Club Sport Marítimo de La Guaira (formerly Club Sport Marítimo de Venezuela), known as Marítimo de La Guaira or just Marítimo, is a football team from

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan Vargas (state), state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port, founded in 1577 as an outlet for nearby Caracas. The city hosts its own professional baseball team i ...

, Venezuela. Founded in 1959 and refounded in 2022, they play in the

Venezuelan Segunda División Segunda División, officially known as Liga FUTVE 2, is the men's second professional football division of the Venezuelan football league system. The Venezuelan second division was established in 1979. List of champions Titles by Team Refer ...

History

The club was founded on 1 May 1959 by Portuguese immigrants living in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, who based their new club on their favourite team from back home,

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

, from the island of

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

. They only played amateur tournaments until 1985, when a group of supporters registered the club in the

, as a replacement to dissolved

Deportivo Portugués ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...

. Marítimo achieved immediate promotion to the

Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; ), or Liga Venezolana (; ) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It is organized by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol. Format Starting i ...

, having

Rafael Santana Rafael Francisco Santana de la Cruz (born January 31, 1958) is a Dominican former Major League Baseball shortstop who won a World Series ring with the 1986 New York Mets. He currently serves as the Dominican Republic scouting and player develo ...

as their manager in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, their first season in the top tier, and reached the final stages but finished third. In the 1986–87 season, Marítimo topped the Oriental Group, with only three losses in 24 matches, and also won the final stage, winning the first division for the first time ever and qualifying to the

1988 Copa Libertadores The 1988 Copa Libertadores de América was the 29th edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. This season's defending champion Peñarol of Uruguay entered the tournamen ...

. After a second consecutive title in the 1987–88 campaign, they lost the 1988–89 title to

Mineros de Guayana Asociación Civil Club Deportivo Mineros de Guayana, known as Mineros de Guayana or simply Mineros, is a professional football club based in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. History The Colegio Loyola Gumilla's field, located in Puerto Ordaz, was us ...

, but won the title again in 1989–90; after being tied on points with

Unión Atlético Táchira Unión may refer to: Places * Unión, Paraguay * Unión Municipality, Falcón, Venezuela * Unión, Montevideo, Uruguay * Unión Cantinil, Huehuetenango, Guatemala * Unión, San Luis, Argentina * Unión Department, Córdoba Province, Argentina * U ...

in the regular season, they won the title after a 2–0 win in a play-off match. After two seasons in the top three, Marítimo won their fourth title in 1992–93, after defeating Minervén on penalties. However, financial problems led the club to end their first team squad in 1995. In November 2022, the club was refounded under the name of ''Club Sport Marítimo de La Guaira'' in the city of

, and returned to action in the 2023 Segunda División, after acquiring the place of Unión Local Andina.

Honours

National

** Winners (4): 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1992–93 *

Copa de Venezuela The Copa Venezuela () is the national cup football competition of Venezuela. Organized by the Venezuelan Football Federation, it is contested in the second half of the season by the teams in the Primera División and Segunda División, excluding ...

** Winners (2): 1988, 1989 *

** Winners (2): 1985, 2003–04

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

: 5 appearances ::1988: First round ::1989: First round ::1991: First round ::1992: Round of 16 ::1994: First round *

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL () was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contest, similar to the ...

: 1 appearance ::1992: First Round

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maritimo Association football clubs established in 1959 Football clubs in Venezuela 1959 establishments in Venezuela Association football clubs disestablished in 1995 1995 disestablishments in Venezuela 2022 establishments in Venezuela Association football clubs established in 2022