América de Cali (women)
| Nickname(s) | Las Diablas Rojas (The Red Devils) Las Escarlatas (The Scarlets) | |||
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| Founded | 15 September 2016 | |||
| Ground | Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero | |||
| Capacity | 38,000[1] | |||
| Chairman | Marcela Gómez | |||
| Manager | Daniel Mejía | |||
| League | Colombian Women's Football League | |||
| 2024 | Women's League, 3rd of 15 | |||
| Website | http://www.americadecali.co/ | |||
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América de Cali Femenino, commonly known as América Femenino, is the women's association football section of América de Cali based in the city of Cali, Colombia. They participate in Liga Profesional Femenina, the highest category of women's football, organized by Dimayor.[2][3] Like their male counterpart, they play their home games at the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero.
History
[edit]The team was officially presented on 15 September 2016 in Cali, along with its first two signings, players Catalina Usme and Nicole Regnier.[4] Marcela Gómez, daughter of the club's main shareholder Tulio Gómez, was in charge of the idea of creating a women's team linked to América; she would become the first president of the women's team. Thus, América would be linked to the project of promoting women's football in the country, both at the continental and world level.
América Femenino was a founder club of the Colombian Women's Football League, entering the competition since its first edition held in 2017.[5] In their first match in the competition, they lost 2–0 to Orsomarso at Estadio Francisco Rivera Escobar in Palmira.[6] The team, managed by Gerardo Londoño in the early rounds of the league and later by Enrique Guevara, managed to qualify for the knockout stages of the championship, being defeated by the eventual champions Santa Fe in the quarter-finals.[7] Former men's team player Jersson González was appointed as manager for the following season,[8] in which they reached the semi-finals, losing to Atlético Huila 5–1 on aggregate.[9]
Andrés Usme was signed as manager for the 2019 season,[10] in which América qualified for the knockout stages without much trouble, and reached the final series for the first time after defeating Atlético Nacional in the quarter-finals and Millonarios in the semi-finals.[11] In the finals, they played against Independiente Medellín, whom they defeated 3–2 on aggregate to win their first league title. Along with team captain Catalina Usme, goalkeeper Natalia Giraldo, midfielder Carolina Pineda, and striker Linda Caicedo were among the most outstanding players América featured in this campaign. Caicedo, being 14 years old at the time, was the league's top scorer with 6 goals.[12] The title in the Women's League allowed América de Cali to take part in the 2019 Copa Libertadores Femenina held in Ecuador, in which they placed third.[13]
In the 2020 Colombian Women's Football League, América advanced to the knockout stages after topping their group with 15 out of 18 points, only losing one match against crosstown rivals Deportivo Cali. After defeating Atlético Nacional and Millonarios in successive order just like in the previous season, they faced Santa Fe in the finals, losing both matches to end up as league runners-up.[14] Nevertheless, they returned to the Copa Libertadores Femenina, in which they were drawn in Group A along with the defending champions Corinthians, El Nacional from Ecuador and Peruvian side Universitario. América advanced as group runners-up after thrashing both El Nacional and Universitario and losing 3–0 to Corinthians, and in the knockout stages they defeated Argentine side Boca Juniors in the quarter-finals and Corinthians in the semi-finals before losing 2–1 to Brazilian team Ferroviária in the final.[13]
After failing to advance out of the first stage of the league for the first time in 2021, they reached the final of the league in 2022, defeating Deportivo Cali in the two-legged final to claim their second league title.[15] They once again took part in the Copa Libertadores Femenina in which they won all their group stage matches and reached the semi-finals where they were beaten by Palmeiras and later claimed another third place finish in the competition with a 5–0 win over Deportivo Cali.[16][17] Shortly after the end of the Copa Libertadores Femenina, manager Andrés Usme announced his departure from the team.[18] Usme was replaced by Carlos Hernández for the 2023 season, in which América once again reached the domestic league finals, losing the double-legged series to Santa Fe.[19]
Stadium
[edit]Current squad
[edit]- As of 9 June 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Honours
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Technical and statistics report" (PDF). es.fifa.com. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ América de Cali (15 September 2016). "Equipo femenino".
- ^ América de Cali (15 September 2016). "Comunicado Oficial". Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- ^ ESPN (15 October 2016). "Nicole Regnier y Catalina Usme jugarán con América de Cali" [Nicole Regnier and Catalina Usme will play with América de Cali] (in Spanish).
- ^ "Liga Femenina en Colombia: clubes, grupos, datos y formato" [Women's League in Colombia: clubs, groups, data and format] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Orsomarso inició de buena forma la Liga Femenina: venció 2-0 a América" [Orsomarso started the Women's League in a good way: they beat América 2–0] (in Spanish). Futbolred. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Así fue el camino de Santa Fe para coronarse campeón en Liga Femenina" [This was Santa Fe's path to crown themselves Women's League champions] (in Spanish). Futbolred. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Jersson González fue nombrado DT del América de Cali para la Liga Femenina 2018" [Jersson González was appointed as manager of América de Cali for the 2018 Women's League] (in Spanish). Fémina Fútbol. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Terminó el camino para nuestro América Femenino" [The road for our América Femenino ended] (in Spanish). América de Cali. 20 May 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "América de Cali presentó su equipo profesional femenino" [América de Cali presented their women's professional team] (in Spanish). El País. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Jerarquía y buen fútbol: los números de la campaña de las campeonas" [Hierarchy and good football: the numbers of the champions's campaign] (in Spanish). Futbolred. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Cinco datos del campeón de la Liga Femenina, América de Cali" [Five facts about the Women's League champions, América de Cali] (in Spanish). W Radio. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Así le ha ido a América y a Deportivo Cali en sus anteriores participaciones en la Copa Libertadores Femenina" [This is how América and Deportivo Cali have fared in their previous participations in the Copa Libertadores Femenina] (in Spanish). Infobae. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Así fueron los números de América, subcampeón de Liga Femenina 2020" [These were the numbers of América, 2020 Women's League runners-up] (in Spanish). Futbolred. 14 December 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "América armó la fiesta en el Pascual y se coronó campeón de la Liga Femenina" [América put on the party at the Pascual and were crowned champions of the Women's League] (in Spanish). Comutricolor. 5 June 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
- ^ "América tampoco pudo: cayó contra Palmeiras en semifinal de Libertadores" [América couldn't either: they lost against Palmeiras in Libertadores semi-final] (in Spanish). Noticias RCN. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Copa Libertadores Femenina: América aplastó 5-0 a Deportivo Cali y se quedó con el tercer lugar" [Copa Libertadores Femenina: América crushed Deportivo Cali 5–0 and took third place] (in Spanish). Infobae. 13 October 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- ^ "Andrés Usme deja el banquillo de América Femenino" [Andrés Usme leaves the bench of América Femenino] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "¡Tercer rugido de las leonas! Santa Fe campeón de Liga BetPlay Femenina" [Third roar by the lionesses! Santa Fe Liga BetPlay Femenina champions] (in Spanish). Futbolred. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.