Kimberley Atlético Club is an

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 ...

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in the

Villa Devoto Villa Devoto is a neighborhood or district located in the northwestern area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its administrative limits are defined by Lope de Vega, General Paz, San Martín, and Francisco Beiró Avenues; and Joaquín V. Gonz� ...

district of

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 ...

. Nowadays Kimberley is mostly known for its

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

team,Kimberley: crecer de la mano del futsal
by Cristian Claverie on AFA website which currently competes in Primera División, the main futsal championship organised by 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 ...

(AFA). Kimberley was affiliated to the

Federación Argentina de Football The Federación Argentina de Football (FAF) was a dissident football association of Argentina that organised its own championships from 1912 to 1914. The Argentine Football Association did not recognised those championships until both associations ...

(then merged with official AFA), having played in the top division, Primera División, during the 1910s although the club disaffiliated in 1916. In 2006 Kimberley rejoined AFA to compete in the futsal tournaments organised by the Association.

History

Foundation and football years

The club was founded on 4 August 1906 as "Kimberley Athletic Club" by a group of young enthusiasts led by José Chiesa, R. Viviani and brothers Julio and José Pianaroli. The Pianaroli had been founding members of

Club Atlético Platense Club Atlético Platense is an Argentine sports club based in Florida, Buenos Aires. The club nickname is (Squid) after the journalist Palacio Zino said that the team moved "like a squid in its ink". Although the club hosts many activities, Pla ...

one year before, and left the club due to internal conflicts. Kimberley affiliated to the

(AFA) in 1907, competing in lower divisions until 1911.Cuando Villa Urquiza se tiñó de celeste
on Periódico El Barrio, 29 Aug 2019, by Javier Perpignan The first field of Kimberley was located on Blandengues (current Avenida del Libertador) and Crisólogo Larralde in

Núñez, Buenos Aires Núñez is a ''barrio'' or neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is on the northern edge of the city on the banks of the Rio de la Plata. The ''barrio'' of Belgrano is to the southeast; Saavedra and Coghlan are to the west; and Vicente L ...

, close to Estadio Monumental. It is believed that the name "Kimberley" was taken from the homonymous city in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, capital of

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

, as the club was established in 1906, the same year a South Africa team toured on Argentina. In July 1912,

Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima (also known for its acronym GEBA) is an Argentine multi-sports club placed in the city of Buenos Aires. The institution is one of the oldest in the country, having been established in 1880. Gimnasia y Esgrima is also one ...

disaffiliated from the

(AFA), founding the

(FAF) presided by Ricardo Aldao. Recently promoted teams

Porteño In Spanish, the term (feminine: ''Porteña'') means "port city person". It is used to refer to residents of port cities such as Buenos Aires, Argentina; El Puerto de Santa María, Spain; Valparaíso, Chile; Mazatlán, Veracruz, Acapulco and Tam ...

and Estudiantes (LP) joined the new league, among other clubs. 1912 was the inaugural season of the dissident FAF league. This tournament was contested by 3 dissident teams from the AFA:

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

, Gimnasia y Esgrima (BA) and Porteño. As a División Intermedia (second division) promoted team, Kimberley joined the FAF with the other clubs promoted,

Argentino de Quilmes Club Atlético Argentino de Quilmes, simply known as Argentino de Quilmes, is an Argentina, Argentine association football, football club from Quilmes, Buenos Aires. The team currently plays in Primera B Metropolitana, Primera B, the third divis ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and Independiente.Argentina: 1ra. División Asociación Argentina 1912 at Historia y Futbol
/ref> During that first season, Kimberley played most of their home teams at GEBA Stadium. The next season, Kimberley inaugurated its own home field in

Villa Urquiza Villa Urquiza is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located between the barrios of Villa Pueyrredón, Belgrano, Villa Ortúzar, Coghlan, Saavedra and Agronomía. Its limits are the streets and avenues Constituyentes, ...

, on Monroe and Ceretti streets, playing its first match on August 3. Kimberley played in the top level of Argentine football until

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

, when the team was relegated after finishing 22° of 25.Cuando Kimberley jugaba en Primera División
by Jorge Gallego on Buenos Aires Ciudad de Noticias, 25 July 2016 After being relegated, Kimberley stayed one season (1916) in División Intermedia, but the club disaffiliated from the AFA after failing in its attempt to promote to higher division. In 1939, the club moved its headquarters to

, on Joaquín V. González street, where has remained since then. Kimberley started to enforce its children football section in the 1970s, helped by former footballer Carlos Fren. In 2006 the club registered its children teams with AFA to play official tournaments, achieving success since then.

Rebirth through futsal

The club registered its futsal team with the AFA in 2006 and started participating in lower divisions championships. One year later, Kimberley promoted to Primera División after beating Club Franja de Oro in playoffs. In 2016, Kimberley won the Supercopa Argentina de Futsal, after beating River Plate 3–2, therefore qualifying for Copa Libertadores. It was the second title of the season for the club, having previously defeated

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

in the league competition. Kimberley also played the Copa Argentina de Futsal, reaching the final for the first time in its history in 2018 although the team lost to San Lorenzo 3–1. Kimberley also took part of Supercopa Argentina, where it was eliminated by San Lorenzo in quarter finals.Boca eliminó a San Lorenzo
/ref>

Honours

Futsal

* División de Honor (2): 2015, 2016 * Supercopa (1): 2016

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Football clubs in Buenos Aires Sports clubs in Buenos Aires Futsal clubs Association football clubs established in 1906 Sports clubs established in 1906 1906 establishments in Argentina Futsal clubs established in 2006