Real Estelí F.C.

Real Estelí
Full name Real Estelí Fútbol Club
Nickname(s) El Tren del Norte
(The Train of the North)
Founded 1960 (1960) (as Estelí FC)
Ground Estadio Independencia,
Estelí, Nicaragua
Capacity 5,000
Chairman Fidel Moreno
Manager Otoniel Olivas
League Primera División, Nicaragua
Clausura 2017 1st
Website Club website

Real Esteli Fútbol Club is a Nicaraguan football club playing in the top flight of Nicaragua's league system, the Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol de Primera División. The club play out of their home stadium, Estadio Independencia, based in the northern city of Estelí.

Real Estelí has 13 national championships, more than any other team in Nicaragua except Diriangén. They also won a CONCACAF record eight consecutive championships from 2006-2014.

History

The club was founded in 1960 as Estelí FC, adding Real to its name in 1961. Estelí FC plays at the Estadio Independencia, one of the biggest stadiums in Nicaragua, with a capacity of 4,800. The club is known by the nickname, El Tren del Norte (Train of the North), coming as it does, from the northern region of Las Segovias.

Real Estelí has finished in the top five of Nicaragua's top flight every year since 1986. In that time, they have also achieved traditionally high attendance numbers. However, it took time for the club's burgeoning popularity to translate into championships. They won their first title in 1991, then added another in 1999. Nonetheless, their fierce rivals Diriangén FC remained the dominant power in Nicaraguan football.

This began to change in 2002-2003. The two clubs met for a two-legged tie to determine the year's champion. Diriangén won the first leg 1-0, but Real Estelí answered by winning the return match 3-0, claiming the title 3-1 on aggregate. That was the last year Nicaragua determined their championship with a "long season"; for 2003-2004, the league adopted an Apertura/Clausura format. Real Estelí won both tournaments, and each time they defeated Diriangén in the finals.

The following September, Real Estelí made history in Nicaraguan football by eliminating favorites Real España in the First Round of the Copa Interclubes UNCAF. They thus became the first Nicaraguan football team in history to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Back home, Diriangén won the next two championships, but quickly gave way to Real Estelí, who embarked on their dominant run of eight championships in a row from 2006-2014. Then, after a brief interruption by Walter Ferretti, Estelí won two more.

Real Estelí FC has finished in the top five of Nicaragua's top division every year since 1986 and has achieved some of the highest attendances in the league during this period.

Crest

The club crest consists of a crown, representing 'Real' (meaning 'Royal'). Similar crowns can be seen on the crests of many other clubs with the prefix 'Real', such as Spanish clubs Real Betis, Real Zaragoza and Real Madrid[1]

The two gold stars of the crest mark the first two national championships won by the club (in 1991 and 1999), while the red and white striped shield represents the club colours as used on team shirts. The logo was redesigned and digitalised in 2000 by Nakor'd J. García and Michael D. Raney (current President/CEO of the World Football Organization), based on the original design by Arnulfo Rivera Zeledón and Johnny Herrera Vallejos.

'El Clásico' rivalry

There is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams in the national league, where the game between Real Estelí and Diriangén has become known as El Clásico (The Classic).

Honours

National titles

Performance in CONCACAF competitions

Best: Group Stage in 4 times
2009 : Preliminary Round
2012 : Preliminary Round
2013 : Group Stage
2014 : Group Stage
2015 : Group Stage
2017 : Group Stage
Best: Quarter-finals in 2004
2000 : First Round
2003 : First Round
2004 : Quarter-finals
2006 : First Round
2007 : First Round

Record versus other nations

As of 2016-09-13

The Concacaf opponents below = Official tournament results: (Plus a sampling of other results)

Opponent Last Meeting G W D L F A PTS +/-
Costa Rica Alajuelense 26 – Sept – 2012 6 0 0 6 2 21 0 -19
Panama Árabe Unido 1996 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 -1
El Salvador Atlético Marte 15 – Dec – 1991 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 -3
Guatemala Comunicaciones 6 – Dec – 1991 1 0 0 1 0 15 0 -15
United States Dallas 24 – Aug – 2016 2 0 1 1 2 3 1 -1
Nicaragua Diriangén 2003 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
El Salvador FAS 2003 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 -1
Canada Montreal Impact 2 – Oct – 2008 2 0 1 1 0 1 1 -1
Honduras Motagua 16 – Aug – 2007 2 0 0 2 1 5 0 -4
Honduras Olimpia 24 – Sept – 2013 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 -2
Honduras Real España 29 – Sept – 2004 4 0 2 2 5 14 2 -9
Costa Rica Saprissa 26 – Aug – 2014 7 0 2 5 2 12 2 -10
United States Sporting Kansas City 23 – Sept – 2014 4 0 2 2 2 7 2 -5
Guatemala Suchitepéquez 13 – Sept – 2016 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 -1
Panama Tauro 1992 2 0 0 2 1 7 0 -6
Canada Toronto 2 – Aug – 2011 2 0 0 2 2 4 0 -2
Mexico UANL 18 – Sept – 2012 2 0 1 1 1 5 1 -4
Totals 0

Jersey sponsors

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt partner
1998–01 Galaxia
2000–08 Enitel
2008–2011 Movistar
La Curaçao
2011–2017 Movistar
La Curaçao
Yahoo!
2017–Present Kappa

Personnel

Management

PositionName
ManagerNicaragua Ramón Otoniel Olivas
Assistant Manager and Goalkeeping CoachNicaragua Sergio Ivan Rodríguez
Fitness CoachCuba Marcos Gomez
Fitness coachNicaragua Carlos Rivera

List of Coaches

References

  1. ↑ "Team Profile: Real Esteli". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
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