The Strongest
| Full name | Club The Strongest | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Tigre | ||
| Founded | April 8, 1908 | ||
| Ground | Estadio Rafael Mendoza, La Paz | ||
| Capacity | 15,000 | ||
| Chairman | Jorge Pacheco Franco | ||
| Manager | Sergio Luna | ||
| League | Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano | ||
| 2005 | Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano, 2nd | ||
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The Strongest is a Bolivian football club from La Paz, founded on April 8, 1908. Their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, the Rafael Mendoza Castellón (capacity: 15,000), they play most of their games at the Hernando Siles, Bolivia's national ground (capacity: 52,000)
The club was well represented in the Bolivian squad at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup players from The Strongest were Marcelo Torrico, Gustavo Quinteros, Oscar Sanchez and José Melgar.
History
The Strongest started off being named "The Strong Football Club" and later became "The Strongest Footbal Club". Its first championship was in 1911, before the time of any of the current Bolivian teams had even started participating. In 1930, The Strongest became the first and only team to become champion with no goals scored against. The same year, The Strongest inaugurated the "Hernando Siles" stadium, with a 4-1 victory against its classical rival (at the time), Universitario. In 1965, The Strongest participated in its first Copa Libertadores, back when this was still played by "only the elite" or only the champions of each country. The Strongest scored Bolivia's first victory outside of the country on a club level, defeating Deportivo Quito. The team ended 2nd in its group that year, 2nd to Boca Juniors (Argentina). Its highest international point was in the 2005 Southamerican Cup (Sudamericana), when the squad led by DT Villegas eliminated its classic rivals with two 2-1 victories in La Paz, in front of a packed stadium, and later went on to defeat Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (Ecuador) - most notoriously in Quito with a 3-0 score, marking the most important victory outside of the country for a Bolivian squad. The Strongest was eliminated by the runner-ups of the cup, Pumas UNAM (Mexico), who later went on to play the final with Boca Juniors (Argentina). The Strongest has participated in several international tournaments, second only to is classical rival, and is currently ranked 2nd in Bolivia.
Viloco's tragedy
On september 24, 1969; a local holiday, The Strongest team was invited to participate on a special game organized by the Asociacion Cruceña de Fubol (Santa Cruz's football asociation).
For the team, it only was another visit to the city of Santa Cruz, having a break of the local competition (where the second round was just starting), the last official match was played on september 14, this would be the last match for the lives of several of the players...
On the way back from Santa Cruz, on september 26, it was informed that the airplane that was carrying most of the team was disappeared (the same day that a militar government was being stablished on Bolivia).
24 hours passed, and with slim to none hopes, the country received the sad news: the plane had crashed around a rural area called Viloco (between the Tres Cruces Peaks). Sadly, all the 69 passengers and 9 staff members of the plane died that day.
From that moment, familys of the victims, local authorities and a huge amount of fans went on to search the bodies of the players.
The players that passed away that day were:
Eustáquio Ortuño (Coach), José Ayllón (manager), Felipe Aguilar (staff). The 16 players taht died were: Armando Angelacio, Hernán Andretta, Orlando Cáceres, Juan Iriondo, Jorge Durán, Julio Díaz, Héctor Marchetti, Angel Porta, Jorge Tapia, Ernesto Villegas, Germán Alcázar, Eduardo Arrigó, Oswaldo Franco, Raúl Farfán, Oscar Flores and Diógenes Torrico.
Honours
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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External link
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