Atlético Fútbol Club (or Atlético F.C.), formerly known as Dépor FC is a professional Colombian football team based in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

, that currently plays in the

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay (formerly ''Torneo Águila''), is the second-division football league in Colombia. Format DIMAYOR has applied a new forma ...

. They play their home games at the Olímpico Pascual Guerrero stadium.

History

Origins as Dépor FC

The club was founded as ''Deportivo Pereira S.A.'' in 2005 after the membership rights (''ficha'') of Real Sincelejo, a club that competed in Categoría Primera B until 2004, were irregularly sold by one of its shareholders to investors from Pereira led by former Senator Habib Merheg who wanted to create a club to claim the license held by

Deportivo Pereira Deportivo Pereira is a professional Colombian football team based in Pereira, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium. History Early years While there are several am ...

and prevent the latter club from folding due to its financial problems. However, Deportivo Pereira were able to continue competing in the league, and the club was sold to its current owner Gustavo Moreno who rebranded it to ''Dépor FC'' and moved it to

Cartago, Valle del Cauca Cartago () is a city in southwestern Colombia, about west of Bogotá. It is in the extreme northern portion of the Valle del Cauca Department. It is located very close to the city of Pereira, about a 20-minute drive. It is the sixth largest ...

. For the following year, the club moved to

Jamundí Jamundí is a town and municipality in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Jamundí is located south of Cali (the capital of the department) in the west riverside of the Cauca River The average temperature is 23° Celsius. History ...

, in the same department. From 2006 to 2008 its home was the Estadio Cacique Jamundí, with a temporary return for 2010 and the first half of the 2011 season due to their home stadium being closed for remodeling works ahead of the

2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 18th FIFA U-20 World Cup. Colombia hosted the tournament between 29 July and 20 August 2011, with matches being played in eight cities. The tournament was won by Brazil who claimed their fifth title. At a FI ...

. Its greatest achievement was qualifying for the semifinals for the first and only time in 2008 under the leadership of coach Julio Valdivieso. Due to financial difficulties and the support offered by

's local government as well as public utilities company Emcali, who wished to carry out social work with young people from the Aguablanca District in Cali, the club was renamed to ''Dépor Aguablanca'' in 2009 and moved from Jamundí to represent the aforementioned sector, now playing their home games at the

Estadio Pascual Guerrero A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

. Since then, the club continued competing in Primera B without remarkable results.

Atlético Fútbol Club

In 2015, after a court ruling declared the sale of Real Sincelejo void, the former shareholders of the

Sincelejo Sincelejo () is the capital and largest city of the Colombian department of Sucre. It is also the main city in the denominated '' Región Sabanas'' (Savannas Region), a subdivision of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, and the 23rd largest c ...

club sold it to Juan Carlos Restrepo, stepfather of footballer

James Rodríguez James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Super League Greece club Olympiacos and the Colombia national team. He has been praised in the pas ...

, who intended to move the club to

Ibagué Ibagué () (referred to as San Bonifacio de Ibagué del Valle de las Lanzas during the Spanish period) is the capital of Tolima, one of the 32 departments that make up the Republic of Colombia. The city is located in the center of the country, ...

, rename it to ''Tolima Real'' and enter it into the Primera B competition. Although Restrepo argued that he was the legitimate owner of the Real Sincelejo ''ficha'', DIMAYOR refused to admit Tolima Real while at the same time Dépor FC owner Gustavo Moreno founded a new club under the name of ''Atlético Fútbol Club'' which with the consent of both DIMAYOR and

Coldeportes The Administrative Department of Sport, Recreation, Physical Activity and the Use of Free Time, Coldeportes was the national government department of sports in and for Colombia; it is charged with fomenting, planning and organizing the activities ...

, replaced Dépor FC in its competitions. Coldeportes withdrew Real Sincelejo's sporting license (''reconocimiento deportivo''), and thus the one used by Dépor to compete from 2005 until then, in order to allow Atlético F.C. to join DIMAYOR. The club is popularly known as ''Atlético de Cali'' or just ''Atlético''. Due to this controversy, the club was not able to play its first seven matches of the 2016 season, which were going to be awarded as losses by walkover, however they were eventually confirmed to be played after the club was renamed and accepted into the league.

Stadium

Current squad

References

External links

Official web site

Atlético F.C. page on DIMAYOR

official facebook

official instagram

twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atletico F.C. Football clubs in Colombia Association football clubs established in 2005 2005 establishments in Colombia Categoría Primera B clubs