Atlético Huila

Atlético Huila is a professional Colombian football team based in Neiva, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. The club was founded on November 29, 1990, making it one of the youngest professional football clubs in Colombia. The club's best seasons came in the late 2000s; they finished runners-up in 2007 and again in 2009. They play their home games at the Guillermo Plazas Alcid stadium, which has a capacity of 27,000. Huila has a long-standing rivalry with Deportes Tolima, known as the Tolima Grande derby. The club has a futsal team named Ultrahuilca Coomotor.

Atlético Huila
Logo
Full nameClub Deportivo Atlético Huila S.A.
Nickname(s)Los Opitas (The Opitas, from the Opita Spanish language dialect of Tolima and Huila)
Bambuqueros (Bambuco Dancers)
El Barcino (Light-haired steer)
Founded29 November 1990 (1990-11-29)
GroundEstadio Guillermo Plazas Alcid
Neiva, Colombia
Capacity27,000
ChairmanMaruan Issa
CoachNéstor Craviotto
LeagueCategoría Primera A
2022Primera B, 8th of 16
(Season runners-up, promoted by play-off)
WebsiteClub website

History

The club was founded in November 1990 and was admitted into the Primera B tournament the following year. In 1992, Alberto Rujana was appointed as manager. That same season, the club purchased midfielder Guillermo Berrío from America de Cali; Rujana named him captain and made him the centerpiece of the squad. Immediate promotion followed. The club managed to last in the top flight until the end of the 1996–97 season, when they finished last in the relegation table and were sent back to Primera B.

Rafael Corrales took over the club in 1996–97, and led them to an immediate promotion back to the top flight. The club managed to consolidate itself in the league, although relegation was a constant danger. Huila escaped relegation only on goal differential in 2002 and had to win a relegation playoff against Valledupar in 2006. This was why the club's performance in 2007 was almost entirely unexpected.

Under the management of Néstor Otero, the club finished third in the Apertura and qualified for the semifinal phase. They further surprised by winning their semifinal group (beating Millonarios on the final day of the round robin) to reach the Apertura finals, where they were beaten by Atlético Nacional 2–1 over two legs. A similarly unexpected result came in the second half of the 2009 season (Finalización tournament), when the club finished third in the first stage and topped its semifinal group. Once again they were beaten in the finals, this time by Independiente Medellín by a 3–2 aggregate score. The strong performance in the 2009 season allowed Atlético Huila to qualify for the following year's Copa Sudamericana for the first time in history, in which they beat Venezuelan team Trujillanos in the first stage, but were knocked out by San José from Bolivia in the second stage.

The club placed first in the first stage of the 2015 Torneo Apertura, however they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Deportes Tolima.

After 22 years in the top flight, Atlético Huila were relegated back to the second tier at the end of the 2019 season, finishing in last place of both the relegation table and the year's aggregate table. Their relegation was confirmed on the last day of the regular season with a 1–0 defeat against Jaguares, who were also involved in the relegation struggle.[1]

Following their return to Primera B, Atlético Huila won the 2020 tournament, which did not grant promotion for the following season given that promotion and relegation were postponed for six months due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia, however they were able to seal their promotion back to Primera A by beating Deportes Quindío, winners of the first tournament of the 2021 season, in a double-legged Grand Final.[2] Although their return to the top flight was short-lived and they were relegated back to Primera B at the end of 2021, in their return to the second tier for the 2022 season they were able to bounce back from a poor performance in the first half of the season by winning the Torneo II which allowed them to qualify for the Primera B Grand Final against the Torneo I winners Boyacá Chicó. Their defeat in that series forced them to play a double-legged play-off against Deportes Quindío for the final promotion spot, which they won by beating the cuyabro side by a 2–1 score on aggregate, allowing them to return to Primera A for 2023.[3]

On 4 May 2023, 97.203% of the club's shares were sold to the international holding Sociedad FARLAY S.A. led by businessman Michel Deller, who also owns the Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle.[4]

Honours

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions
1999: First Round
2010: Second Round

Players

Current squad
As of 18 July 2023[5]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF Colombia COL Germán Gutiérrez
3 DF Colombia COL Leonardo Escorcia
5 DF Colombia COL Andrés Ariza
6 MF Paraguay PAR Blas Díaz
7 MF Colombia COL Sebastián Hernández (captain)
8 MF Colombia COL Ronaldo Tavera
9 FW Colombia COL Juan Fernando Caicedo
10 MF Brazil BRA Marcus Vinícius
11 FW Colombia COL Wilfrido de La Rosa
12 GK Colombia COL Jhon Figueroa
13 DF Colombia COL Didier Delgado
16 FW Colombia COL Ronaldo Royero
17 DF Colombia COL Yuber Mosquera
20 FW Colombia COL Faber Gil
22 GK Colombia COL Víctor Cabezas
24 FW Colombia COL John Méndez
No. Pos. Nation Player
26 DF Colombia COL Andrés Rivera
27 DF Colombia COL Jhon Lerma
28 MF Colombia COL Michel Cárdenas
29 FW Colombia COL Carlos Lucumí (on loan from Deportivo Cali)
31 MF Colombia COL David Patiño
69 MF Ecuador ECU Cristian Tobar
80 MF Colombia COL Bladimir Angulo
— GK Colombia COL Jeison Méndez
— DF Ecuador ECU Luis Caicedo
— DF Colombia COL Brayan Medina
— MF Colombia COL Daniel Marín
— MF Colombia COL Carlos Robles
— FW Colombia COL Brandon Caicedo
— FW Colombia COL Jader Manyoma
— FW Colombia COL William Ordóñez

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

Notable players

Managers

Women
Main article: Atlético Huila (women)

Atlético Huila Femenino is the women's section of Atlético Huila. They participate in the Colombian Women's Football League organized by Dimayor, the top level women's football league in Colombia.

Atlético Huila won the league championship in 2018, having finished runner-up in the previous season. That same year, they also won the Copa Libertadores Femenina, thus becoming the first Colombian team to win the continental club competition. In 2020, the team entered a hiatus when it withdrew from the domestic league owing to financial reasons.[6][7] They returned to the league for the 2022 season.[8]

References
  1. "Huila, el peor del año, se fue a la B" [Huila, the worst of the year, went down to the B]. El Tiempo. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  2. "Atlético Huila se coronó campeón de la Final de Ascenso del Torneo BetPlay Dimayor 2021 y vuelve a la primera división". Radio Santa Fe (in Spanish). 1 July 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  3. "¿Cuánto tiempo pasó? Así Huila acabó su infierno y retornó a primera" [How long has it been? Thus, Huila ended their hell and returned to the top tier] (in Spanish). Futbolred. 30 November 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  4. "Este es el millonario que compró al Huila: ya hizo milagro en Ecuador" [This is the millionaire who bought Huila: he already did a miracle in Ecuador] (in Spanish). Futbolred. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  5. "Atlético Huila". Dimayor. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  6. "Muy triste: campeón de Copa Libertadores femenina ya no tendrá equipo" (in Spanish). Futbolred. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  7. "EL DRAMA EN LA DESAPARICIÓN DE ATLÉTICO HUILA FEMENINO, CAMPEÓN DE LIGA Y LIBERTADORES" (in Spanish). Antena 2. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  8. "¡Es oficial! Huila jugará la liga femenina del 2022" [It's official! Huila will play the 2022 women's league] (in Spanish). La Nación. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
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