Albion Football Club is a
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
an
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club located in
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
that currently plays in the
Uruguayan Segunda División
Segunda División Profesional is the second division of professional football in Uruguay, established in 1942. The league is sometimes referred to as ''Primera B''. Segunda División was first held in 1942 to replace amateur Divisional Intermed ...
, the second highest division of the
Uruguayan football league system The Uruguayan football (soccer), football league system is a series of interconnected football leagues for clubs in Uruguay, and is organized by the Uruguayan Football Association at the national level. The Uruguayan Primera División, Uruguayan Lea ...
.
Founded in 1891, it is the oldest football club in Uruguay, and is considered to be the oldest because other institutions such as
Montevideo Rowing Club
Montevideo Rowing Club is an Uruguayan sports club located in the city of Montevideo. Originally established as a rowing club, the institution also hosts the practise of basketball, futsal, gymnastics, handball, judo, karate, tennis and olympic ...
and
Montevideo Cricket Club
The Montevideo Cricket Club (abbreviated "MVCC") is a Uruguayan sports club based in Montevideo, established in 1861 by English immigrants. Its predecessor had been the now defunct "Victoria Cricket Club", founded in 1842. had been founded before but they were not specifically dedicated to football.
In July 2018, Albion became a member of the
Club of Pioneers
The Club of Pioneers is a worldwide network of the oldest continuing association football clubs from each country.
The Club of Pioneers was founded in 2013 by Sheffield FC, the first and oldest association football
Association football, mor ...
, a worldwide association involving
oldest football clubs
The oldest football clubs trace their origins to the mid-19th century, a period when football evolved from being a casual pastime to an organised mainstream sport.
The identity of the oldest football clubs in the world, or even in a particular ...
in the world, as the "oldest active football club in Uruguay".
The club returned to the
Primera División by winning the
2021 Segunda División championship, its first promotion to the top flight since 1908.
[
]
History
Foundation
Albion was established on 1 June 1891 as "Football Association" by students from the English High School, mainly encouraged by Henry Lichtenberger, an 18-year-old disciple of William Leslie Poole
William Leslie Poole (England, 7 November 1866 – Montevideo, 22 August 1931) was a Kent-born English immigrant to Uruguay who was important to the development of association football in Uruguay and became known as the "Father of Uruguayan Fo ...
, considered the "father" of Uruguayan football. During its first years of existence, the club refused to accept non-native players although most of its footballers were British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
descendants but born in Uruguay. The first uniform was a white jersey with a red star on the chest. Other clubs such as Montevideo Cricket and Montevideo Rowing had played football matches before Albion, that sport was not the main activity of them.[
]
Development
Football Association's first match was on 2 August 1891 against Montevideo Cricket Club, where it was defeated 3-1. In the second match versus the same rival, FA was defeated again, this time 6-0. On 21 September 1891 the club changed its name to "Albion Football Club" as homage to the country where football had been played for the first time so "Albion" was the name used by Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
s to refer to Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. The uniform was subsequently modified, and as a result the club adopted a blue jersey with white collar. The uniform was also changed, and blue shirts with white collars and sleeves, along with white shorts and black socks, were adopted as the new uniform.
The popularity of football increased amongst the Uruguayan people between 1892 to 1895. In 1892 there were four clubs practising football: Montevideo Cricket, Montevideo Rowing, Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club
Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club (mostly known for its acronym CURCC) was a Uruguayan sports club, originally established by British railway workers for the practise of cricket. Nevertheless, the club would be notable for its football section ...
(mostly known as "CURCC") and Albion. Montevideo Cricket was the most successful of them, finishing unbeaten with some remarkable results such as an 8-0 victory over CURCC and a 10-0 victory over Albion.
On 21 March 1895, Lichtenberger himself suggested to modify the rules to allow foreign players to play at Albion. Other changes were introduced such as the replacement of the jersey so red and blue colors were adopted as a tribute to the flag of Great Britain
The flag of Great Britain, commonly known as King's Colours, the first Union Flag, the Union Jack, or the British flag, was used at sea from 1606 and more generally from 1707 to 1801. It was the first flag of Great Britain. It is the precursor ...
. At the same time, Montevideo Cricket and Montevideo Rowing left the practise of competitive football, in order to focus on other activities.
The golden age: 1895-1900
During this era, Albion became the main football club in Uruguay, being the first team from that country to win outside Uruguay; in 1896 Albion defeated Argentine teams Retiro Athletic Club and Belgrano AC (4-1 and 5-3 respectively), with both matches played in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. These were the first two victories of a Uruguayan club at international level. It is also widely believed that the first international games played in Uruguay were in Punta Carretas
Punta Carretas is a '' barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Location
Punta Carretas shares borders with Parque Rodó and Pocitos to the north, while from east south and west, it is delimited by the coastline, including ...
, where Albion faced Lobos AC, an Argentine team that played in Primera División until the Argentine Football Association
The Argentine Football Association ( es, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine league system (from Primera División to Torn ...
disaffiliated it.
The first Uruguayan derby was between Albion and CURCC. CURCC had been founded in 1891 as a cricket club, having added football just one year after its establishment. The first game where both teams faced each other was on 18 July 1892, with Albion winning 3-2. Albion won the most games played between both teams from 1895 to 1897, when they had an extraordinary series of 14 consecutive wins over CURCC with only one draw in between. From 1896 to 1899 three other football clubs were established; Deutscher Fussball Klub
Deutscher Fussball Klub was an Uruguayan football club based in Montevideo. The club was one of the founding members of Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) along with CURCC, Albion and Uruguay A.C., in 1900.[Uruguay Athletic Club
Uruguay Athletic Club, also known as Uruguay Athletic, was an Uruguayan football club based in the district of Punta Carretas in Montevideo. The club was one of the founding members of Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) along with CURCC, A ...]
and Club Nacional de Football
Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo.
The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...
.
League foundation and cup title
In February 1900, Lichtenberger invited CURCC, Deutscher, and Uruguay Athletic to form a new league. The creation of the new league was finalized on 30 March of that year, with its name being "Uruguay Association Foot-ball League" (current Uruguayan Football Association
The Uruguayan Football Association ( es, Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol — ) is the governing body of football in Uruguay. It was founded in 1900, as The Uruguayan Association Football League, and affiliated to FIFA in 1923. It is a founding me ...
). The first championship was disputed that year, where Albion finished second to CURCC. By those times, some players left the club: Ernesto Caprario, Carlos Carve Urioste and Domingo Prat all moved to Uruguay Athletic. Other players that left the institution were Céspedes brothers, Cuadra, Reyes, Castro, Bouton and Nebel, who later founded Club Nacional de Football.
That same year, the club won the Copa de Competencia. This title allowed it to play in the Tie Cup
The Tie Cup Competition (also known as Copa de Competencia Chevallier Boutell) is a defunct international football tournament played between representatives of the Argentina and Uruguay Associations. It was one of the earliest international footbal ...
against the winners of Copa de Competencia Jockey Club
The Copa de Competencia Jockey Club was an official Argentine football cup competition contested between 1907 and 1933. The winner of this Cup was allowed to play the Tie Cup against the Uruguayan champion of Copa de Competencia.
History
The Co ...
with Argentine clubs. Albion played the first five editions of the Tie Cup from 1900-1905 (except 1903), but failed to reach the finals in every edition, which included a 9-1 defeat to Montevideo Wanderers
Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...
in the first round of the 1905 edition.
Decline and refoundation
In 1901 Albion played a match against an Argentine League combined team, which is considered the first official Uruguay national team match in history. Nevertheless, that game is not considered official and the media referred to the team as Albion FC instead of the Uruguay national team. The team was formed by 9 players from Albion and 2 from Nacional who had been playing for the club before the exodus. On 22 March, Nacional requested the Association to enter the league, and were accepted. Nacional and CURCC were the most popular teams by then. Albion would make poor performances during the successive seasons, with its worst campaign being the 1905 tournament where the team finished with no points.
On 7 May 1905, the team lost 11-0 to Argentine club Independiente, with this being the first win for the newly created Argentine club. In 1908 the club played its last season in Primera División, as a result of mass selling its players.
In 1914 Albion was one of the teams founding the "Liga Universitaria de Deportes", taking part with a team named "William Poole". By 1931 Albion played in minor leagues and spent the 1940s doing so.
In June 1953, Albion was refounded, and won the "Torneo Preparación" championship undefeated. The club also took part in the Federación Uruguaya de Fútbol Amateur, winning consecutive titles in 1953 and 1954. In addition, the club was a founder of Uruguayan baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
league, and has competitive basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
and athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
teams.
In 1976 Albion merged with Club Sportivo Miramar and changed its name to "Albion Miramar", as well as entering the fourth division, Divisional Extra. However, this merge only lasted one year.
Promotions
Since then, Albion played in the third division ( Segunda División Amateur) until 2017, when it won the third division title (now renamed Segunda Division B), after defeating Colón 3-2 on aggregate.
From 2018–2021, the club played in Segunda División
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...
, and earned promotion to the top division in the 2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
season, after 113 years since its last time in the top division.[ALBION VOLVIÓ A PRIMERA DIVISIÓN DESPUÉS DE 113 AÑOS]
''El Gráfico'', 10 Nov 2021
Current squad
Colors
Uniform evolution
Honours
* Copa de Competencia (1): 1900
* Uruguayan Segunda División
Segunda División Profesional is the second division of professional football in Uruguay, established in 1942. The league is sometimes referred to as ''Primera B''. Segunda División was first held in 1942 to replace amateur Divisional Intermed ...
(1): 2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
* Segunda División B Nacional (1): 2017
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Football clubs in Uruguay
Association football clubs established in 1891
1891 establishments in Uruguay
Sport in Montevideo