Club Sport Emelec

Emelec

Full name	Club Sport Emelec
Nickname(s)	El Bombillo (the lightbulbs) Los Electricos (the electrics) El Ballet Azul (the blue ballet) El Equipo Millonario (the millionaire team)
Founded	April 28, 1929
Ground	Estadio George Capwell (Capacity: 24,500)
Chairman	Nassib Neme
Manager	Juan Ramón Carrasco
League	Serie A
2010	2nd
Home colours Away colours

Club Sport Emelec is a Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil that is best known for their professional football team. The football team plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of professional football in the country.

Emelec has won ten Serie A titles, which places them third overall with LDU Quito.. In addition, they also have won seven regional titles, a record-tying five of them in the professional era.

Emelec was founded on April 28, 1929 by George Capwell, the American head of the Electric Company of Ecuador (Spanish: Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador), from which the club is named after. The name of their home stadium pays homage to the club's founder. Emelec is amongst the most popular clubs in the country. The club's most intense rivalry is with crosstown-team Barcelona. Matches between the clubs are known as El Clásico del Astillero.

History

The club was found after an assembly of employees at the Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador, an electric company in Guayaquil, decided to start an amateur sports league. The initiative was spearheaded by George Capwell, the executive officer of the company who came from the United States. The first sports played in the club were baseball, basketball, boxing, swimming, handball, and football. Capwell did not enjoy football, so the sport was supported only by his employees in non-official but recognized championships. This changed in the 1940s, when Capwell finally lent his support, resulting in the club winning several official local championships, building their own stadium, and hosting the 1947 South American Championship entirely in it.

In 1957, the club became the first national champions in football with a "dream team" that included Cipriano Yu Lee, José Vicente Balseca, Cruz Ávila, Mariano Larraz, Carlos Alberto Raffo, Jaime Ubilla, Daniel Pinto, Rómulo Gómez and Suárez-Rizzo; they were coached by Eduardo "Tano" Spandre. Since then, they have accumulated nine more national titles, placing them 3rd in the national title count behind Barcelona and El Nacional (both have 13). They have also won seven local titles (two in the amateur area and five in the professional era).

In the 1990s, the football team saw success internationally. In 1995, they reached the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores; they lost to eventual champions Grêmio. In 2001, the team was close to becoming the first Ecuadorian club to win an international title when they were a finalist in the 2001 Copa Merconorte. In the finals, they lost to Millionarios 3–1 on penalty kicks after tying on aggregate 2–2.

Facilities

Several years after the creation of the Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador sports club, its founder, George Lewis Capwell, decided that it was time for the club to have its own Baseball stadium, so in 1942 Guayaquil's Municipal authorities donated 4 city blocks for the construction of the first private sports stadium in Ecuador. A year after that, in 1943, Emelec's staff officially named and initiated the construction of the George Capwell Stadium.

George Capwell Stadium opened its doors for the first time on October 21 of 1945, the inaugural game was a Baseball match between Emelec and Oriente, and George Capwell played as a catcher for the "Azules" (Emelec). Although Emelec's president did not like football and their stadium was not initially intended to be a football field, soon after the inauguration the first football match was held. Emelec won 5 – 4 against an all stars team from the cities of Manta and Bahia.

The 1947 Copa America competition was held exclusively at George Capwell Stadium, and an undefeated Argentina became South America's champion with an all star team that included names like Alfredo Di Stéfano, Lostau, and Mendez. Ecuador finished in 6th place. (Brazil did not participate on this competition.)

After the birth of Guayaquil's Estadio Modelo Guayaquil "Alberto Spencer", the George Capwell Stadium was closed for many years because it became obsolete, and in several occasions was almost destroyed for various projects that luckily for the club were never actually completed.

It wasn't until 1991 that with the leadership of Nassib Nehme that the George Capwell Stadium was reopened, to become once again the house of Emelec. Since its reopening the stadium has been enlarged twice and a new and final change has been scheduled for 2010, to reach a final capacity of 45,000 spectators.

At the moment the official capacity of the stadium according to the FEF (Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol) is 18,000 spectators. However, that number has not been changed even after the two enlargements were finished. It is said that the true capacity of the stadium at the moment is 30,000 spectators.

Training ground

Emelec's training ground is located in the north of Guayaquil in a neighborhood called Los Samanes and the training ground itself is called Complejo Deportivo de Los Samanes, translated to Los Samanes Sports Complex. The construction of the Samanes training ground started in 1984 and was finished in 1986 and was built by Filanbanco a large financial institution in Ecuador at the time.

Filanbanco had its own professional football which used Los Samanes until 1989 when despite being one of the top teams at the time, Filanbanco's football club was disbanded due to lack of supporters and high maintenance costs.

During the 1993 Copa America held in Ecuador, the Samanes complex was used by the Argentinean delegation, they stayed and trained there and were very appreciative of its secluded nature and excellent facilities, that among other things included 4 professional football fields, an indoor football field, basketball courts, tennis courts, an Olympic size pool, social area and sleeping area.

After Filanbanco's football club was disbanded, the complex remained in the hands of Filanbanco for their employees to use its facilities, until 1999 when the Ecuadorian financial crisis ended with Filanbanco going bankrupt and ending up in the hands of the AGD a governmental agency created to control, protect and administrate the assets of Filanbanco and other financial institutions that went bust during the crisis.

This meant that Los Samanes ended up in the hands of the Issfa (Instituto de Servicio Social de las Fuerzas Armadas) the Ecuadorian army's social security agency. Because Issfa had no real use for it, the then Football director of Emelec Mr. Omar Quintana Baquerizo managed to loan the training ground for the club and Emelec has been using it ever since.

Initially the agreement was a loan for 5 years, but when the 5 years passed the government and the club arranged a 100 year loan for the facilities, however the high monthly cost agreed has made the payments very difficult for the club and the new administrators lead byt the club's president Mr. Elias Wated are in talks with the government to settle on a definitive purchase of the training ground.

The Samanes complex is a great asset for the club, having the perfect facilities for the professional team, the youth squads and the club members, and its of a vital importance for the club's future.

Supporters

Boca del Pozo

The fan group known as "Boca del Pozo" (mouth of the well) was founded July 25, 1980 by Giuseppe Cavanna Chavez (today part of the club's staff), and its recognized as the oldest "barra brava" group in Ecuador. The group adopted that name because their clubhouse, known as Cavanna's Place, was located in a neighborhood with the same name. The fan base gained recognition and grew in number. Today, Boca Del Pozo is known to usually gather behind the goals, and chant for Emelec from beginning to end, regardless of the score. Inside Ecuador, Boca del Pozo is the mayor driving force of Emelec fans wherever the team has to play, and the fans travel all over the country to watch Emelec's away games with an average of 4000 fans per game.

The Boca del Pozo fan group has gather international recognition in South America for being one of the most loyal fan groups in the continent, following Emelec to almost all their international matches, sometimes travelling by land for over a week. On March 2007 around 60 members of the Boca del Pozo traveled to Buenos Aires for a Copa Libertadores match against Velez Sarsfield. On September 2009 around 100 fans went to Venezuela for a Copa Sudamericana match against Zamora. On February 2010 around 200 people travelled to Rosario, Argentina for a match against Newell's Old Boys for the first round of the Copa Libertadores, On September 2010 for a Copa Sudamericana match against San Martin in Lima, an Ecuadorian record of 800 people made the trip and attended the match, most of them traveled by car in 30 hour marathon from Guayaquil to Lima.

The group has also created several factions in several different cities in Ecuador, and even internationally where there are Emelec factions in cities like Buenos Aires, Madrid, Rome, and New York. On 2008 the Boca del Pozo's Madrid faction attended an international friendly between France and Ecuador in Grenoble, making them the first ever Ecuadorian organized fan group to attend a match in European soil.

Legión Azul (Blue Legion)

The group known as Legión Azul was founded in 2001 before Emelec won that year's championship. It started with 10 to 15 members. Today, however, there are more or less 250 members of this group now. They are located right in front of "La Boca del Pozo" behind the other goal.

Friendship

Even though they are not official club friendships, because of their many travels and competitions across South America, Emelec and its fans have made some international friendships with other supporter groups, and with teams with whom they have good understandings. In their 2007 trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Boca del Pozo group received help along the way from several other fan groups from Peru, Chile, and Argentina. In Peru they were helped by the Alianza Lima's fan group called Comando Svr who helped them make their way thru Peru into Chile. Once in Chile they were greeted by Colo-Colo's fan group, Garra Blanca which also helped them make their way across Chile in order to reach Argentina, and once there they received help from Chacarita Juniors's fans.

On September 2010 around 800 people made the trip from Guayaquil to Lima for a Copa Sudamericana match against San Martin. In Lima Emelec's fans were once again greeted by the Comando Svr of Alianza Lima, which helped them arrange the logistics for their stay in the Peruvian capital. Once they were back in Guayaquil, Boca del Pozo issued an official thank you note on their website thanking their Alianza peers for their hospitality, this was covered by the Peruvian media and Alianza's fans were heavily criticized for helping a rival of a Peruvian team.

Emelec as a club also has close relationships with several teams, with whom they often trade players or arrange international friendly matches like, Deportivo Independiente Medellín, Alianza Lima, Boca Juniors, Lanús, and Newell's Old Boys.

Players

For a list of all former and current Emelec players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Emelec footballers.

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 Wilmer Zumba 2 DF Fulton Francis 3 DF Paul Cetre 4 DF Luis Zambrano 5 MF José Luis Quiñónez 6 DF Carlos Quiñónez 7 MF David Quiroz 8 MF Polo Wila 9 MF Silvano Estacio 11 FW Washington Vélez 12 GK José Ayoví 13 MF Ángel Mena 14 MF Enner Valencia 15 MF Pedro Quiñónez 16 DF Óscar Bagüí

No. Position Player 17 FW José María Franco 18 FW Armando Mina 19 DF Marcelo Fleitas 20 MF Brian Lugo 22 GK Javier Klimowicz 23 FW Nicolas Vigneri 24 MF Fernando Giménez 25 DF Eduardo Morante 28 FW Ronnal Campos 29 DF Gabriel Achilier 30 MF Édison Méndez 50 FW Dennys Hurtado 51 MF Fernando Gaibor 52 MF Byron Mina 53 DF Alex Cetre

Reserve team

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 52 DF Bryan Carranza 54 MF Luis Seminario 55 MF Jean de la Rosa 56 FW Fernando Rendón 57 FW Kevin Tello

No. Position Player 58 DF Wilson Morante MF Roger Renteria MF Bryan Rodríguez MF Fernando Pinillo MF Marcos Caicedo

Noted players

Over the years Emelec has had many of the best Ecuadorian players in history, being one of the most important contribuitors to the Ecuadorian National Squad. Some of the best Ecuadorian players to have dressed in blue are:

Juan Carlos Almada Luis Miguel Escalada (Toro) Scott Hoegg (Bocha) Angel Liciardi Carlos Alberto Mendoza Carlos Miori Marcelo Morales (Pepo) Miguel Onzari Roberto Ortega (El Pibe) Roberto Oste Walter Pico Juan Sanz Jorge Bernabe Vargas Antonio Vidal Gonzales Marco Etcheverry Gonzalo Galindo Edu Rubén Marcos Sergio Bernabé Vargas (Superman) Hamilton Ricard Ricardo Armendáriz Ney Raul Aviles (Turco) Jaime Ayoví

Walter Ayoví Jorge Bolaños (†) (El Pibe) Luis Capurro (Capurrinho) Jesús Cárdenas (Jechu) Alex Cevallos Dannes Coronel Kléber Fajardo (Cabezón) Ángel Fernández (Cuchillo) Ariel Graziani (Guasón) Carlos Ramon Hidalgo (Huancavilca) Eduardo Hurtado (Tanque) Iván Hurtado (Bamm-Bamm) Carlos Juárez (Cuqui) Iván Kaviedes (Nine) Washington Mina Christian Noboa Vidal Pachito Augusto Poroso (Porozito) Lupo Quinonez Carlos Alberto Raffo Joao Rojas Ivo Ron Máximo Tenorio

Otilino Tenorio (†) (Spider-Man) Carlos Torres Garcés Emilio Valencia Enrique Verduga (Flaco) Cipriano Yu Lee (†) Ramón Mageregger (Candado) Rodulfo Manzo Ovidiu Burcă Alexi Lalas Joe-Max Moore Xavier Baldriz Rubén Beninca Miguel Falero Eduardo Garcia (Ñato) Luis Lamberk José Maria Piriz José Romanelly Mario Saralegui Juan Ramon Silva Gabriel Miranda José Manuel Rey Jorge Rojas

Top goalscorers

The following is a list of Emelec players who have been the top scorer of the year in Ecuador:

Carlos Miori (1979), (26 goals) Ariel Graziani (1996), (29 goals) Ariel Graziani (1997), (24 goals) Ivan Kaviedes (1998), (43 goals) * Alejandro Kenig (2000), (25 goals)

Carlos Juárez (2001), (17 goals) Otilino Tenorio (2002), (20 goals) Luis Miguel Escalada (2006), (30 goals) Jaime Ayoví (2010), (23 goals)

(*) Ecuadorian football record, and top scorer of the world in 1998.

Managers

See also Category: Emelec managers.

Current coaching staff

• Manager: Vacant
• Assistant manager:
• Second assistant manager:
• Physical trainer:

Noted managers

• Eduardo Spandre (won the 1957 Serie A)
• Mariano Larraz (won the 1961 Serie A)
• Fernando Paternoster (won the 1965 Serie A)
• Jorge Lazo (won the 1972 Serie A)
• Eduardo Garcia (won the 1979 Serie A)
• Juan Ramon Silva (won the 1988 Serie A)
• Salvador Capitano (won the 1993 Serie A)
• Carlos Torres Garces (won the 1994 Serie A)
• Carlos Sevilla (won the 2001 Serie A)
• Rodolfo Motta (won the 2002 Serie A)

Honors

Regional^[1]

• Campeonato Amateur del Fútbol del Guayas (2): 1945, 1948
• Campeonato Profesional de Guayaquil (5): 1956, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1966

National

• Serie A (13): 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1965, 1972, 1979, 1988, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002
• Serie B (1): 1981 E1

Explosión Azul

Explosión Azul or Blue explosion, is the official name of Emelec's team presentation that is held every year before the Ecuadorian tournament or the international events Emelec has qualified to are being held.

The event is usually held in the George Capwell Stadium and its one of the highlights of the team's pre-season. It mainly consists on several shows, music bands and fireworks followed by a one by one presentation of the team member's for the season and a friendly match against either a local or a foreging team.

On the last "Explosión Azul", Emelec played against newly promoted Ecuadorian team Independiente José Terán and won the match 2 – 0, the scorers were Fernando Giménez and Jaime Ayoví.

On previous editions the rivals for the "Explosión Azul" have been teams like Sporting Cristal, Independiente Medellín and Liga de Portoviejo among others.

Other sports

Emelec is not only one of the most important football clubs in Ecuador, but it is rated as one of the most important sports club of the country. In their trophy room Emelec has hundreds of cups and medals that have been gained over the years in many different sports. The list includes:

• 33 Consecutive National Boxing Championships
• 13 Baseball National Championships
• 11 Male Basketball National Championships
• 18 Female Basketball National Championships
• 7 Cycling National Champsionships
• 5 Tae Kwon Do National Championships
• 5 Judo National Championships
• 1 Weight Lifting World Championship

References

1. ^ Ávila Villagómez, Esteban (December 29, 2000). "Ecuador – Champions Costa". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/ecuacostachamp.html. Retrieved November 8, 2010. 

External links

• Emelec Official website (Spanish)
• Emelexista Fansite (Spanish)
• Emelec Derby (English)
• Pacific Cup Official Website
• Official Website of the Boca del Pozo (Spanish)
• Azul y Plomo Fansite (Spanish)
• Ecuagol Ecuadorian Football Site (Spanish)
• Official Site of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (Spanish)