Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, known simply as Independiente del Valle, is a professional football club based in

Sangolquí Sangolquí is a suburb of Quito and the seat of Rumiñahui canton in the province of Pichincha, in northern Ecuador. It is connected to Quito by the ''Autopista General Rumiñahui'' ( General Rumiñahui Highway). The suburb is home to the prest ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

that currently plays in the

Ecuadorian Serie A The Liga Pro Ecuador Serie A, simply known as the Liga Pro or the Serie A (or the Ecuadorian Serie A to distinguish it from the Italian Serie A and the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A), or as Liga Pro Ecuabet for sponsorship re ...

. Founded in 1958, the club plays its home games at Estadio Banco Guayaquil, which opened in March 2021 and has a capacity of 12,000. In the 2013 Serie A season Independiente finished runners-up and they won their first league title in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. In CONMEBOL competitions they reached the final of the

2016 Copa Libertadores The 2016 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2016 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 57th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. ...

after famously defeating powerhouses River Plate and

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

. They won their first

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

title in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and three years later the club would become one of the few two-time Sudamericana champions after defeating

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

in the 2022 final. Independiente have a renowned youth academy. Notable layers they have produced include Junior Sornoza, Cristian Ramírez, Gonzalo Plata, Moisés Caicedo,

Piero Hincapié Piero Martín Hincapié Reyna (born 9 January 2002) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and the Ecuador national team. Club career Hincapié began playing footb ...

Willian Pacho Willian Joel Pacho Tenorio (born 16 October 2001) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Ecuador national team. Club career Independiente del Valle From Quinindé in the ...

and

Kendry Páez Ray Kendry Páez Andrade (born 4 May 2007) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or right winger for club Chelsea and the Ecuador national team Club career Early career Born in Guayaquil, Páez began ...

History

The club was founded on 1 March 1958 as Club Deportivo Independiente by Jose Terán, a football fan from

, along with a group of friends including José Díaz, Jorge Atapuma, the ''Negro'' Sanguano, Tomás Zaldumbide and ''Marino'' Guayasamín. In 1977, two years after the death of José Terán, the club's name was changed to Club Social y Deportivo Independiente José Terán in honor of its founder. The name and initial club colors (red and white) were inspired by Argentine club

Club Atlético Independiente () is an Argentine professional sports club, which has its headquarters and stadium in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. The club is best known for its Association football, football team, which plays in the Argentine Primera Divi ...

. In 1995 the club reached the

Segunda Categoría Ecuadorian Segunda Categoría is the third division of the Ecuadorian Football Federation The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's v ...

(3rd Division) for the second time. After winning the Segunda Categoría in 2007, the club changed its name to ''Independiente del Valle'' and adopted the current colors (blue and black). ''Los Negriazules'' achieved promotion to the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

for the first time ever in the 2010 season, after winning the 2009 Serie B. In the 2013 Serie A, the club finished runners-up on the aggregate table. Independiente del Valle made its first international participation that same year, in the

2013 Copa Sudamericana The 2013 Copa Sudamericana (officially the 2013 Copa Total Sudamericana for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The winner qua ...

, where it was eliminated in the second stage by

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

after having beat Venezuelan club Deportivo Anzoategui in the first stage. The next year, the Ecuadorian club made its first Copa Libertadores participation and second overall international participation, with the 2014 edition. In that edition, the club was eliminated after placing 3rd in their group. In July 2014, the club officially changed its name from "Independiente del Valle" to Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle. Although the club had changed its name already, it had never been made official by the

Ecuadorian Football Federation The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's various football competitions and oversees the Ecuador national team. History Numerous amate ...

until that point. Independiente del Valle unexpectedly reached the finals of the

with incredible odds, being compared to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

's Premier League title that same year. Independiente began its

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

run by beating Copa Libertadores defending champions, Argentina's River Plate, in the round of 16 2–1 on aggregate. In the quarter-finals they defeated

Pumas UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., simply known as Pumas UNAM, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1954 as Club Deportivo Universidad, and they play ...

on penalties 5–3, after an aggregate score of 3–3. The club subsequently faced Argentina's giant

in the semi-final, defeating them 5–3 on aggregate, including a 3–2 victory at the famous

La Bombonera La Bombonera (; , named after its resemblance to a chocolate box, per Viktor Sulčič), officially known as Alberto José Armando Stadium (, ; named after Alberto Armando), is an association football stadium located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

stadium. These feats earned the team the nickname ''"matagigantes"'' (killer of giants). In the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, the Ecuadorians faced

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

. In the first leg played at

Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa () is a multi-purpose stadium in Quito, Ecuador. It is currently used primarily for football matches and has a capacity of 35,258. Overview Built in 1951, it sits at the intersection of the Avenida 6 de Diciembre an ...

on 20 July, the match finished 1–1. Independiente's fairy tale story came to a conclusion after a 1–0 loss in the second leg with the series ending 2–1 in favor of the Colombians. In November 2019, Independiente del Valle played their first Copa Sudamericana final, and only its second ever CONMEBOL final, where they defeated

Club Atlético Colón Club Atlético Colón de Santa Fe (), commonly referred to as Colón de Santa Fe , is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina. The football team plays in the second Division of the Argentine football league system, the Primera Nacional. It was ...

3–1 in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

. This was the Ecuadorian club's first historic title. It was considered a major upset because Colón had a richer history and a much bigger fanbase, with around 40,000 fans at the stadium versus only 500 Ecuadorians. In February 2020, the club lost the

2020 Recopa Sudamericana The 2020 CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana () was the 28th edition of the CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Recopa Sudamericana''), the football competition organized by CONMEBOL between the winners of the previous season's two ma ...

against the champion of the

2019 Copa Libertadores The 2019 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 60th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. ...

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

. The first leg in Quito was a 2–2 draw, but in the second leg at Estadio Maracana, Flamengo won 3–0 and became the champion with a 5–2 aggregate score.

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

* Copa Libertadores: 8 appearances **

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: Group Stage **

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: First Stage **

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

: Runners-up **

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: Second Qualifying stage **

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: Second Qualifying stage **

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: Round of 16 **

: Group Stage **

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

: Round of 16 *Copa Sudamericana: 5 appearances **

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

: Second Stage **

: Champions **

: Round of 16 **

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: Champions *Recopa Sudamericana: 2 appearances **

: Runners-up **

: Champions

Stadium

Estadio Rumiñahui Estadio Municipal Rumiñahui is a multi-purpose stadium located between the streets ''Gonzales Suarez'' and ''Eloy Alfaro'' in Sangolquí, Ecuador. Used primarily for football, it was the home stadium of Independiente del Valle of the Ecuadori ...

was inaugurated in 1941 and has a capacity for 8,000 spectators. For international tournaments the club use larger stadiums like the

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

that has a 38,500-capacity. In March 2021, the club opened a new 12,000-capacity stadium called Estadio Banco Guayaquil. It meets modern FIFA standards and is able to hold international matches, unlike their old stadium. It also has three grandstands with a roof, compared to Estadio Rumiñahui, which only had one grandstand.

Reserve team

Since 2018, the club has a reserve team in 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 promotio ...

, formerly named ''Alianza Cotopaxi SC''. After the promotion, the club changed name to C.D. Independiente Juniors.

Players

First-team squad

World Cup players

The following players were chosen to represent their country at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

while contracted to Independiente del Valle. *

Moisés Ramírez Wellington Moisés Ramírez Preciado (born 9 September 2000) is an Ecuadorian association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for C.S.D. Independiente del Valle, Independiente del Valle. Club caree ...

(2022)

Players out on loan

Managers

Current technical staff

* Javier Rabanal (head coach) * Felipe Sánchez Mateos (assistant coach) * Francisco Trujillo (fitness coach) * Ricardo Pereira (goalkeeper coach) * Luis Piedrahita (performance analyst) * Wendy Montiel (doctor) * Javier Echeverría (physiotherapist) * Camila Nájera (physiotherapist) * Junior Alcócer (equipment manager) * Francisco Alcócer (equipment assistant)

List of managers

* Nelson Brito (2007 – April 26, 2008) * Daniel Silguero (April 30, 2008 – November 8, 2008) * Janio Pinto (November 8, 2008 – April 27, 2009) *

Guillermo Duró Guillermo Andrés Duró (born 16 November 1968) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of Peruvian club Deportivo Garcilaso. Career Born in Villa Ballester, Duró represented Sa ...

(May 11, 2010 – Sept 21, 2010) *

Julio Asad Julio Daniel Asad (; born 7 June 1953) is an Argentine former football player and manager. He played as a midfielder, and participated with Argentina in the 1975 Copa América. Asad was nicknamed "El Turco" due to his Syrian and Lebanese ethni ...

(Sept 22, 2010 – April 17, 2011) * Carlos Sevilla (April 17, 2011 – Sept 20, 2012) *

Álvaro Carcelén Álvaro or Álvar (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname of Germanic Visigothic origin. The patronymic surname derived from this name is Álvarez. Given name Artists *Álvaro Carrillo, Afro-Mexican songwriter. ...

(Sept 21, 2012 – Sept 30, 2012) *

Pablo Repetto Pablo Eduardo Repetto Aquino (born 14 March 1974) is a Uruguayan football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was recently the manager of Colombian club Atlético Nacional. Playing career Born in Montevideo, Repetto began h ...

(Sept 25, 2012 – Jul 27, 2016) *

Alexis Mendoza Alexis Antonio Mendoza Barrina (born November 8, 1961) is a retired Colombian footballer, manager and the current assistant manager of Honduras national football team He was the assistant manager of Honduras national football team during the ...

(Jul 29, 2016 – Dec 6, 2017) *

Gabriel Schürrer Gabriel Francisco Schürrer Peralta (born in Rafaela16 August 1971) is an Argentine professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. He spent the better part of his career in Spain, appearin ...

(Dec 10, 2017 – 2018) * Ismael Rescalvo (Jun 28, 2018 – April 27, 2019) * Yuri Solano (April 27, 2019 – May 7, 2019) *

Miguel Ángel Ramírez Miguel Ángel Ramírez Medina (born 23 October 1984) is a Spanish football manager. Career Early career Born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Ramírez joined UD Las Palmas' youth categories in 2003, from AD Claret. In 2011 he moved to Greece, init ...

(May 7, 2019 – Dec 19, 2020) * Renato Paiva (Dec 25, 2020 – May 30, 2022) * Martín Anselmi (June 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2023) * Javier Gandolfi (Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 23, 2024) *

Javier Rabanal Javier Rabanal Hernández (born 19 April 1979) is a Spanish football manager, currently in charge of Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle. Career Born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife ...

(Dec 24, 2024 – present)

Honours

National

** Winners (1):

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 1970 and was reinstated in 2018. The winners quali ...

** Winners (1):

Supercopa Ecuador The Supercopa Ecuador (''Ecuador Supercup'') is an annual one-match football official competition in Ecuador organised by the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) to be played by the champions of the Ecuadorian Serie A and the Copa Ecuador of the ...

** Winners (1):

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie 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 season. It had b ...

** Winners (1):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

** Winners (1):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

International

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 ...

** Runners-up (1):

** Winners (2):

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

** Winners (1):

** Runners-up (1):

Regional

* Copa Pichincha ** Winners (2): 1978, 1995 * Segunda Categoría de Pichincha ** Winners (2): 1997, 2007

Under-20 team

U-20 Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Under-20 Libertadores ( Portuguese and Spanish: CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub 20) is the international association football club competition for teams that play in CONMEBOL leagues. It was created by Manuel Burga Seoane and the Peruvian ...

** Winners (1):

** Runners-up (3):

References

External links

*
Independiente del Valle
at

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

* * *
Independiente del Valle
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{Copa Sudamericana winners 1958 establishments in Ecuador Association football clubs established in 1958 Football clubs in Ecuador I