Club Always Ready
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| Full name | Club Always Ready | |||
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| Nickname(s) | La Banda Roja Millonarios | |||
| Founded | April 13, 1933 | |||
| Ground | Estadio Municipal de Villa Ingenio El Alto, Bolivia | |||
| Capacity | 25,000 | |||
| Chairman | Ángel Fernando Costa Sarmiento | |||
| Manager | Eduardo Villegas | |||
| League | División Profesional | |||
| 2019 Clausura | 5th | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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Club Always Ready, better known as Always Ready, is a Bolivian football club from La Paz, playing its home games in nearby El Alto. Due to the jerseys the team is also known as Banda Roja, or the red band, due to the similar traits its uniform shares with the popular River Plate.
History
Club Always Ready was founded on 13 April 1933. The team took part in the La Paz championship, which was held in 1950 under semi-professional conditions; it was organized by La Paz Football Association (LPFA). Despite not having any official status, the winner of the tournament was widely considered the de facto champion of Bolivia. Always Ready earned their first title in 1951. In the following two years, the team was runner-up respectively.
From 1954 onwards, teams from Cochabamba and Oruro participated in the now-called Torneo Integrado, a much larger tournament then the La Paz championship; Always Ready found themselves withdrawing from the competition as it found it difficult to retain key players. Always Ready's resurgence was not until 1956. The team secured its second national title in 1957 for the last time. Another notable fact was that Always Ready became the first Bolivian team to do a tour outside Bolivia: from August to November 1961, the club toured Europe.[1]
In 1967, the club obtained second place in its national league; that allowed Always Ready to participate in South America's most prestigious club event: the Copa Libertadores. However, the results were disappointing as they went out in the first round without winning a single match. Nevertheless, Always Ready won that same year's city championship and finished 5th in the national standings.
In 1977 Always Ready was one of the founding members of the new national professional league, where it stayed until 1981, when they were relegated to the second division. They achieved promotion in 1987, but in 1991 they descended again and did not climb back up until 2019, 28 years later.
In 2018, Always Ready returned to the top flight for the first time since 1991 by winning the Copa Simón Bolívar after beating Avilés Industrial 3–0 in the final.
Honours
- 2018
- 1951, 1957
- Copa Libertadores: 2 appearances
Current squad
- As of 10 August 2019[2]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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References
- ^ Club Always Ready celebra hoy su 74 aniversario El Diario vom 13. April 2007, last accessed on 5 January 2009, Spanish
- ^ "Club Always Ready - Roster". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 10 August 2019.