Barracas Central

Felipe Cámpora, a truck driver, founded Club Atlético Barracas Central on 5 April 1904 under the name "Barracas Central del Sud". Cámpora carried out the project and became the first president of the entity. During the early years of the club's foundation, the founders would each contribute 75¢ cents until 1906 where a monthly fee was paid. In 1911 Barracas joined the Argentine Football Association under the name "Villa Soldati" and began participating in the Argentine football intermediate division.

In 1913 the club officially changed its name to "Barracas Central". The team crowned champion of the second division, División Intermedia, therefore gaining promotion to the Primera División, where Barracas would play until 1931 when football became professional in Argentina, with a new dissident league, Liga Argentina de Football organizing its own championships. Barracas Central stayed in the official league (that remained amateur) until 1934 when both leagues merged, being all the amateur teams relegated to the second division.[2]

Barracas Central in 1944. That team won the Primera C title

In 1939 Barracas Central was near to promote to the first division, playing a hexagonal tournament which was eventually won by Banfield as Barracas and All Boys both finished second. The team could not escape relegation in 1941 where it would stay in the third division (Primera C) until 1944 when Barracas Central went through the season undefeated, with 14 wins and 2 draws, winning the competition.

By 1948 the club managed to get back up to the second division, but the AFA undertook a restructuring of the competitions, introducing the Division's A, B, C and D. The clubs that would take part in the C and D division's were generally the ones which did not meet stadium requirements, as chosen by the Argentine Football Federation, Barracas would play in the C and D leagues along with All Boys, Defensores de Belgrano and Estudiantes de Buenos Aires among others. From 1950 to 1970, Barracas played in the Division C when their best performance came in 1957 when they ranked in third position among 18 teams.

Despite a steady performance in 1970 season, Barracas Central finished in the relegation zone, alongside Flandria, in 1980. The two played off in a single fixture, where Flandria avoided relegation by defeating Barracas 2–1. This sent Barracas down to the Primera D Metropolitana for the 1981 season. The 1981 Primera D was split into two zones, where which Barracas Central and Defensa y Justicia had both finished in first place in their respective zones, promoting both teams to the Primera C. After almost gaining promotion to the Primera B Metropolitana, Barracas fell short in 1985 and were relegated to the Primera D. The following years saw poor results from the squad until the 1988–89 season, which was the first year that the Argentine Football Association saw that seasons would begin in the middle of each year, Barracas managed to earn themselves a play-off position where which they would go on to beat Fénix, Villa San Carlos and Sacachispas to get it back to the Primera C.

The success was short lived as Barracas would finish in second last spot among 19 teams in the 1989–90 season, relegating the team back to the Primera D. Over two years, Barracas Central strengthen and once more climbed the ladder to Primera C. Those were the years when the club fought against relegation, rather than for promotion.

Lucas Barrios was formed at the club's youth academy

Having won the Primera C Metropolitana's Apertura title of 2003, Barracas Central could have achieved direct success of winning the Clausura of 2004. However, Barracas finished in fourth place which saw them face Argentino de Rosario in a two-legged play-off to determine who would gain promotion to the Primera B Metropolitana. The two sides met at Newell's Old Boys' Estadio Marcelo Bielsa for the first-leg which saw Barracas Central lose by 2–1. The second leg was played at Huracán's Estadio Tomás Adolfo Ducó which saw Barracas win by 2–1. The game was then decided by a penalty shootout which saw the side from Rosario win at 5–4 to gain promotion in place of Barracas. A few years later, in the 2006–2007 season, Barracas reached the same position again where which they would again face Argentino de Rosario in a play-off. Like 2004, Argentino de Rosario went out as winners, breaking the hearts of Los Baraqueños. The 2007–2008 season saw Barracas lead the table at one point but faded to finish fifth. Once more Barracas would feature in the play-offs, this time against Club El Porvenir which earnt them a tie with San Telmo, who had finished near the bottom of the Primera B Metropolitana. San Telmo won 3–2 at home and then lost 1–0 away, which meant their result was sufficient to satisfy their position in the Primera B Metropolitana while Barracas would once again stay in the Primera C.

The Primera C Metropolitana 2009–2011 season kicked off highly for Barracas, winning 21 games throughout the season and losing just 7. Barracas eventually finished in first position on the table, tied with Excursionistas with 73 points, Barracas were immediately promoted to the Primera B Metropolitana for the 2010–2011 where rivals Barracas Bolívar would finish in last place, seeing them relegated to the Primera D Metropolitana season.[3] The defying moment which saw Barracas officially gain promotion to the Argentine third division was in a 1–0 victory against Excursianistas which was played at Club Atlético Atlanta's Estadio Don León Kolbovski behind closed doors, only allowing a small number of fans for each team, the goal came in the 94th minute by striker Carlos Salóm, whose attractive performance eventually earned him a spot with Argentine First Division club Olimpo.[4]

Prior to the season, the club saw 9 new signings to the first-team after the departure of fan favourite Carlos Salóm. Barracas welcomed former Lanús goalkeeper Horacio Ramirez, who arrived back in Argentina from Peru's Coronel Bolognesi in January 2010, as well as 22-year-old striker Jorge Gonzalez from Puerto Rico's River Plate. Barracas kicked off the opening game at home in a 1–0 loss against Acassuso, it was not until round 6 where which they gained their first victory which was a 3–0 win at home against Nueva Chicago which saw two goals by new signing Sebastian Matos.[5] Barracas finished in seventh spot on the table with 64 points earning them a play-off promotion tie with Nueva Chicago. Both teams tied 3–3, Sebastian Matos scoring two goals including an equaliser on 89 minutes. Nueva Chicago were promoted having finished in a higher position on the table.

In December 2021, Barracas Central returned to Primera División after 87 years playing in lower divisions. Barracas beat Quilmes 0–0 (5–4, (p)) in the Torneo Reducido final. Therefore, Barracas promoted along with Tigre, which had been crowned champion of the 2021 Primera Nacional season.[6]

As of 8 September 2023

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ARG Maximiliano Gagliardo 2 DF  ARG Brian Blasi 5 MF  ARG Dylan Glaby (loan from Deportivo Morón) 6 DF  COL Thomás Gutiérrez (loan from River Plate) 8 MF  ARG Juan Manuel Vázquez 9 FW  ARG Facundo Castro 10 MF  ARG Iván Tapia 13 GK  ARG Cristian Arce 14 DF  ARG Juan Ignacio Díaz (loan from Estudiantes LP) 16 DF  ARG Braian Salvareschi 17 FW  ARG Pablo Mouche 18 MF  ARG Jonathan Blanco 19 DF  ARG Carlos Arce 20 FW  ARG Valentín Viola

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF  ARG Brian Calderara (loan from Newell's) 22 DF  ARG Nicolás Ferreyra (loan from Estudiantes RC) 23 FW  ARG Ricardo Centurión (loan from Vélez Sarsfield) 24 DF  ARG Axel Bordón 26 DF  ARG Maximiliano Rodríguez 27 MF  ARG Federico Florentin 28 DF  ARG Daniel Martínez 29 FW  ARG Bruno Sepúlveda (loan from Estudiantes RC) 33 MF  ARG Facundo Mater (loan from Argentinos) 36 MF  ARG Alex Juárez 79 MF  ARG Maximiliano Puig

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 32 MF  ARG Francisco Solé (at Defensores de Belgrano until 31 December 2022)