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Arsenal de Sarandí

(Redirected from Arsenal Fútbol Club)
Not to be confused with Arsenal F.C..

Arsenal Fútbol Club (Spanish pronunciation: [aɾseˈnal ˈfuðβol ˈkluβ]), usually referred as Arsenal de Sarandí [aɾseˈnal de saɾanˈdi], or simply Arsenal, is an Argentine sports club from the Sarandí district of Avellaneda Partido, Greater Buenos Aires.

Arsenal de Sarandí
Full nameArsenal Fútbol Club
Nickname(s)Los del Viaducto (The Viaduct men)
El Arse
Founded11 January 1957; 67 years ago (1957-01-11)
GroundEstadio Julio H. Grondona,
Sarandí, Avellaneda Partido
Capacity18,500
ChairmanJulio Ricardo Grondona
ManagerJosé María Bianco
LeaguePrimera Nacional
202328th (relegated)
Websitearsenalfc.com.ar
Current season

The football team currently plays in Primera División, the top division of the Argentine football league system. The squad plays its home games at the Estadio Julio H. Grondona, named after one of the founders, which has a capacity of 16,000. It opened in 1964 but was not used in the First Division until 2004. The club's colours are red and light blue, in honour of the traditional teams of Avellaneda (Independiente and Racing). Arsenal won its first Primera División championship in 2012. Until then, club's major title had been the Copa Sudamericana win in 2007.

Apart from football, the club hosts other sports such as field hockey, futsal, and handball.

History

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The beginning

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The team that won the Primera C championship in 1964.

The club was founded in January 1957 by brothers Héctor and Julio Humberto Grondona, inspired by the English club Arsenal. Not only does it share its name with the eponymous Gunners of North London, the stories of the naming of the two clubs are very similar – both had military arsenals nearby. The team's shirt colour is light blue with a diagonal red band (similar to the shirt used by River Plate). The colours were chosen as a combination of the two older clubs in Avellaneda – Racing (light blue) and Independiente (red).

 
The 1962 Arsenal team, which won the first official title for the institution.

Julio Grondona went on to become president of Independiente, and then, in 1979, president of the Argentine Football Association, until 2014. He was also a vice-president of FIFA. Héctor Grondona, and then son Julio Ricardo, became presidents of Arsenal.

The club's best known former player is Jorge Burruchaga, who started his career at Arsenal in 1979, and had several stints as coach. Burru, as he is nicknamed, scored the winning goal for Argentina in the 1986 FIFA World Cup final against Germany.

Arsenal's football team was promoted to successively higher divisions in 1962, 1986 and 1992, finally reaching the Primera División in 2002.

On 6 September 2006, Arsenal and Spanish club FC Barcelona (Barça) struck a deal whereby in exchange for the option to acquire young players that have not played more than one year in the Arsenal first team, Barça would help to improve Arsenal's infrastructure.[1]

A member from Barça was to oversee the project, and visit the club on a monthly basis.[1] This deal, however, fell through in 2007, reportedly because Arsenal could not afford the infrastructure to keep up with the plan.

International tournaments

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The club's first appearance in an international tournament was in 2004, when, coached by Burruchaga, Arsenal reached the Quarter-finals of the Copa Sudamericana, eliminating Banfield and River Plate before losing to Bolivian club, Bolívar in its first ever official tie with a non-Argentine team.

Arsenal's results in the Apertura and Clausura of the 2006–07 season, qualified them for two major international tournaments, the secondary 2007 Copa Sudamericana and the top 2008 Copa Libertadores, the first time in their history that Arsenal qualified for South America's premier club tournament.

Arsenal's run through the 2007 Copa Sudamericana would lead Sports Illustrated to declare them "the underdog that couldn't be stopped".[2] They beat reigning Argentine champions San Lorenzo in the qualifying round to earn a place in the Round of 16 where it faced Brazilian team Goiás. Arsenal won 3–2 in Brazil and recorded a 1–1 draw in the second leg to win the tie 4–3 on aggregate, achieving its first official victory over foreign opposition. Arsenal then met Mexican side Guadalajara in the quarter-finals, with a 0–0 draw at home, and a 3–1 victory at Estadio Jalisco. Advancing to the semi-finals, Arsenal met the other Argentine team still in the running, River Plate. Both games against River ended 0–0, Arsenal progressing to the final after winning the penalty shootout 4–2, with a number of saves from Mario Cuenca, Arsenal's goalkeeper.

In the first leg of the 2007 Copa Sudamericana final, Arsenal beat Club América of Mexico 3–2 at Estadio Azteca. Their upcoming home field advantage was mitigated by the fact that the second match could not be held in the Estadio Julio H. Grondona, because its capacity of 16,300 did not meet the CONMEBOL criteria of 40,000 for major finals. The game was finally held at the Estadio Juan Domingo Perón in Avellaneda. Arsenal entered the match without captain Carlos Castiglione, who was suspended due to a red card in the first leg. With these mitigating factors, Arsenal needed to avoid letting Club América win by a two-goal margin. The match started badly for the Argentine team when Christian Díaz scored an own goal inside the first 20 minutes. José Luis Calderón then hit the woodwork twice for Arsenal. In the 2nd half Arsenal conceded a second goal, but with only 7 minutes remaining Martín Andrizzi scored, giving Arsenal their first major title on the away goals rule.

Arsenal was not as successful in the 2008 Copa Libertadores, which started the month after their 2007 Copa Sudamericana. However, on 30 July 2008, Arsenal won its second international cup, the Suruga Bank Championship, which they qualified for as Copa Sudamericana champion. The rival was J.League Cup champions Gamba Osaka from Japan. After a hard match, captain Carlos Casteglione scored the only goal with a precise header on the 86th minute of play.

First domestic titles

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Arsenal won its first championship on 24 June 2012 after defeating Belgrano de Córdoba 1–0 with a goal scored by Lisandro López.[3] The squad totalized 38 points over 19 games played, with 11 matches won and only 3 defeats.[4] Arsenal also became the first team to win a Primera División title after playing in the five divisions that Argentine football league system is made of.[5] As champions, Arsenal classified for the Supercopa Argentina, a one-match tournament between the Primera División and the Copa Argentina winners. On 7 November 2012 Arsenal defeated Copa Argentina champions Boca Juniors 4–3 by penalties after a 0–0 draw.[6]

Arsenal won the Copa Argentina on 16 October 2013 by defeating San Lorenzo de Almagro 3–0 in a final match played at the Catamarca Province[7]

Stadium

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Main article: Estadio Julio H. Grondona
 
Estadio Julio H. Grondona

The Estadio Julio H. Grondona in Sarandí has a capacity of 36,300, and is known as el Viaducto (The Viaduct). It is located at 3660 Juan Díaz De Solís in Sarandí.

Arsenal's first stadium was started to be built on 11 October 1962, officially opening on 22 August 1964. When Arsenal won promotion to the Primera, its basic concrete stadium was deemed unfit for the league and the team played at the grounds of Lanús and Racing for two seasons until work on the stadium was complete. The remodeled stadium (named "Julio Humberto Grondona") was opened on 7 August 2004 with a party for the fans. The first game was against Banfield in the Copa Sudamericana. The new stadium has witnessed defeats of the biggest teams in Argentine football such as Boca Juniors and River Plate.

Players

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Current squad

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As of August 2023.[8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF   ARG Ignacio Gariglio (on loan from Estudiantes)
3 DF   ARG Leonardo Marchi
4 DF   ARG Lucas Souto (on loan from Defensa y Justicia)
6 MF   ARG Tiago Banega (on loan from Racing)
7 FW   ARG Facundo Pons
8 MF   ARG Braian Rivero (on loan from Defensa y Justicia)
9 FW   COL Flabián Londoño (on loan from River Plate)
10 MF   ARG Santiago Toloza (on loan from Talleres)
11 FW   ARG Lucas Brochero (on loan from Boca Juniors)
13 DF   ARG Joaquín Pombo
14 MF   ARG Mauro Burruchaga
15 MF   ARG Franco Vega (on loan from Vélez Sarsfield)
16 MF   ARG Tomás Sives (on loan from Defensa y Justicia)
17 GK   ARG Francisco Rivadeneira
18 MF   ARG Gonzalo Muschia
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 DF   ARG Maximiliano Centurión
21 FW   ARG Juan Ignacio Peinipil
22 FW   ARG Lautaro Guzmán (on loan from Talleres)
23 GK   ARG Alejandro Medina
24 FW   ARG Daniel Lucero
25 DF   ARG Néstor Breitenbruch (on loan from Godoy Cruz)
26 DF   ARG Franco Martínez
27 MF   ARG Bautista Cejas
28 FW   ARG Leandro Moreira
29 FW   ARG Brandon Sosa
30 DF   ARG Facundo Cardozo
31 DF   ARG Iván Cabrera
33 FW   ARG Juan Cavallaro
34 MF   ARG Facundo Brestt
36 MF   PAR Alfredo Amarilla (on loan from Tacuary)
37 DF   ARG Agustín Álvarez

Out on loan

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK   ARG Alejandro Rivero (at Dock Sud until 31 December 2022)
— DF   ARG Fernando Torrent (at Huracán until 31 December 2023)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF   ARG Ramiro Balbuena (at Estudiantes RC until 31 December 2022)

Former coaches

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Honours

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National

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League

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National cups

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International

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References

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  1. ^ a b "El Arselona F.C." Olé. 5 September 2006. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2007. (in Spanish)
  2. ^ "Tiny Arsenal was underdog that couldn't be stopped". Sports Illustrated. 6 December 2007. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  3. ^ "Arsenal es campeón por primera vez en su historia", Clarín, 24 June 2012
  4. ^ "Primera División de Argentina, tabla final Clausura 2012", ESPN, 24 June 2012
  5. ^ "Histórica coronación de Arsenal", Perfil, 24 June 2012
  6. ^ "Arsenal amargó a Boca en los penales y se quedó con la Copa" Clarín, 7 November 2012 (in Spanish)
  7. ^ "...Arse de risa" Olé, 17 October 2013 (in Spanish)
  8. ^ "Arsenal de Sarandí squad". Soccerway. 6 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
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