Club Sportivo Palermo was an Argentine football club that played in the Primera División during the 1920s. After being relegated in the 1930s and having played at lower divisions, the club was finally disbanded in the 1980s.

History

On May 18, 1908, Club Sportivo Palermo was established, adopting blue as its jersey color. The great number of clubs that were founded during the beginning of the 20th century in Argentina resulted in the creation of many leagues and associations, which run in line with Asociación Argentina de Football. One of those leagues was 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 ...

", which run until 1914 when it merged with AFA. Sportivo Palermo wanted to affiliate to the new association, so the team merged with Club Atlas, an institution from

La Paternal, Buenos Aires La Paternal or Paternal ( en, The Paternal) is a ''neighborhood'' or district in the centre of Buenos Aires city, Argentina. It was founded in 1904 by a city decree (''decreto'') and was named 'La Paternal' after the train station in the neighbour ...

, in 1915. The name "Sportivo Palermo" prevailed over Atlas for the new club. Its home field was placed in Caseros, Buenos Aires, moving to Palermo neighborhood in 1922. In 1917 the club won the Segunda División championship, and three years later Sportivo Palermo took over

Asociación Atlética Eureka Asociación Atlética Eureka, mostly known as Eureka was an Argentine football club located in Barracas, Buenos Aires, that played in the top division of Argentine football, Primera División for one season. It was one of the shortest lifetimes ...

, another football club which had been promoted to Categoría de Honor division. Palermo's first participation in Primera División was in 1920, playing consecutively in the top division of Argentine football until

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

, when the club was relegated to second division. At the beginning of 1922 the club managers got a field that was property of then British-owned company

Ferrocarril Central Argentino The Central Argentine Railway, referred to as CA below, (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central Argentino) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, British companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company had been establish ...

. That land was located in the crossing of Canning Avenue and the railway tracks, near the

Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

. Sportivo Palermo started to build a stadium there, finishing the works in 1924.

Sportivo's best campaign in Primera was in 1922 when finishing in second place after champion Huracán. The squad won 11 matches with only 2 losses, also achieving a great 3–2 victory over Boca Juniors. in 1928, Argentina national football team won the silver medal at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, after losing the final at the hands of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. That squad had six players of Sportivo Palermo in its roster: Paternóster, Weismuller, Zumelzú, Bidoglio, Herman, and

Juan Evaristo Juan Evaristo (20 June 1902 – 8 May 1978) was an Argentine football wing half-back who played for Argentina between 1923 and 1930. Along with his younger brother Mario, an outside left, they became the first siblings to appear in a World Cup ...

. In 1931 football became professional in Argentina, with a new league established,

Liga Argentina de Football The Liga Argentina de Football (LAF) was a dissident football association of Argentina that organised its own professional championships from 1931 to 1934. The Argentine Football Association (that had remained amateur) did not recognise those cham ...

. That body and official "Asociación Argentina de Football" organised their championships simultaneously. Sportivo Palermo remained competing in the official body. The team played the 1931 and 1932 tournaments, finishing in the last position in 1932 and disaffiliating once the championship was finished. In 1933 Sportivo Palermo merged with

Club Atlético Palermo Club Atlético Palermo is a sports club from the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The club has British roots, so the first clubs in London had been founded as social institutions so therefore they were usually the place where gen ...

and the recently formed team played the 1933 and 1934 AAF championships as "Atlético y Sportivo Palermo". After the 1934 season the AAF and the Liga Argentina de Football (the professional league) merged to form the "Asociación del Football Argentino" which has remained professional to date. At the end of that season, Sportivo Palermo and Club Atlético Palermo separated. Sportivo kept out of the official tournaments until 1956, when the club was re-affiliated to Association to play the Primera D championship (then named "Tercera de Ascenso"). That was a successful year for the club so Sportivo Palermo promoted to Primera C along with champion Almirante Brown. Sportivo Palermo would be relegated to the last division in 1959 and 1970, where they played until 1984, when the club disaffiliated from the Argentine Association definitely and soon after it was dissolved.

Titles

* Segunda División (1): 1917

References

{{Argentine Primera División former clubs P P P P P