Cerro Porteño
Encyclopedia
Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

an football club, based in the neighbourhood of Barrio Obrero
Barrio Obrero (Asunción)
Barrio Obrero is a barrio of Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. It has a population of 19,823 people. The name of this barrio comes from the word "worker" in reference to the humble and working class people that live there, which are the majority.Barrio Obrero is famous for its Quinta Avenida ...

 in Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...

. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 28 Primera División titles and is one of the most popular football club in Paraguay. Its main rival is Club Olimpia and head to head matches are known as the Paraguayan football derby
Paraguayan football derby
The Paraguayan football derby, also named as the Superclásico ; is a football fixture played between Cerro Porteño and Club Olimpia, the two most successful and popular teams from Paraguay.-Head to head:* Updated as of 2009-26-04...

.

They play their home games at the General Pablo Rojas Stadium
Estadio General Pablo Rojas
General Pablo Rojas, is a football stadium in the neighbourhood of Barrio Obrero in Asunción, Paraguay. It is the home venue of Cerro Porteño and is named after former club president Pablo Rojas....

, also known as "La Olla" (the Boiler).

History

Cerro Porteño was founded on 1 October 1912 by Susana Núñez and a group of young people looking to create a new football club. At the time of Cerro's foundation the situation in Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

 was tense with instability in the government caused by the fervent rivalries between the two leading political parties, the Partido Colorado (Colorado Party)
Colorado Party (Paraguay)
The National Republican Association – Colorado Party is a political party in Paraguay, founded in 1887 by Bernardino Caballero. It is usually known as the Colorado Party...

 and the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party)
Authentic Radical Liberal Party
The Authentic Radical Liberal Party is a liberal party in Paraguay.The party is an observer member of Liberal International. At the last legislative elections, 27 April 2003, the party won 25.7 % of the popular vote and 21 out of 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay and 24.3 %, leading...

. Because of the tensions, the founders of the club decided to use the colors of both parties, red (Colorados) and blue (Liberales), as the club's colors as a symbol of unity and friendship between Paraguayans. Later, white was used on the shorts to complete the colours of the Paraguayan flag.

The club owes its name to the battle fought between the forces of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 (“the Porteños”) and the Paraguayan army
Military of Paraguay
The armed forces of Paraguay consist of the Paraguayan army, navy and air force.The constitution of Paraguay establishes the president of Paraguay as the commander-in-chief....

, in the neighbourhood of the “Cerro Mbaé” (Mbaé Hill) – named after that battle as the Cerro Porteño (Porteño Hill) – on 19 January 1811. During that battle, the troops of Paraguay (at that time a Spanish colony) were abandoned by the Spanish Governor but continued to be led by the Paraguayan officials, who led them to a great victory against the Porteños troops. That battle is known as the "Battle of Cerro Porteño" and is a highlight of Paraguayan military history.

Cerro Porteño is known in Paraguay as "el club del pueblo" (the common people's team) because most of the fans are from lower social classes, as opposed to the fans from rival club Olimpia
Olimpia Asunción
Club Olimpia is a Paraguayan sport club based in Asunción. It is best known for its professional football team which plays in the Paraguayan Primera División....

 whose fans are usually from the upper classes. Because of this, it is said that Cerro Porteño has the biggest number of supporters in Paraguay.

Over the years the club has won a significant number of national championships. However, to date, it has not won any international tournaments despite a few good runs in the Copa Libertadores including semi-final appearances in 1973, 1978, 1993, 1998,1999 and 2011.

Osvaldo Ardiles
Osvaldo Ardiles
Osvaldo César Ardiles , often referred to in Britain as Ossie Ardiles, is a football coach, pundit and former midfielder who won the 1978 World Cup as part of the Argentine national team...

 joined the club as manager in May 2008 but was sacked in August of the same year after a string of poor results and was replaced by Pedro Troglio

Nickname

The club's nickname "Ciclón" (Cyclone) comes from the national championship play-off in 1918 which was contested between Cerro Porteño and Club Nacional
Club Nacional
Club Nacional is a Paraguayan football team, based in the neighbourhood of Barrio Obrero in Asunción, founded in 1904.-History:The club was founded on June 5, 1904 by a group of alumni of the Colegio Nacional de la Capital, one of the oldest public schools in Asunción...

 during which Cerro Porteño scored 4 goals in the last 20 minutes of the 3rd match to win the game 4–2. The flurry of goals saw the team referred to as 'the Cyclone'.

Stadium


The club's home stadium is officially called Estadio General Pablo Rojas
Estadio General Pablo Rojas
General Pablo Rojas, is a football stadium in the neighbourhood of Barrio Obrero in Asunción, Paraguay. It is the home venue of Cerro Porteño and is named after former club president Pablo Rojas....

, after the club president who was the main proponent of the work, but is better known as "La Olla Azulgrana". It has a capacity of 32,000. Originally, the stadium was supposed to be larger but the plan had to be scaled down due to a shortage of funds available to complete the work.

International Holdings

  • Copa Libertadores: 34 appearances
Semi-Finals (6): 1973
Copa Libertadores 1973
Copa Libertadores 1973 was won by defending champions Independiente of Argentina after defeating Colo Colo of Chile in a third decisive game. The third match which ended 2-1 in extra time was necessary after the previous two leg matches ended in draws....

, 1978
Copa Libertadores 1978
The 1978 edition of Copa Libertadores was won by Boca Juniors, of Argentina for the second straight year, after defeating Deportivo Cali of Colombia in the final.-Group 1 :-Group 2 :-Group 3 :...

, 1993, 1998
Copa Libertadores 1998
The 1998 edition of the Copa Libertadores was the 39th in the tournament's history. It was held between February 25 and August 26. Vasco da Gama won the cup for the first time in the tournament's history, after defeating Barcelona Sporting Club of Ecuador in the final.-Pre-Libertadores:-Group...

, 1999
Copa Libertadores 1999
The 1999 edition of the Copa Libertadores was the 40th in the tournament's history. It was held between February 21 and June 16. Palmeiras won the cup for the first time in the tournament's history.-First round:*Teams in green qualified to the Round of 16...

, 2011

  • Copa Sudamericana
    Copa Sudamericana
    The Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana de Clubes , known simply as the Copa Sudamericana , is an annual international club football competition organized by the CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second most prestigious club competition in South American football. CONCACAF clubs were invited between 2004...

    : 6 appearances
Semi-Finals (1): 2009

Honors

  • Primera División (28): 1913, 1915, 1918, 1919, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1950, 1954, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001
    2001 in Paraguayan football
    The following article presents a summary of the 2001 football season in Paraguay.-Torneo Apertura:The Apertura tournament was played in a single all-play-all system...

    , 2004
    2004 in Paraguayan football
    -First division results:The first division tournament was divided in two sections: the Apertura and the Clausura and had 10 teams participating in a two round all-play-all system...

    , 2005
    2005 in Paraguayan football
    -First division results:The first division tournament was divided in two sections: the Apertura and the Clausura and had 10 teams participating in a two round all-play-all system...

    , 2009 Apertura
  • Torneo República
    Torneo República
    The Torneo República is a defunct football tournament from Paraguay. The competition was held at the beginning of the year and its purpose was to integrate teams from the Asunción area with teams from other departments in order to give teams from all over the country a chance to qualify for...

     (3)
    : 1989, 1991, 1995

Notable coaches

Leonardo Astrada
Leonardo Astrada
Leonardo Rubén Astrada is a retired Argentine football player, who went on to become a football manager. He currently manages Paraguayan team Cerro Porteño.-Playing career:...

 Gustavo Costas
Gustavo Costas
Gustavo Adolfo Costas Makeira is a retired Argentine footballer.-Career:Costas started his playing career in 1982 with Racing Club, in 1983 the club suffered a disastrous relegation from the Primera División...

 Mario Grana Gerardo Martino
Gerardo Martino
Gerardo Daniel Martino , nicknamed Tata, is an Argentine former football midfielder and current a manager.Martino played mostly for Newell's Old Boys in his native Rosario. He holds the record of appearances with the team playing a total of 505 matches in all official competitions...

 Néstor "Pipo" Rossi
Néstor Rossi
Néstor Raúl "Pipo" Rossi was an Argentine football midfielder.-Playing career:Nicknamed "Pipo", he started his career at River Plate, playing from 1945 to 1949, and then again from 1955 to 1958, winning a total of 5 Argentine leagues. In total, Rossi played 155 matches for River Plate scoring 7...

 Javier Torrente Pedro Troglio Paulo César Carpegiani
Paulo César Carpegiani
Paulo César Carpegiani is a former Brazilian footballer.- Playing career :Carpegiani began his professional career at Sport Club Internacional of Porto Alegre, in the Rio Grande do Sul, where he played from 1970 to 1977, winning two Brazilian Championships...

 Valdir Espinosa
Valdir Espinosa
Valdir Ataualpa Ramirez Espinosa, usually known as Valdir Espinosa is a Brazilian football manager.-Titles:Grêmio...

 Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás was a Hungarian footballer and manager. He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary, and 514 goals in 529 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues. He became Olympic champion in 1952 and was a World Cup finalist in 1954...

 Salvador Breglia
Salvador Breglia
Salvador Luis Amílcar Breglia Luna is a former football defender/midfielder and coach.-Career:Breglia started his career at the youth divisions of Club 25 de Enero and then Club Nanawa of his native Caazapá. He then moved to Cerro Porteño and made his debut at the of 16...

 Sergio Markarián
Sergio Markarián
Sergio Apraham Markarián is a Uruguayan-Armenian football coach. Currently, he is the head coach of the national football team of Peru.-Early life:...


First Team

On loan

External links

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