Fútbol Club Luis Cruz Martínez, is a Chilean football club based in the city of

Curicó Curicó (), meaning "Black Waters" in Mapudungun (originally meaning "Land of Black Water"), is the capital city of the Curicó Province, part of the Maule Region in Chile's central valley. The province lies between the provinces of Colchagu ...

, Maule Region, which honors

Luis Cruz Martínez Luis Cruz Martinez (Villa de Molina Chile, 5 August 1866 – Concepción, Junín, Concepción, Perú, 10 July 1882) was a lieutenant of the 6th. second company of Regiment "Chacabuco" and hero of the Battle of La Concepción, during the War of ...

, the local hero of the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

, who died into battle. They currently play in the Curicó Amateur Association. Between 1962 and 1966, a period of 5 years, they were continuously members of Chile's second high professional level although they never won promotion to the top level, the ''Primera Division''.

History

Luis Cruz Martínez were founded in October, 1905, with Juan B. Forbe as the first President. It was one of the first football clubs in the city. Before 56 years of amateur football life, the club authorities won the right to play professional football at the Second level, the Segunda Division league. Luis Cruz first appearance in a professional tournament was the Copa Chile 1962, when Luis Cruz went on to win the tournament, stunning three First Division teams to win the Cup. In the opening match against Lister Rossel at Linares, Luis Cruz achieved a 3–1 victory. One week later, they beats

Ñublense Club Deportivo Ñublense () is a professional football team based in Chillán, Ñuble Region, Chile. The club was formed in 1916 under the name of Liceo Fútbol Club. They compete in Chile's Primera División league. History Amateur era Ñub ...

on penalties. The next week they won over the first division side

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Primera División de Chile. It has a branch of women's football, and competes ...

, by 2–0. Later they reached the semifinals to beat

Santiago Wanderers Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers is a football club based in Valparaíso, a founding member of the Chilean Football Federation. Their home ground, Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, is in the north-west of the city. Wanderers have played thei ...

, another first level team, 1–0. In the final Luis Cruz faced off with the reigning national champions Universidad Católica on their home ground, the ''Estadio Independencia'' in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

in front of a crowd of 10,000 people, 1,500 of them Luis Cruz Martínez fans who made the trip from

to the Chilean capital city. Luis Cruz won 2–1, and Verdugo and Riquelme scored the goals for the new champions. Since then, the club struggles to show good results on the pitch, and they lose the category at the 1966 season, returning to the Curicó Amateur Football Association, until today.

Honours

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

:''Winners (1)'':

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

---- *5 ''seasons'' in '' Segunda Division''

Records

*Record victory — 7-1 ''v.'' Valparaíso Ferroviario (Segunda Division 1963) *Record defeat — 0-7 ''v.'' Lister Rossel (Segunda Division 1966) * Segunda Division Best Position — 5th (1962 & 1965)

Notable managers

* Ovidio Casartelli * Guillermo Díaz

History

Honours

Records

Notable managers

See also