Racing Club de Avellaneda

Racing

Full name	Racing Club
Nickname(s)	La Academia (The Academy)
Founded	March 25, 1903
Ground	Estadio Juan Domingo Perón, Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Capacity: 53,389)
President	Gaston Cogorno
Manager	Luis Zubeldía
League	Primera División
2011 Apertura	2nd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Racing Club fans singing

Racing Club (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈrasiŋ ˈkluβ]) is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a suburb of Greater Buenos Aires. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered one of the "big five" clubs of Argentine football. Racing currently plays in the Primera División, the top division of the Argentine league system.

Racing has won the Primera División 7 times in the professional era and another 9 in the amateur era, totaling 16 championships overall. They won their first league in the 1913 championship, and the last to date in the 2001 Apertura.

On the international stage, the club won in 1967 both the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup, therefore being the second Argentine team to become South American champion, and the first to become club world champion. Racing also won the first edition of the Supercopa Sudamericana in 1988.

The first team plays its home games in the Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón, nicknamed El Cilindro de Avellaneda (in English: "The Cylinder of Avellaneda"). Racing is nicknamed La Academia ("The Academy"), earned for its initial run of 7 consecutive championships during the amateur era.

Other sports practised at Racing are basketball, boxing, martial arts, roller skating, tennis and volleyball.

History

Foundation

On May 12, 1901, a group of students of Colegio Nacional Central founded the Football Club Barracas al Sud. An internal conflict about what color of jersey should be adopted caused a group of members to found Colorados Unidos, due to wanting to use a red jersey uniform. This division did not last too long so on March 1903 both clubs agreed to merge into a new club under the same name.

One of the founding members, Germán Vidaillac, displayed a French sports magazine where a team named "Racing Paris" was portraited. The suggestion was well received, naming "Racing Club" was immediately approved. Unlike its French homonym, Racing Club would not adopt the light blue and white colors of its French homonym until 1910, in commemoration of the May Revolution 100th anniversary due to being the first football team formed by criollos.

Amateur era

After spending some seasons in second division, Racing promoted to Primera when the team won the final match against Boca Juniors in 1910, with an attendance of 4,000. During the amateur era Racing won seven consecutive championships from 1913 to 1919, which is still a record in the history of Argentine football. Moreover, the 1914, 1915 and 1918 titles were won unbeaten. Those campaigns Racing was nicknamed "La Academia del Football Nacional" ("The Academy"), which has remained to date as the most recognizable nickname for the club.

Racing won also the 1921 and 1925 titles, being its most notable player Pedro Ochoa, who also took part of Argentina national football team. Ochoa, nicknamed "El rey de la gambeta" ("The King of the dribbling") was a celebrity by then and friend of tango singer Carlos Gardel, who wrote the lyrics of the song "Patadura" (ironically, a "two left feet player") in his honour.

The tri-champion

In 1949, Racing won its first Argentine Primera División championship in the professional era. They subsequently won the league another two times in a row (1950 and 1951), being the first Argentine team to become three times consecutive champion in the professional era. The team won the tournament again in 1958, 1961 and 1966.

Racing won their first international competition, Copa Libertadores in 1967. As continental champions, they faced the champions of the 1967 European Cup, the Scottish club Celtic F.C. in the 1967 Intercontinental Cup, eventually winning the title.

In 1983, the club was relegated to the second division. They returned to the principal league, in 1985 with Alfio Basile as the Coach.

Racing won their third international competition in 1988, when they obtained the Supercopa Sudamericana.

Racing faced economical problems that erupted in 1993, when the club declared bankruptcy. In 2000, Racing switched management to the Blanquiceleste S.A corporation. Racing won the 2001 Apertura Title, 35 years after their last local championship in 1966. In 2003, Racing played the Copa Libertadores 2003. They finished First in their Group (Group 6) but lost in the Round of 16 against América de Cali in a controversial match. In 2008, the club switched back management to become a civic association again.

In 2010, Racing almost qualified to Copa Libertadores 2011, but Independiente won the Copa Sudamericana 2010, this way preventing Racing to play the Cup.

Stadium

Home games are played at the Estadio Juan Domingo Perón, commonly known as El Cilindro de Avellaneda. The stadium has a capacity of 64,161 and is located at the intersection of Mozart and Oreste Omar Corbatta streets, in Avellaneda. It was inaugurated on September 3, 1950, before a match against Vélez Sársfield which was won by Racing 1-0.

The home of Racing's fiercest rivals, Independiente, is located just a few meters away, exactly 3 blocks. Both teams compete together in the Avellaneda derby.

Players

Current squad

Current squad of Racing Club de Avellaneda as of February 25, 2012 (edit)
Sources: Argentine Soccer

No. Position Player 1  ARG GK Sebastián Saja 2  ARG DF Matías Martínez 3  ARG DF Nicolás Sainz 4  ARG DF Iván Pillud 5  ARG MF Claudio Yacob 6  ARG DF Matías Cahais 7  PAR FW Federico Santander 8  ARG MF Agustín Pelletieri 9  ARG FW Gabriel Hauche 10  COL MF Giovanni Moreno 11  ARG MF Luis Fariña 12  ARG GK Mauro Dobler 15  ARG MF Bruno Zuculini 16  ARG MF Brian Sarmiento

No. Position Player 17  ARG MF Luciano Aued 18  ARG MF Patricio Toranzo 19  ARG MF Lucas Castro 20  ARG FW Valentín Viola 21  ARG GK Jorge De Olivera 22  ARG DF Lucas Aveldaño 23  ARG DF Braian Lluy 24  ARG FW Ignacio Colombini 25  ARG MF Lucas Licht 28  PAR DF Marcos Cáceres 29  COL FW Teófilo Gutiérrez 31  ARG DF Gonzalo García 36  ARG FW Luciano Vietto 37  ARG FW Pablo Caballero

Manager: Alfio Basile

Notable former players

Coaches since 2000

Kit evolution

1903

1904, 1973 (1)

1904 (2)

1910-present

(1) This model was worn again in 1973, although just for one match.
(2) A new version of this model was the away jersey in the 2005-06 season, paying tribute to the historic 1904's.

Titles

National

• Primera División: 16

1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 Aam, 1921 Aam, 1925 Aam, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1958, 1961, 1966, 2001 Apertura

• Segunda División: 1

1985 ^[1]

• Copa Bullrich: 1

1910

• Copa de Honor Cousenier: 1

1913

• Copa de Honor: 4

1912, 1913, 1915, 1917

• Copa Ibarguren: 5

1913, 1914, 1916, 1917, 1918

• Copa Aldao: 2

1917, 1918

• Copa Beccar Varela: 1

1932

• Copa de Competencia: 1

1933

• Copa Británica: 1

1945

• Copa San Martín de Tours: 2

1966, 1968

International

• Copa Libertadores: 1

1967

• Intercontinental Cup: 1

1967

• Supercopa Sudamericana: 1

1988

• Supercopa Interameriana: 1

1988

References

External links

• Official website (Spanish)

Coordinates: 34°40′03″S 58°22′07″W / 34.6675°S 58.36861°W / -34.6675; -58.36861