Deportes Tolima

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Deportes Tolima
Full name	Corporacion Club Deportes Tolima
Nickname(s)	El Vinotinto y Oro, Los Pijaos
Founded	1954
Ground	Estadio Manuel Murillo Toro (Capacity 31,000)
Chairman	Gabriel Camargo Salamanca
Manager	Jorge Luis Bernal
League	Fútbol Profesional Colombiano
2007 Finalizacion	3rd Group B
Home colours 　 Away colours

Deportes Tolima, is a Colombian football club based in the city of Ibagué. The club was founded December 18, 1954 and play their home games at the Manuel Murillo Toro stadium, which has a capacity of approximately 31,000.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Foundation 1.2 Beginning of the 80s 1.3 2003 Title 1.4 2006 Runners Up 1.5 Apertura 2007 and Copa Libertadores 2 Current Squad 3 2007 Transfers 4 National Honors 5 Performance in CONMEBOL competitions 6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Foundation

Deportes Tolima was founded by Manuel Rubio Chávez in the year 1954 when he gave Juan Barbieri (an Argentinian living in Ibagué, Colombia) a sum of $5.000.oo Colombian pesos for him to hire soccer players in his native Argentina. Barbieri went back to Colombia with players Jorge Ariel Gandulfo, Oscar Enrique Ferrari, José Oscar Jamardo, Enrique Laino and Carlos Robelle. With those players and some Colombians, Deportes Tolima competed for the first time in the Colombian league in 1955 using a uniform similar to the one currently used by the Argentina National Team. Deportes Tolima finished 7th in the league competing with 9 other teams.

[edit] Beginning of the 80s

In the late 1970s and beginning of 1980s Deportes Tolima had, according to many people, their best team. Senator Gabriel Camargo Salamanca was offered some shares in the team and he accepted making him the biggest stock holder of the team. He brought important players to the team like Victor Hugo del Rio, Francisco Maturana, Cristiano Centurion, Oscar Hector Quintabani, Gustavo Mendoza, Hugo Gallego, Osvaldo Redondo, Heberto Carrillo, Aparezido Dozinette de Oliveira aka "Sapuka", Arnoldo Iguaran, Oscar Lopez, Tito Ramon Correa, and Janio Cabezas. With this team Deportes Tolima finished second in the years 1981 and 1982. Participating for the first time in the Copa Libertadores in 1982 getting to the semifinals, and in 1983.

[edit] 2003 Title

Deportes Tolima had a very interesting group of players for the second half of 2003. These players included Ricardo Ciciliano, Henry Zambrano, Rogerio Pereira, Yulian Anchico, Oscar Briceño, John Charria, Jorge Artigas, Hernando Patino, Nelson Rivas, and Diego Gomez among others. Deportes Tolima played in the semifinals against Atlético Nacional, Atlético Junior, and Independiente Medellín. When everyone predicted Atlético Junior would finish first in the mini league and would go to the final, Deportes Tolima beat Atlético Nacional 2-0 in Ibagué and Atlético Junior lost 1-0 to Independiente Medellín in Medellín. Deportes Tolima played against Deportivo Cali in the finals winning the first game 2-0 in Ibagué with an exceptional performance by Rogerio Pereira, scoring both goals. In the second game of the final Deportes Tolima lost 3-1 forcing penalty shots, with an aggregate score of 3-3. In the penalty shots Deportes Tolima won after only missing one shot and the golie Diego Gomez blocking two from Deportivo Cali, this way Deportes Tolima was crowned champion of Colombia for the first time in their 49 year history.

[edit] 2006 Runners Up

2006 was a great year for Deportes Tolima, the team was second on the reclasificacion (overall points in the year), was the team with the most goals scored in the year, over 80, and were runners up in the Copa Mustang II. At the begenning of 2006 Deportes Tolima did not seem like a very strong team for the season as it did not sign any players. The coach was Ibague's own Jorge Luis Bernal who had been the coach for the reserve team for many years. Deportes Tolima played amazing both home and away games which included victories against Envigado 7-3, Nacional 5-1, and Millonarios 3-0. They reached the semifinals of the Copa Mustang I and was placed in a Group with Deportivo Pereira, Deportivo Cali, and Once Caldas but did not made it into the finals. The Copa Mustang II was even better than the first one. Tolima finished first in the league, and played the semifinals against Nacional, Pasto, and Chico. Nacional were leaders of the Group for most of the time while Deportes Tolima remained a point behind. A dramatic 2-1 away win over Nacional made them leaders, they advanced the final against Cúcuta Deportivo after a 2-0 win over Chico. The first game was away and Tolima lost 1-0 then in Ibague the game ended tied 1-1 with Yulian Anchico scoring Tolima's goal.

[edit] Apertura 2007 and Copa Libertadores

For the 2007 season Deportes Tolima signed very important players like Nicolas Ahyr, Diego Cochas, Gustavo Savoia, Gustavo Bolivar, Leiner Rolong, Jorge Perlaza, Hernando Patino, Roller Cambindo, Javier Arizala, Bramhan Sinisterra, Ricardo Alvarez, and Haider Arboleda. With new coach Jaime de la Pava started competing in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Mustang. In the Copa Libertadores Tolima defeated Deportivo Tachira in 2 games, that way Tolima entered to the group of Gremio, Cerro Porteño and curiously Cúcuta.