Leones F.C.

Leones F.C.
Full name Itagüí Leones Fútbol Club
Founded 15 February 1957 (1957-02-15)
Ground Estadio Metropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí
Itagüí, Colombia
Capacity 12,000
Chairman Carlos Murillo
Manager Luis Amaranto Perea
League Categoría Primera A
2018–I 20th

Leones F.C., also known as Itagüí Leones, is a professional Colombian football team based in Itagüí playing in the Categoría Primera A starting from 2018. They play their home games at the Estadio Metropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí.

History

Founded as Deportivo Rionegro in 1957, Leones Fútbol Club participated in all seasons of the Categoría Primera B from 1991 to 2017, when the team was runner-up of the tournament and was promoted to Categoría Primera A for the first time.

The team played for almost forty years in the amateur league. The team's first president was Libardo Sanchez and his first manager was Alfonso Piedrahita. Thanks to its performances and achievements in the 80s the club was admitted in the first edition of the Categoría Primera B, the second-tier of the professional Colombian league, played in 1991. In 1993, with the direction of manager Carlos Augusto Navarrete, Rionegro managed to be among the five best of the tournament. The team got its best performance in 2001, when they were runners-up under the direction of manager Orlando Restrepo.

In 2008 Deportivo Rionegro, with René Higuita as their captain and star and with Óscar Aristizábal as manager, managed to win the first tournament of the year, defeating Unión Magdalena in the final, but in the second half failed to reach the final, so they had to fight for the title of the Primera B against Real Cartagena, losing on aggregate by 2-4. They played the promotion matches against Envigado F.C., but lost by a score of 3-1 on aggregate. In 2014 Deportivo Rionegro moved to Bello and changed its name to Leones Fútbol Club. The following year they moved to Turbo where they stayed for another year before moving to Itagüí in 2016.

Leones ended as runners-up in the 2017 Primera B, winning the Torneo Finalización and then going on to lose the final to Boyacá Chicó on penalty kicks. However, since they ended the season as the best team in the aggregate table, they earned promotion to the Categoría Primera A for the 2018 season, the first time the team will play in the first division.

Stadium

Honours

Runners-up (1): 2017

Players

Current squad

As of 8 July 2018

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

No. Position Player
1 Colombia GK Arled Cadavid
2 Colombia DF Jonathan Marulanda
3 Colombia DF Anderson Angulo
4 Colombia DF Daniel Osorio
5 Colombia MF Luis Vélez
6 Colombia MF Dayro Mosquera
7 Colombia FW Wilmar Cruz
8 Colombia MF Roger Lemus
10 Colombia MF Mateo Muñoz
11 Colombia MF John Henry Sánchez
14 Colombia DF Felipe Jaramillo
15 Colombia DF Edisson Restrepo
No. Position Player
16 Colombia FW Antony Otero (on loan from Santa Fe)
17 Colombia FW Brayan Bermúdez
18 Colombia MF Yeison Zabaleta
19 Colombia MF Sebastián Gómez
20 Colombia MF Mateo Serna
21 Colombia DF Diego Sánchez
22 Colombia GK Cristian Arroyave
24 Colombia FW Duván González
25 Colombia MF Julián Jiménez
26 Colombia DF David Montoya
29 Colombia DF Juan Felipe Aguirre

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player
— Colombia FW Eliécer Espinosa (on loan to Municipal Limeño)
No. Position Player
— Colombia FW Jeison Medina (on loan to Zaragoza)

Notable players

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