from within, and following years of up and downs, the club became once again national champions in December 2004, after scoring in the last minute and beating Atletico Nacional from Medellin in penalty kicks. The star of that season was the Argentine Omar Sebastian Perez, who earned the love and respect of the team's fans not only for his great technique and high quality of play, but for the way he melted with the rest of the team. Currently the team is still one of the most populars in Colombia and led by Uruguayan born coach Julio Comesaña. Its best current players are Giovanni Hernandez, Teófilo Gutiérrez, Luis Yanes, Emerson Acuña, and Ricardo Ciciliano.
They have participated several times in Conmebol's Copa Libertadores de América, where they ended up in 3rd place In 1994. One penalty kick away by Ronald Valderrama (Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama 's brother) from reaching the final, they ended up losing against Vélez Sarsfield, who would then become the tournament's champion that year.
Junior's home stadium is called the Estadio Metropolitano or Roberto Meléndez Stadium, which has also been home to the Colombian national football team
Honors
National Honors
International
Performance in CONMEBOL competitions
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- Best: Semi-Final in 1994
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- 2004: Quarter-Final
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- 1992: Second Round
Current squad
- As of December 12, 2009
2009 Transfers
| No. |
|
Position |
Player |
|
 |
|
Farid Diaz (From: Envigado FC)[2] |
|
|
|
Hernando Patiño (From: Real Cartagena)[2] |
|
Selected Former Players
|
|
Lists of "famous" or "notable" sports persons with no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria should be avoided. Such lists should be removed or replaced with verifiable lists of players recognized by the club, league, or another reliable source and be properly referenced. |
References
- ^ Web oficial de DIMAYOR
- ^ a b c "Totono Grisales y el Cocho Patiño son las nuevas caras de Junior". Golgolgol. 8 de julio de 2009. http://www.golgolgol.net/Futbol_Colombiano/Copa_Mustang/Noticias/Totono_Grisales_y_el_Cocho_Patino_son_las_nuevas_caras_de_Junior_112-65204.html. Retrieved 8 de julio de 2009.
- ^ "Ciciliano jugará con Millonarios; Chiqui pidió que le presten el Campín para entrenar". Golgolgol. 9 de julio de 2009. http://www.golgolgol.net/Futbol_Colombiano/Copa_Mustang/Noticias/Ciciliano_dispuesto_a_jugar_con_Millonarios;_El_chiqui_pidio_que_le_presten_el_Campin_para_entrenar_112-65231.html. Retrieved 9 de julio de 2009.
External links
Julio Comesaña
José Kaor Doku
Dida
Carlos Babington
Julio Cesar Uribe
