C.D. Árabe Unido

Club Deportivo Árabe Unido is a professional football club located in Colón, Panama that plays in Liga Panameña de Fútbol, the top tier of the Panamanian football pyramid. The club plays its games in Estadio Armando Dely Valdés.

Árabe Unido
Full nameClub Deportivo Árabe Unido
Nickname(s)El Expreso Azul (The Blue Express)
Los Árabes (The Arabs)
DAU
La Furia colonense (The Fury from Colón)
El Más Laureado
FoundedApril 28, 1994 (1994-04-28)
GroundEstadio Armando Dely Valdés
Colón, Panama
Capacity4,000
ChairmanPedro Gordon
ManagerSergio Guzmán
LeagueLiga Panameña de Fútbol
2022 (C)3rd

Its name, Árabe Unido, means "Arab Union" in English, is emphasised from its original Arab root of the club.

History

The club has been one of the most successful in Panama in recent years, winning 15 titles (more than any other team since 1998) and finishing second five times.

It was founded in 1990 by Arab immigrants to Panama, under the name of Club Atlético Argentina, and experienced immediate success. After climbing the Panamanian league system, in 1994 they took advantage of a split in Panama's governing body to move into the top division. What happened was that a rival league (LINFUNA) formed in opposition to the older, existing top flight (ANAPROF). Árabe Unido was almost immediately successful in LINFUNA, winning both championships that the splinter league held in 1994 and 1995.[1]

Their success continued once they re-entered ANAPROF; at that time, Tauro FC was the dominant team in the league and would win three championships in four years between 1996 and 2000. The only club to break that string was Árabe Unido, which won the 1998–99 title by beating Tauro 3–0 in the playoff final.

After the league switched to the Aprtura/Clausura format in the 2001 season, Los Arabes really began winning titles. The original plan was for the winners of the Apertura to meet the Clausura in a "Grand Final" that would determine the year's champion. Árabe rendered this unnecessary by winning both tournaments. They claimed a third straight championship in Apertura 2002, although they did lose that year's grand final to Plaza Amador.

El Expreso Azul (as fans also called Árabe Unido) would go on to add further honors by sweeping the 2003 season, then winning back to back titles in Clausura 2008 and Apertura 2009. They have also won titles in Clausura 2010, Apertura 2012, Clausura 2015, Apertura 2015, and most recently Apertura 2016.l[2]

Further information: 2015–16 Árabe Unido season

Honours

National titles

International titles

Players

Current squad

As of 10 February 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 Panama PAN Gilberto Dennis
3 DF Panama PAN José Garibaldi
4 DF Panama PAN Shaquille Coronado
5 MF Panama PAN Abdiel Macea
6 MF Panama PAN Rubén Baruco
7 FW Panama PAN Efraín Bristan
8 FW Panama PAN Leonel Tejada
9 FW Panama PAN Juan Villalobos
10 MF Panama PAN Angel Caicedo
11 MF Panama PAN Armando Cooper
13 DF Panama PAN Adolfo Machado
14 DF Panama PAN Gilberto Hernández
15 DF Panama PAN Gabriel Brown
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 DF Panama PAN Emmanuel Ceballos
18 FW Panama PAN Omar Hinestroza
20 DF Colombia COL Dayrón Benavides
23 MF Panama PAN Jonathan Barrera
25 GK Panama PAN Edgardo Alexander
26 DF Panama PAN Félix Góndola
27 DF Panama PAN Yamar Reed
29 MF Panama PAN Edgar Cunningham
32 DF Panama PAN Cristopher Cragwell
52 FW Panama PAN Dario King
70 FW Panama PAN Charles Bustamante
72 FW Panama PAN Dylan Herbert

Retired numbers

21 — Panama Amílcar Henríquez, midfielder (2003–08), (2014),(2016–2017) — posthumous honour.

Historical list of coaches
  • Peru Eliazar Herrera (1998–99)
  • Colombia Richard Parra (2001–03)
  • Colombia Jairo Silva (2003–04)
  • Paraguay Juan Carlos Gómez Cáceres (2004)
  • Spain Ramón Vecinos (2005–06)
  • Colombia Wiston Cifuentes (2006)
  • Panama José Alfredo Poyatos (2007)
  • Colombia Richard Parra (Aug 2009 – Nov 10)
  • Colombia Wilman Conde (Dec 2010 – June 11)[3]
  • Costa Rica Carlos Pérez Porras (June 2011 – Nov 11)[4]
  • Colombia Jair Palacios (Dec 2011 – Aug 14)[5]
  • Panama Julio Dely Valdés (August 2014 – Dec 2014)[6]
  • Colombia Alfonso de Moya (Jan 2015–15)[7]
  • Colombia Sergio Guzmán (February 2015 – December 2017)[8]
  • Colombia Carlos Ruiz (January 2018 – September 2018)
  • Colombia José Ricardo "Chicho" Pérez (September 2018 – June 2019)
  • Colombia Alejandro Mejía (June 2019 – September 2019)
  • Colombia Sergio Guzmán (September 2019 – August 2021)
  • Colombia Sergio Angulo (August 2021–Present)

References
  1. Árabe Unido Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine – CONCACAF
  2. "Panama – List of Champions".
  3. Wilman Conde, nuevo DT del Árabe – La Estrella (in Spanish)
  4. Carlos Pérez Porras y sus retos con el Árabe Unido – Crítica (in Spanish)
  5. Jair Palacios nuevo técnico del Árabe Unido Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine – PanamaFutbol (in Spanish)
  6. Julio Dely Valdés, nuevo técnico del Árabe Unido de Colón – La Prensa (in Spanish)
  7. Alfonzo De Moya es el nuevo Director Técnico del Árabe Unido Archived 2017-10-30 at the Wayback Machine – Árabe Unido (in Spanish)
  8. Colombiano Juan Guzmán nuevo DT del Árabe Unido de Colón – RPC (in Spanish)
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