Uruguay is Futbol
URUGUAY NATIONAL TEAM
In Uruguay football is a social and cultural phenomenon that goes beneath the boundaries of sport. It is a collective party, which is unique in the planet and is recognized all around the globe. Football runs through the blood of all the inhabitants of this country and is a distinctive element in the cultural identity of its citizens
This is the only explanation why a country of only 3.5 million inhabitants has reached glory so many times through its local squads or its national teams both continentally and worldwide.
Uruguay conquered the gold medal in the 1924 (Paris) and 1928 (Amsterdam) Olympic games. The Uruguayan National team stood out in the beginnings of the century due to its memorable Olympic campaigns and thereafter it earned the admiration and respect of all the sporting universe, placing South American football in the highest peak, during times in which South America was left behind from the sporting point of view.
In 1930 Uruguay was World football champion in its home, beating Argentina in the final match, and in 1950 it surprised the whole world by beating Brazil in the very Maracaná stadium. This success was named “Maracanazo” and is recognized by all sport lovers throughout the globe.
After long years of sporting crisis, Uruguay surprised the whole planet again by placing themselves on the 4th place in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. They also reached this position 40 years before in Mexico.
Also, it is the smallest South American country, but the one with more Copa America trophies, beating the Continent’s superpowers Argentina and Brazil.
Uruguay is also an exporter of footballers, both in quantity and in the quality of the players that practice their art in leagues all over the world, like Diego Forlán, the best player of FIFA World Cup 2010. Uruguay is also one of the countries in the world with more football teams and leagues.
Club Atlético Peñarol
Club Atlético Peñarol was founded on the 29th September 1891 thanks to the impulse of many rail workers of a British Railway Company which operated in Uruguay since 1878.
At the beginning the Club was baptized as Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club (CURCC) or “Peñarol”, just as the neighbourhood in which most of the rail workers lived. Peñarol is also known as “Carbonero” (collier), with reference to the railway’s fuel in those times; or “Manyas”, after the nickname that a legendary player of Nacional – its eternal rival- would give them years later.
In March 1914 CURCC officially changed its name to “Club Atlético Peñarol”. This team has broken many national and international records, like the biggest row of undefeated games in a national championship (56 matches to be more precise). This record is unique in South America.
It is the first team to have won the Copa Libertadores undefeatledly in 1960. It is also the team with more participations in this tournament and has played 10 final matches of Copa. It is the Uruguayan team that has conquered the Copa more times than any other, having 5 of the Continental trophies in the Club’s hands.
In September 2009 it was entitled Best South American team of the Twentieth Century by the IFFHS.
After many years of silence, in 2011 Peñarol was again in the final match of Copa Libertadores, losing to the powerful Santos of Brazil.
Club Nacional de Football
In 1899 a group of Young uruguayans decided to break the English monopoly in uruguayan football creating a team of nationals, that’s why they called it Club Nacional de Football.
Nacional is also known as “bolso” (pocket), due to one of its first jerseys which had a big pocket on the left side of the chest; “tricolor”, in connection with the three colours of its flag, which are the same as Artigas’ Flag (one of the Uruguayan national emblems).
Nacional is one of the teams with more trophies in the world, both locally and internationally, and has always provided the National team with players.
Nacional has its own stadium, Gran Parque Central, where the first World Cup match in history was played in 1930. It is located in the same place where Artigas (the national hero) was entitled “chief of the Orientals (Uruguayans)” in 1811.
