Deportivo Táchira Fútbol Club

Football club infobox
clubname = Deportivo Táchira


fullname = Deportivo Táchira Fútbol Club
nickname = "Aurinegro" ("Gold-and-black")
founded = 1974
ground = Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo,
San Cristóbal, Venezuela
capacity = 42,500 | chairman = Juana Suárez
manager = Carlos Maldonado
league = Primera División Venezolana
season = Clausura 2008
position = 1º
pattern_la1=_blackshoulders|pattern_b1=_blackstripes|pattern_ra1=_blackshoulders
leftarm1=EED700|body1=EED700|rightarm1=EED700|shorts1=000000|socks1=EED700
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thinblackhoops2|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000000|body2=EED700|rightarm2=000000|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000

Deportivo Táchira Fútbol Club, usually known as Deportivo Táchira, is a traditional ref|tradicion and a popular ref|popular Venezuelan football club. It was founded on 11 January 1974 by the initiative of Gaetano Greco. In its first national championship, the club finished in first place, originating the nickname "El equipo que nació Grande" (meaning "the club which was born Big").

History

In 1970, Italian-born Gaetano Greco founded in San Cristóbal an amateur club called Juventus, named after the famous Italian club.

In 1974, Greco noticed that there was no professional football club in Táchira, so he decided to start a club based on the amateur Juventus club. On 11 January of that year, he and twelve other people founded the club, which was named Deportivo San Cristóbal. Most of the club's players came from the Juventus club. Initially, the club's colors were blue and white, like the Italy ones.

In January 1975, the club changed its colors to yellow and black, because those colors better represented the Táchira state and were the preferred colors of the Uruguayan manager José "Pocho" Gil, due to their likeness to Peñarol ones in Uruguay.

Titles

*Primera División Venezolana (6 times): 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 2000, 2008
*Primera División Venezolana runner-up (7 times): 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1999, 2004
*Copa Libertadores de América participations (11 times): 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2001, 2004, 2005
*Copa Sudamericana participations (1 time): 2002
*Copa CONMEBOL participations (3 times): 1993, 1996, 1997
*Copa de Venezuela: 1986
*Deportivo Táchira is the Venezuelan club with the most appearances in Copa Libertadores, and is also the club which has finished as Venezuela's league runner-up the most times. It has won six national championships.

*The club's best Copa Libertadores participation was in 2004, when the club became the first team to qualify for the quarter-final of the competition without losing a match, playing against strong teams like River Plate (Argentina), Libertad (Paraguay), Deportes Tolima (Colombia), Nacional de Montevideo (Uruguay) and São Paulo (Brazil).

Current first team squad

tadium

The club's home stadium is Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, located in San Cristóbal. It has a maximum capacity of 42,500 people.

upporters

The supporters are known as "aurinegros" ("gold-and-blacks")

There are three main organized groups of supporters, "La Torcida Aurinegra ", "La 12" now known as "La Avalacha Sur."

The aurinegros had already committed acts of violence at the stadium. One of the most tragic events took place on December, 17, 2000, when the club and Caracas drew 2-2, which gave the Copa República Bolivariana de Venezuela's title to the other side, and a mob of angry supporters burned a bus inside the soccer field.

Derby

The match between Deportivo Táchira and Estudiantes de Mérida is known as the "Clásico de Los Andes" (meaning "Andes' Derby"), but in recent years the match between Deportivo Táchira and Caracas FC has been known as the modern derby, because of the successful performance of both teams. Other classic rival was Marítimo de Venezuela (Caracas'club) in the 80's and earlier 90's.

Colors

Deportivo Táchira's shirt has black and yellow vertical stripes, with black shorts and socks.

Famous players

"The list is sorted by last name"

*Gilberto Angelucci
*Rafael Dudamel
*Daniel Francovig
*Juan García
*Miguel Oswaldo González, nicknamed "El Negro"
*Laureano Jaimes
*Carlos Maldonado
*William Méndez
*Emerson Panigutti
*Pedro Delgado
*Ricardo Páez
*Julio Silvera
*"El Pollo" Hernandez
*Jose Luis Dolguetta

References

# [http://www.deportivotachira.com/noticia332.html "Llegué con la idea y el sueño de ser campeón" - Deportivo Táchira's official website] (December 28, 2006)
# [http://www.el-universal.com/2004/07/26/imp_futb_art_25278A.shtml "Táchira traspasa la frontera" - El Universal] (July 26, 2004)
# [http://www.eluniversal.com/2003/11/01/apo_art_01201B.shtml "Los Gochigans" - El Universal] (November 1, 2003)
#*Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Spanish-language wikipedia article (retrieved January 15, 2004).

External links

* [http://www.deportivotachira.com Deportivo Táchira's official website]
* [http://www.deportivotachira.com.ve Deportivo Táchira's unofficial website]
* [http://aurinegro.blogcindario.com Deportivo Táchira's blog]
* [http://www.eldeportivotachira.net Deportivo Táchira's fan site]