Real Estelí FC

Real Estelí

File:Real Esteli 2.png
Full name	Real Esteli Football Club
Nickname(s)	El Tren del Norte (The Train of the North)
Founded	1960 (1960) (as Estelí FC)
Ground	Estadio Independencia
Capacity	5,000
Chairman	Helmuth Hurtado
Manager	Sergio Ivan Rodríguez
League	Primera División
2017–18	Runner-up
Website	http://www.realestelifc.com
Home colours Away colours

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 has 13 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

File:Real Esteli FC.png

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

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

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, some limited exceptions apply. 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

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

List of Coaches

• Santiago Berrini
• Nestor Matamala
• Jose Burboa
• Marcos A. Gamboa
• Rigoberto Núñez (1961–65)
• Manuel Catarro Cuadra
• Leonidas Rodríguez Rodríguez (1990–91)
• Roy Posas (1991–92)

• Florentino Colindres
• Rafael Paciencia Núñez (1999–00)
• David Aquiles Medina (2000–01)
• Francisco Rojas (2001 – April 2)
• Ramón Otoniel Olivas (2002 – Dec 08)
• Roy Posas (Jan 2009 – Dec 09)
• Ramón Otoniel Olivas (Dec 2009 – June 2018)
• Washington Fernando Araújo (July 2018–)

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

• CONCACAF Champions League: 6 appearances

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

• Campeonato Nacional/Primera División de Nicaragua: 1991, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2019 Clausura
• Copa de Nicaragua: 1991

External links

• [1]
• Real Estelí FC | Sitio Oficial
• [2]