Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A. (), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior, or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional

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 ...

team based in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Junior is the main

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

team in the top flight of Colombian football. In present day they are sitting in the 25th place in best South American team as of 2022. The club was founded on August 7, 1924. Known as ''Los Tiburones'' (The Sharks), or ''El Equipo Tiburón'' (The Shark Team). Junior have won the Colombian professional football championship nine times (1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004 Finalización, 2010 Apertura, 2011 Finalización, 2018 Finalización and 2019 Apertura). Some of the most notable players that have played for the club include

Heleno de Freitas Heleno de Freitas (12 February 1920 – 8 November 1959) was a Brazilian footballer who played as a forward. Early life De Freitas was born into a rich Brazilian family in São João de Nepomuceno, in the state of Minas Gerais, on 12 Febru ...

Garrincha Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha (, "little bird"), was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a right winger. He is widely regarded as one o ...

Dida In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA) is an optional information and communication technology (ICT) course, usually studied by Key Stage 4 or equivalent school students (aged 14-16). DiDA was introduc ...

Juan Ramón Verón Juan Ramón Verón (; born 17 March 1944) is an Argentine football coach and former professional player. He played as a midfielder or forward most notably for Estudiantes, where he won three consecutive Copa Libertadores titles. He is the fath ...

Efraín Sánchez Efraín Elías "El Caimán" Sánchez Casimiro (26 February 1926 – 16 January 2020) was a Colombian footballer who played as goalkeeper. He competed for the Colombia national football team at the 1962 FIFA World Cup which was held in Chile. Amo ...

, Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama,

Iván Valenciano Iván René Valenciano Pérez (born 18 March 1972) is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as forward. He is the second top goalscorer of all-time in the Colombian Primera A with 217 goals, behind Argentine Sergio Galván R ...

Teófilo Gutiérrez Teófilo Antonio Gutiérrez Roncancio (; born 17 May 1985), commonly known as Teo, is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Categoría Primera A club Deportivo Cali and the Colombia national team. Early life Guti ...

Carlos Bacca Carlos Arturo Bacca Ahumada (born 8 September 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Atlético Junior. Bacca began his career at Atlético Junior, where he was top scorer in the 2010 Categoría Primera A Apert ...

Julio César Uribe Julio César Uribe Flores (born May 9, 1958 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He is the current manag ...

Giovanni Hernández Giovanni Andrés Hernández Soto (; born 17 June 1976), is a Colombian football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Atlético F.C. in the Colombian Categoría Primera B, and formerly managed Uniautónoma, Real Cartagena an ...

Sebastián Viera Mario Sebastián Viera Galaín (born 7 March 1983) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for and captains Colombian club Atlético Junior. Club career Born in Florida, Florida Department, Viera started his professional ...

and Luis Díaz.

History

In the early 1920s a team named Juventus came into being at the Colegio Salesiano in the San Roque neighborhood of Barranquilla, unsurprisingly given the name made up primarily of Italian immigrants. Soon after its launch the name was changed to the Spanish Juventud, though both translate the same in English: youth. In August 1924 some of the younger members of Juventud along with other young men from San Roque created an offshoot of Juventud: Juventud Infantil. Around the 1940s (and the club's name was shortened to simply Junior) they became known as one of the country's best clubs. In 1945 the players of Junior were selected to represent Colombia at the South American Championship (now known as the

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

), finishing a respectable fifth (though losing 7–0 to Uruguay and 9–1 to Argentina along the way). In 1949 they were again selected to represent Colombia (finishing last place) but this time their decision to play would have its consequences. In 1948 Junior were founder members of

División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano The División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (''Major Division of Colombian Professional Football''), also known by the truncation DIMAYOR, is an organization responsible for organizing and operating professional football leagues and ...

(commonly known as the Dimayor). Their debut match as a professional outfit came at home on August 15, 1948, against Deportivo Cali, which ended in a 2–0 victory for the home side. Early the following year they were again chosen to play as the de facto Colombia national team. Because of ongoing strife between Adefutbol (the original amateur Colombian football association) and the Dimayor, Junior were threatened with expulsion from the Dimayor if they participated. They went ahead and did so and were initially given a two-year suspension from the league. This was later reduced to one year and they returned to the Dimayor for the 1950 season. This was the golden age of Colombian football commonly referred to as

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

, a time when the Dimayor was a "rebel league" unaffiliated with FIFA and many high-profile players from around the world broke their contracts and came to play. Junior were no exception, picking up players from Brazil, Argentina, Hungary and the Czech Republic in these years. But El Dorado eventually came to an end for Colombian football. A way ahead surfaced in the mid-1960s when a rift had again developed in Colombian football, this time between Adefutbol and the newly created

Federación Colombiana de Fútbol The Colombian Football Federation (in es, Federación Colombiana de Fútbol) is the governing body of football in Colombia. It was founded in 1924 and has been affiliated to FIFA since 1936. It is a member of CONMEBOL and is in charge of the Co ...

, an organization devoted to developing professional football in the country. Adefutbol was still the official body in the eyes of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and organized the national team in this period and additionally Colombian clubs did not enter the Copa Libertadores. Peace was finally made and the bulk of the amateur team that had attempted to qualify for the England World Cup signed up for Junior, who returned to the Dimayor in 1966. Junior have remained in the top level ever since. In 1977 Junior won their first Colombian championship, finishing first place in the Apertura. They won further championships in 1980, 1993, 1995, the 2004-II (Finalización), the 2010-I (Apertura), and the 2011-II (Finalizacion). Junior have appeared in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

nine times (reaching the semi-finals in 1994), and the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

and Copa CONMEBOL once each.

Symbols

Badge

The team's badge has a Swiss shape; it's 6 cm wide by 8 cm tall, divided into two horizontal stripes. The inferior stripe is divided into 9 vertical white and red stripes. The superior part is another horizontal blue stripe where the stars are placed. The stars have 9 points; each star represents a league championships the team has won.

Flag

Junior's flag is composed of 9 horizontal stripes representing the 9 stars they have now, 5 red and 4 white ones which alternate, the superior and the inferior ones are red. Overlapped on top of the strips there is a blue triangle. This triangle occupies all the wide of the flag on its vertical side. The white stars are superimposed on the triangle. Bandera de Atlético Junior

Honours

Domestic

* Categoría Primera A :Winners (9): 1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004–II, 2010–I, 2011–II, 2018–II, 2019–I :Runners-up (10): 1948, 1970, 1983, 2000, 2003–I, 2009–I, 2014–I, 2015–II, 2016–I, 2019–II *

Copa Colombia The Copa Colombia ( en, Colombia Cup, link=yes); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs of DIMAYOR and is the nation's domestic cup competition, equiva ...

:Winners (2): 2015, 2017 :Runners-up (1): 2016 * Superliga Colombiana :Winners (2): 2019, 2020 :Runners-up (1): 2012

International

:Runners-up (1): 2018 *

Reebok Cup The first-ever Reebok Cup, an international football tournament featuring four of the world's most powerful club teams, was held in the United States at the Orange Bowl in Miami and Soldier Field in Chicago on July 25 and 27, 1997, respectively. ...

:Winners (1): 1997

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

: 13 appearances ::Best: Semi-finals in 1994 *

: 5 appearances ::2004: Quarterfinals ::2015: Second stage ::2016: Quarterfinals ::2017: Semi-finals ::2018: Runners-up *

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL ( en, CONMEBOL Cup) was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contes ...

: 1 appearance ::1992: Quarter-finals

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Personnel

Technical staff

Notable players

Most appearances

Most goals

Historic players

Carlos Babington Carlos Alberto Babington (born 20 September 1949) is an Argentine former football attacking midfielder. He represented the Argentina national team at the 1974 World Cup. Biography Babington (nicknamed "El Inglés" – ''The Englishman'') was ...

Daniel Carnevali Daniel Alberto Carnevali (born 4 December 1946) is a former Argentine football goalkeeper who played for the Argentina national team in the 1970s. Club career During his club career he played for a number of clubs, most notably Rosario Centra ...

Edgardo Bauza Edgardo Bauza (born 26 January 1958) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defender. Before taking up management, he played over 300 games for Rosario Central. He also played for Independiente in Argentina, Atlé ...

* Juan Carlos Delménico * Omar Pérez * José Daniel Ponce *

Carlos Ischia Carlos Ischia (born 28 October 1956 in Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine footballer. Playing career Ischia played for Chacarita Juniors and Vélez Sársfield in Argentina as well as representing the Argentina national football team. In 1 ...

* Jose Daniel Ponce * Paulo César Caju * Cassiano *

Quarentinha Waldir Cardoso Lebrêgo, best known as ''Quarentinha'' (; born in Belém, Pará State, 15 September 1933 – died in Rio de Janeiro, 11 February 1996) was a Brazilian football (soccer) player who played as a forward and was notable for his ...

* Víctor Ephanor * Cristián Montecinos * Nelson Tapia * Alfredo Arango * Hayder Palacio * Martín Arzuaga *

Jorge Bolaño Jorge Eladio Bolaño Correa (born 28 April 1977) is a Colombian retired footballer who played as a midfielder. He played for the Colombia national football team and was a participant at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. International career Internati ...

* Vladimir Hernández *

Roberto Meléndez Roberto Meléndez Lara, nicknamed El Flaco, (born in Barranquilla, 31 March 1912 - died 20 May 2000) was a Colombian football player and coach who played in the 1930s and 1940s, in the amateur era of the sport. As a player, Melendez played prim ...

Alexis Mendoza Alexis Antonio Mendoza Barrina (born November 8, 1961) is a retired Colombian footballer and current manager. He was the assistant manager of Honduras national football team during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and of the Ecuador national football ...

* Víctor Pacheco * Efraín "El Caimán" Sánchez *

* Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama * Luis Díaz * Alex "Didi" Valderrama *

Béla Sárosi Béla Sárosi (15 May 1919 – 15 June 1993) was a Hungarian Association football, football player and manager. He played for Ferencvárosi TC, Ferencváros, Bologna F.C. 1909, Bologna, A.S. Bari, Bari, Junior Barranquilla, F.C. Porto, Porto, ...

László Szoke László () is a Hungarian language, Hungarian male given name and surname after the King-Knight Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (1077–1095). It derives from Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav. Other versions are Lessl or Laszly. The name has a histo ...

* Julio Comesaña *

Managers

Affiliated clubs

Currently in the second division

References

External links

Official Web site of Club Atlético Junior

Fuerza Tiburona Supporter's Team Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atletico Junior

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

Association football clubs established in 1924 1924 establishments in Colombia Categoría Primera A clubs