Sociedad Deportivo Quito

Deportivo Quito

Full name	Sociedad Deportivo Quito
Nickname(s)	Chullas La Academia (The Academy) Los Azulgrana (The Blue and Dark Reds) El Equipo de la Plaza del Teatro (The Team from the Plaza del Teatro)
Founded	February 27, 1955
Ground	Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa (Capacity: 40,948)
Chairman	Fernando Mantilla
Manager	Carlos Ischia
League	Serie A
2010	3rd
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Sociedad Deportivo Quito is a Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league.

Deportivo Quito has won four Serie A titles in 1964, 1968, 2008, and 2009. This places them fifth overall. The club also has four Interandean Tournament titles in 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1963. Additionally, the club was runner up in 1985, 1988, and 1997. Based on its style of play, sports journalists and fans nicknamed the club La Academia de los Ecuatorianos desde 1940 (English: The Academy of the Ecuadorians since 1940).

Deportivo Quito was officially founded in 1955, although they trace their roots to Sociedad Deportiva Argentina, which was founded on July 9, 1940. Historic rivals include Liga de Quito, Aucas, and El Nacional. They play their home games at Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa.

History

The club was founded on July 9, 1940, under the name Sociedad Deportiva Argentina. On October 1, 1954, the club, together with Sociedad Deportiva Aucas & Sociedad Deportiva España, founded Asociación de Fútbol No Amateur (AFNA) de Pichincha (Spanish for Non-Amateur Football Association of Pichincha). This was followed by provincial professional soccer tournaments. In accordance with AFNA bylaws, which stipulated that no team could be named after a country (except after Spain), the shareholders of Argentina got together and changed the club's name to Sociedad Deportivo Quito.

The 50's and 60's were fruitful decades for Deportivo Quito with the club obtaining National Championship titles in 1964 and 1968 as well as Interandean Championships (named so for inclusion of teams from both Quito and Ambato) in 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1963. The 70's were a dark period for the club, which descended and spent several seasons in the second tier Serie B of the Ecuadorian Football League. The 80's and 90's brought a return measure of success for the club which came in as runners up in 1985, 1988, 1997 and qualified to participate in Copa Libertadores. 1989 also saw the transfer of one of the brightest players in Ecuadorian soccer history, Alex Aguinaga to Club Necaxa of Mexico.

The club would wait forty years for its third championship and after a brilliant campaign in 2008, which saw Deportivo Quito in the lead throughout the tournament, the team sealed its third star against Club Social y Deportivo Macara of Ambato. 2009 began fraught with problems for the club. Although it was able to hold on to its star player Luis Saritama on loan, economic problems dogged the club throughout the year. As a result early tournamant action saw the club mired in the middle half of the table. The next two phases of the tournament were a different story as the defense, solidified with the incorporation of the Ecuadorian National team captain Ivan Hurtado, led the club to top of the table finishes. This set up the final playoff against Deportivo Cuenca. Following a 1-1 tie in Cuenca, the two teams played an exciting game in Quito which saw back and forth action ending 3-2 in favor of Deportivo Quito. The team's fourth star was not nearly as elusive as the third. Fans celebrated the long awaited 2008 as well as the follow-up 2009 championships in the popular Plaza del Teatro in Quito.

Stadium

Their home games are played in the Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa in the city of Quito but there have been plans to build a stadium for the year 2010 on their current training grounds Ney Mancheno in Carcelén.

On November 13, 2008, Deportivo Quito's management presented the model of the new stadium. This stadium will have a capacity of 20,000 people. The building project includes the construction of a shopping mall attached to the same stadium that will serve as a source of revenue for the institution.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Marcelo Elizaga 2 DF Deison Méndez 3 DF Isaac Mina 5 MF Alex Bolaños 6 DF Pedro Esterilla 7 FW Michael Quiñónez 8 MF Oswaldo Minda 9 FW Jorge Córdoba 10 MF Luis Saritama (on loan from América) 11 MF Matías Alustiza 12 GK Adrian Bone 13 MF Fidel Martínez

No. Position Player 15 MF Santiago Morales 16 DF Michael Castro 17 MF Juan Carlos Paredes 18 FW Julio Bevacqua 20 DF Luis Checa 25 FW Nilo Carretero 23 DF Jairo Campos (on loan from Atlético Mineiro) 24 FW Byron Cano 25 DF Ángel Escobar 27 DF Mariano Mina 51 DF Pedro Velasco 52 MF Dixón Arroyo

Honors

Regional

• Campeonato Professional Interandino (4): 1955, 1956, 1957, 1963

National

• Serie A (4): 1964, 1968, 2008, 2009
• Serie B (1): 1980 E1

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

• Copa Libertadores: 7 participations (1965, 1969, 1986, 1989, 1998, 2009, 2010)
  • Best performance: Round of 16 (1989)
• Copa Sudamericana: 2 participations (2008, 2010)
  • Best performance: First round (2008, 2010)

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
• Fans, NO Official website (Spanish)