Delfín Sporting Club, lit.'dolphin Sporting Club',is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Manta Manta or mantas may refer to: * Manta ray, large fish belonging to the genus ''Manta'' Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * Manta (comics), a character in American Marvel Comics publications * Manta (''Uridium''), a spaceship in the Br ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. The club was founded on 1 March 1989 after Club Deportivo 9 de Octubre was ceded to a group of directors, which had Club Social Delfín. Later the team renamed Delfín Sporting Club. The club currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of Ecuadorian football. Since 1989, the club has played their home games in

Estadio Jocay The Estadio Municipal Jocay is a multi-use stadium in Manta, Ecuador. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Delfín S.C. of the Serie A de Ecuador and Manta F.C. of the Serie B de Ecuador The Primera Catego ...

located in the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador.

History

Delfín SC was founded on 1 March 1989; after founder of Club Deportivo 9 de Octubre Pedro Azua ceded the team to a group of directors from Club Social Delfín. It was Efrén Delgado, Otto Schwarz, and Benincaza whom later joined to create 9 de Octubre-Delfín, which later it renamed Delfín Sporting Club. The club started off on a strong note winning the Serie B championship in 1989 and gaining promotion to the top-flight Serie A in its first season. Surprisingly, the young team was able to stay in Serie A until 1995, when it was relegated back to the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. During their time in the Serie A, the club gained the nickname ''El ídolo de Manta'' (Manta's Idol), a nickname previously given to

Sport Club, which was Manta's previous team in the top-flight. In 1998, the club returned to the top-flight, only to return to the Serie B in 1999 and bounce back up in 2000. Their last season in the Serie A was in 2001. In 2007, they were relegated to the third-level

Segunda Categoría Ecuadorian Segunda Categoría is the third division of the Ecuadorian Football Federation The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( es, Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Qu ...

. Having gained promotion to the

Ecuadorian Serie B The Primera Categoría Serie B, shortened to Serie B or Primera B, is a professional football league in Ecuador. It is in the second tier of the Ecuadorian football league system. Currently contested by ten clubs, it operates a system of promotion ...

, they were then promoted to the

Ecuadorian Serie A The Liga Pro Betcris, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, i ...

for the 2016 season, in which their

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

forward Maximiliano Barreiro was the league's top scorer, with 26 goals. The following 2017 season was the club's historic year, standing strong with only one loss in the first leg of the season and winning La Primera Etapa of the

. This automatically qualified Delfín a spot for the first time to a

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 ...

, which made them the first team from the Manabi province to enter an international tournament. On 17 December, Delfín lost to Emelec 2–0 in the second leg of the final for the

championship in el

and therefore ended the season as runner-up. On 5 April 2018, Delfín achieved its first international win after defeating 2–0 Chilean club

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has played ...

at the

2018 Copa Libertadores The 2018 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 59th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. River Plate defeated Boca Juniors in ...

. Delfín ended in fourth place at the end of the season, which gave them a straight ticket to their second

2019 marked the greatest year for the team as they won their first Serie A title, and the first time a team from their province won any title. The final was played against Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito.

Rivalries

The club's biggest rival is

LDU Portoviejo Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Portoviejo is a professional football club from the city of Portoviejo, Ecuador. They play in the Serie A, Their rival team is Delfín, against whom they contest the ''El Clásico Manabita''. Achievements *Seri ...

with whom they contest the ''Clásico Manabita''.

Honours

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

* Winners (1):

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* Runners-up (1):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

* Winners (2): 1989 E1, 2015 * Runners-up (2): 1997, 2000

Copa Ecuador The Copa Ecuador, officially known as Copa FEF Ecuador, is a knockout football competition in men's domestic Ecuadorian football organized by the Ecuadorian Football Federation that started in 2018. Its creation was approved on 18 May 2018, consi ...

* Runners-up (1):

Players

Managers

* Enrique Della Vecchia (2002) *

Dušan Drašković Dušan Drašković (born 20 June 1939) is a Montenegrin former football manager and player. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern football in Ecuador. Playing career During his playing career, Drašković played for Spartak Subotica, ...

(2005) * Geovanny Mera (2006) * Benicio Aranda (2007) * Juan Carlos Bedoya (2011) * Nexar Zambrano (2012-2014) *

Raúl Duarte Raúl Duarte may refer to: * Raúl Duarte (footballer) (born 1969), Paraguayan football manager and player * Raúl Duarte (basketball, born 1944), Peruvian basketball player * Raúl Duarte (basketball, born 1963) Raúl Fragoso Ferreira Duarte, ...

(2014) * Segundo Montaño (2014) * Fabian Bustos (2015-2016) * Diego Alarcon (2016) *

Octavio Zambrano Octavio Zambrano Viera (born February 3, 1958) is an Ecuadorian football coach. He is a former player with international coaching experience. Zambrano has coached in North America, Latin America, and Europe. He holds a UEFA "A" diploma and a USS ...

(2016) *

Guillermo Sanguinetti Guillermo Óscar Sanguinetti Giordano (born 21 June 1966 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan football (soccer), football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He is the cur ...

(2017-2018) * Fabian Bustos (2018-2019) * Ángel López (2020) *

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 ...

(2020) * Jefferson Huertas (2020) * Miguel Ángel Zahzú (2020) *

Paúl Vélez Ángeles Paúl Vélez Ordoñez (born 12 May 1971) is an Ecuadorian football manager and former player who played as a defender. Playing career Born in Cuenca, Vélez played only in local sides during his entire career. He represented Cruz de ...

(2021) * Horacio Montemurro (2021-

References

External links

Official website

Delfín Sporting Club results
*https://www.delfinsc.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Delfin, Sporting Club Association football clubs established in 1989 1989 establishments in Ecuador