C.D. Dragón

C.D. Dragón was founded on 18 September 1939; during this period no national league was available, so they played against teams from different zones. Dragón represented San Miguel department. Dragón played their matches at the Estadio Charlaix, which would be their home stadium for several decades. Under the coaching of player-coach Esteban Blanco, the direction of Samuel Córdoba and key players such as Juan Francisco Barraza, Rómulo Granados and Domingo Flores, the club experienced their most successful period in the 1950s, when they won two league titles (1950–51, 1953–53) and lost two other championship finals.[6]

However, Dragón's fortune would change when a new club was founded during the latter part of the 1950s, Águila. Águila began to assume the mantle as the top representative of San Miguel and began to drain Dragón of quality players such as (Barraza, Blanco and others), sponsorship and fans which led to Dragón not only developing a fierce rivalry with Águila but also led to the club being relegated to the Second Division after the conclusion of the 1963–64 season.[7]

The club spent 13 years in the Second Division, during this time they were one of the founding members of UCLA (Unión de Clubes de Liga de Ascenso) in 1971. However, on 12 February 1977, under Brazilian coach Jorge Tupinambá who had previously coached ANTEL and Platense to the First Division, helped Dragón win their promotion game against Santiagueño 1–0 and helped elevate Dragón back to the First Division.[7]

Dragón's stay in the First Division was a short one (four years), the club only achieved two final series participations during the 1977–78, 1978–79 where they were quickly eliminated and the club was relegated to the Second Division after the conclusion of the 1980 season.

Under the coaching of former player and idol Juan Francisco Barraza, the club almost achieved promotion back to the First Division during the 1984–85 season; however, they lost their promotion game to CESSA and had to wait another four years to gain promotion.[7]

Mario Martínez, whose name will become entwined with Dragón, helped the club gain promotion to the First Division thanks to a 2–1 aggregate victory over Halcón de San Cayetano Istepeque, during this period a new crop of talented players were identified including future highest goalscorer for the El Salvador national football team Raúl Díaz Arce, Moisés "Pecho de Mono" González, and others. Despite the success, the club were struck with financial troubles and had to sell those players and in just one season the club was relegated back to the Second Division.

The club waited four years to achieve promotion once again thanks to the coaching of Miguel Aguilar Obando, who helped Dragón win their promotion game 4–0 over Arcense.

Their most recent spell in the top tier lasted from 1996 through 2003; during this period several players shone including Honduran Williams Reyes, William Torres and others and they achieved a few final series. However they were relegated back in 2003 to the Second Division and have played there for ten years.

Dragón won promotion to the First Division mainly due to the coaching of Mario Martínez second time in which he helped C.D. Dragón gain promotion, Dragón defeated Ciclón del Golfo over the two legs with an aggregate score of 3–1.[8]

Despite having a very poor Apertura campaign in which Mario Martínez was sacked and replaced by Nelson Ancheta, with the recruitment of club legend Williams Reyes and the emergence of stars like Rommel Mejía, Santos Ortíz, and Aurelio Vásquez the club reached the Clausura grand final (after disposing Santa Tecla in a play-off series 2–1, and defeating league leaders FAS in the semi-finals 1–0 on aggregate), However, despite the game ending 0–0 after 120 minutes, two missed penalties in the shootout meant that Isidro Metapán would win the grand final 6–5 on penalties.

On 29 of May, 2016, the club had its most successful period in its modern history under the guidance of Salvadorian Omar Sevilla, the club were able to win their first championship in 63 years (the Clausura 2016 final). Dragón won the match 1–0, Wilman Torres was the lone goal-scorer for Dragón in the final..

However, despite winning their first championship in 63 years their fortune dwindled first showed a poor international performance at the concacaf losing 3 games and drawing one, with 6–0 loss against Deportivo Saprissa being the worst of the result.

Soon the club struggled to win games and eventually during the 2017–2018 season, the club finished equal 12th with Sonsonate , this meant they were forced to play a relegation playoff game with Sonsonate, they lost 3–2, which meant they to fell back to the Segunda division. [9]

On the 14th of January, 2018 due to failed payment to player, the club would not be registered and caused the club to be de-registered from the Segunda Division .

• CONCACAF Champions League: 1 appearances

Best: Group stage in 2016

2016–17 : Group stage

• Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza (1956–)
  • Estadio Jose Ramon Flores; Santa Rosa de Lima (2016–2017) games played in this location, during the renovation of the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza
  • Estadio Charlaix; San Miguel (1939–55) Dragón home ground before moving to the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza.
  • Estadio Flor Blanca; San Salvador (TBD) International games prior to the building of Estadio Cuscatlán.
  • Estadio Cuscatlán; San Salvador (2016) games played in this location for CONCACAF Champion League games, during the renovation of the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza
  • Cancha de Chapeltique (2017) games played in this location, during the renovation of the Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza

Dragón plays its home games at Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza located in San Miguel, The stadium has a capacity of 10,000 people.

Dragon is historically the second most successful team from San Miguel in El Salvador football, as they have won the second most championships with 3 titles.

As of: [10] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Wilberth Hernández [11] DF Edder Melgar [12] MF Edwin Fuentes FW Jackson de Oliveira FW Carlos Arturo Urrego FW Jonathan Aguilar DF Geofredo Portillo

No. Position Player GK José Manuel González (Captain (association football))[13] DF Edgar Nolasco MF Jordy Bonilla MF Arsenio Orellana MF Derek Sánchez MF Zidane Martínez

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

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