Real Estelí FC

Real Esteli Fútbol Club is a Nicaraguan football club playing in the top flight of Nicaragua's league system, the Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol de Primera División. The club play out of their home stadium, Estadio Independencia, based in the northern city of Estelí.

Real Estelí
Full nameReal Esteli Football Club
Nickname(s)El Tren del Norte
(The Train of the North)
Founded1961 (1961) (as Estelí FC)
GroundEstadio Independencia
Capacity5,000
ChairmanHelmuth Hurtado
ManagerHolver Flores
LeaguePrimera División
2019-20Champion
WebsiteClub website

Real Estelí has 18 national championships, more than any other team in Nicaragua except Diriangén. They also won a CONCACAF record eight consecutive championships from 2006 to 2014.

History

The club was founded in 1960 as Estelí FC, adding Real to its name in 1961. Estelí FC plays at the Estadio Independencia, one of the biggest stadiums in Nicaragua, with a capacity of 4,800. The club is known by the nickname, El Tren del Norte (Train of the North), coming as it does, from the northern region of Las Segovias.

Real Estelí has finished in the top five of Nicaragua's top flight every year since 1986. In that time, they have also achieved traditionally high attendance numbers. However, it took time for the club's burgeoning popularity to translate into championships. They won their first title in 1991, then added another in 1999. Nonetheless, their fierce rivals Diriangén FC remained the dominant power in Nicaraguan football.

This began to change in 2002–2003. The two clubs met for a two-legged tie to determine the year's champion. Diriangén won the first leg 1–0, but Real Estelí answered by winning the return match 3–0, claiming the title 3–1 on aggregate. That was the last year Nicaragua determined their championship with a "long season"; for 2003–2004, the league adopted an Apertura/Clausura format. Real Estelí won both tournaments, and each time they defeated Diriangén in the finals.

The following September, Real Estelí made history in Nicaraguan football by eliminating favorites Real España in the First Round of the Copa Interclubes UNCAF. They thus became the first Nicaraguan football team in history to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Back home, Diriangén won the next two championships, but quickly gave way to Real Estelí, who embarked on their dominant run of eight championships in a row from 2006 to 2014. Then, after a brief interruption by Walter Ferretti, Estelí won two more.

Real Estelí FC has finished in the top five of Nicaragua's top division every year since 1986 and has achieved some of the highest attendances in the league during this period.

Crest

The club crest consists of a crown, representing 'Real' (meaning 'Royal'). Similar crowns can be seen on the crests of many other clubs with the prefix 'Real', such as Spanish clubs Real Betis, Real Zaragoza and Real Madrid[1]

The two gold stars of the crest mark the first two national championships won by the club (in 1991 and 1999), while the red and white striped shield represents the club colours as used on team shirts. The logo was redesigned and digitalised in 2000 by Nakor'd J. García and Michael D. Raney (current President/CEO of the World Football Organization), based on the original design by Arnulfo Rivera Zeledón and Johnny Herrera Vallejos.

'El Clásico' rivalry

There is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams in the national league, where the game between Real Estelí and Diriangén has become known as El Clásico (The Classic).

Current squad

As of 25 August 2018[2]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  NCA Henry Maradiaga
3 MF  NCA Luis Lopez
4 DF  NCA Jason Casco
6 MF  NCA Jorge Betancur
7 DF  NCA Manuel Rosas
8 MF  NCA Marlon López
9 FW  MEX Marco Granados
10 FW  ARG Lucio Barroca
11 MF  NCA Juan Barrera
12 MF  BRA Vinicius
13 DF  NCA Francisco Paz
14 MF  MEX Jesús Leal
15 FW  NCA Jaime Moreno
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 MF  NCA Brandon Ayerdis
19 FW  NCA Ricardo Rivas
20 DF  NCA Oscar López
21 MF  NCA Harold Medina
22 GK  NCA Denvorn Fox
23 DF  NCA Oscar Acevedo
24 DF  NCA Cristián Gutiérrez
25 GK  NCA Esdras González
26 DF  NCA Edgar Castillo
27 DF  NCA Josué Quijano
28 FW  NCA Patrick Huete
29 DF  NCA Orlando Centeno

Personnel

Management
PositionName
Manager Ramón Otoniel Olivas
Assistant Manager and Goalkeeping Coach Sergio Ivan Rodríguez
Fitness Coach Marcos Gomez
Fitness coach Carlos Rivera

List of Coaches

Jersey sponsors
Period Kit manufacturer Shirt partner
1998–01 Galaxia
2000–08 Enitel
2008–2011 Movistar
La Curaçao
2011–2017 Movistar
La Curaçao
Yahoo!
2017–Present Kappa

Performance in CONCACAF competitions
Best: Group stage in 4 times
2009 : Preliminary Round
2012 : Preliminary Round
2013 : Group stage
2014 : Group stage
2015 : Group stage
2017 : Group stage
  • Copa Interclubes UNCAF: 5 appearances
Best: Quarter-finals in 2004
2000 : First Round
2003 : First Round
2004 : Quarter-finals
2006 : First Round
2007 : First Round

Record versus other nations
As of 2016-09-13

The Concacaf opponents below = Official tournament results: (Plus a sampling of other results)

Opponent Last Meeting G W D L F A PTS +/-
Alajuelense 26 – Sept – 2012 6 0 0 6 2 21 0 -19
Árabe Unido 1996 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 -1
Atlético Marte 15 – Dec – 1991 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 -3
Comunicaciones 6 – Dec – 1991 1 0 0 1 0 15 0 -15
Dallas 24 – Aug – 2016 2 0 1 1 2 3 1 -1
Diriangén 2003 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
FAS 2003 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 -1
Montreal Impact 2 – Oct – 2008 2 0 1 1 0 1 1 -1
Motagua 16 – Aug – 2007 2 0 0 2 1 5 0 -4
Olimpia 24 – Sept – 2013 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 -2
Real España 29 – Sept – 2004 4 0 2 2 5 14 2 -9
Saprissa 26 – Aug – 2014 7 0 2 5 2 12 2 -10
Sporting Kansas City 23 – Sept – 2014 4 0 2 2 2 7 2 -5
Suchitepéquez 13 – Sept – 2016 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 -1
Tauro 1992 2 0 0 2 1 7 0 -6
Toronto 2 – Aug – 2011 2 0 0 2 2 4 0 -2
UANL 18 – Sept – 2012 2 0 1 1 1 5 1 -4
Totals 0

Honours

Copa de Nicaragua: 1991

References
  1. "Team Profile: Real Esteli". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
  2. "Real Estelí FC - Soccer - Team Profile - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics - Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com.

See also
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