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Atlético Junior

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For other uses, see Junior (disambiguation).

Junior
Full nameClub Deportivo Popular Junior Fútbol Club S.A.
Nickname(s)
  • Los Tiburones (The Sharks)
  • El Equipo Tiburón (The Shark Team)
  • Los Rojiblancos (The Red-and-Whites)
  • Los Quilleros (The Quilleros)
  • Los Reyes de la Costa (The Kings of the Coast)
  • Los Curramberos (The Curramberos)
  • Tu Papá (Your Dad)
Founded7 August 1924; 100 years ago (1924-08-07) as Juventud Infantil
GroundEstadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez
Capacity46,692
OwnerFuad Char
PresidentAlejandro Char
ManagerCésar Farías
LeagueCategoría Primera A
2023Primera A, 6th of 20 (Finalización champions)
Websitehttp://juniorfc.co/

Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A.[1] (Latin American Spanish: [ˈʝunjoɾ]), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior, commonly as Junior FC, or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Junior is the main Caribbean team in the top flight of Colombian football. As of 2022, they sit in the 25th place of the best South American teams.[citation needed]

The club was founded on 7 August 1924. Known as Los Tiburones (The Sharks), or El Equipo Tiburón (The Shark Team). Junior have won the Colombian professional football championship ten times (1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004 Finalización, 2010 Apertura, 2011 Finalización, 2018 Finalización, 2019 Apertura, and 2023 Finalización). Some of the most notable players that have played for the club include Heleno de Freitas, Garrincha, Dida, Juan Ramón Verón, Efraín Sánchez, Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama, Iván Valenciano, Teófilo Gutiérrez, Carlos Bacca, Julio César Uribe, Giovanni Hernández, Sebastián Viera and Luis Díaz.

History

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In the early 1920s a team named Juventus came into being at the Colegio Salesiano in the San Roque neighborhood of Barranquilla, made up primarily of Italian immigrants. Soon after its launch the name was changed to the Spanish Juventud, though both translate the same in English: youth. In August 1924 some of the younger members of Juventud along with other young men from San Roque created an offshoot of Juventud: Juventud Infantil.

Around the 1940s (and the club's name was shortened to simply Junior) they became known as one of the country's best clubs. In 1945 the players of Junior were selected to represent Colombia at the South American Championship (now known as the Copa América), finishing a respectable fifth (though losing 7–0 to Uruguay and 9–1 to Argentina along the way). In 1949 they were again selected to represent Colombia (finishing last place) but this time their decision to play would have its consequences.

In 1948 Junior were founder members of División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (commonly known as the Dimayor). Their debut match as a professional outfit came at home on 15 August 1948, against Deportivo Cali, which ended in a 2–0 victory for the home side. Early the following year they were again chosen to play as the de facto Colombia national team. Because of ongoing strife between Adefutbol (the original amateur Colombian football association) and the Dimayor, Junior were threatened with expulsion from the Dimayor if they participated. They went ahead and did so and were initially given a two-year suspension from the league. This was later reduced to one year and they returned to the Dimayor for the 1950 season.

This was the golden age of Colombian football commonly referred to as El Dorado, a time when the Dimayor was a "rebel league" unaffiliated with FIFA and many high-profile players from around the world broke their contracts and came to play. Junior were no exception, picking up players from Brazil, Argentina, Hungary and the Czech Republic in these years. But El Dorado eventually came to an end for Colombian football.

A way ahead surfaced in the mid-1960s when a rift had again developed in Colombian football, this time between Adefutbol and the newly created Federación Colombiana de Fútbol, an organization devoted to developing professional football in the country. Adefutbol was still the official body in the eyes of FIFA and organized the national team in this period and additionally Colombian clubs did not enter the Copa Libertadores. Peace was finally made and the bulk of the amateur team that had attempted to qualify for the England World Cup signed up for Junior, who returned to the Dimayor in 1966. Junior have remained in the top level ever since.

In 1977 Junior won their first Colombian championship, finishing first place in the Apertura. They won further championships in 1980, 1993, 1995, the 2004-II (Finalización), the 2010-I (Apertura), the 2011-II (Finalizacion), the 2018-II (Finalización) and the 2019-I (Apertura). They also won Copa Colombia in 2015 and 2017. Junior have appeared in the Copa Libertadores seventeen times (reaching the semi-finals in 1994), the Copa Sudamericana 7 times (reaching the final in 2018), and the Copa CONMEBOL 1 time.[citation needed]

Symbols

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Badge

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The team's badge has a Swiss shape; it is 6 cm wide by 8 cm tall, divided into two horizontal stripes. The inferior stripe is divided into 9 vertical white and red stripes. The superior part is another horizontal blue stripe where the stars are placed. The stars have 10 points; each star represents a league championships the team has won.

Flag

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Junior's flag is composed of 9 horizontal stripes representing the 9 stars they have now, 5 red and 4 white ones which alternate, the superior and the inferior ones are red. Overlapped on top of the strips there is a blue triangle. This triangle occupies all the wide of the flag on its vertical side. The white stars are superimposed on the triangle.

Flag of Atlético Junior

Honours

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Domestic

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Continental

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Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

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1971: Group stage
1978: Group stage
1981: Group stage
1984: Group stage
1994: Semifinals
1996: Quarterfinals
2000: Round of 16
2001: Round of 16
2005: Round of 16
2010: Preliminary round
2011: Round of 16
2012: Group stage
2017: Third stage
2018: Group stage
2019: Group stage
2020: Group stage
2021: Group stage
2024: Round of 16
2004: Quarterfinals
2015: Second stage
2016: Quarterfinals
2017: Semi-finals
2018: Runners-up
2020: Quarterfinals
2021: Round of 16
2022: Group stage
2023: First stage
1992: Quarter-finals

Players

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Current squad

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As of 24 September 2024[2][3][4]

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 Colombia COL Howell Mena
3 DF Colombia COL Edwin Herrera
5 DF Colombia COL Rafael Pérez
6 MF Colombia COL Didier Moreno (vice-captain)
7 MF Colombia COL Léider Berrío
8 FW Colombia COL Yimmi Chará
10 FW Venezuela VEN Luis González
13 MF Colombia COL Jhon Vélez
15 DF Colombia COL Yeferson Moreno
16 MF Colombia COL Yani Quintero (on loan from Deportes Quindio)
17 FW Colombia COL Marco Pérez
18 DF Argentina ARG Emanuel Olivera
19 DF Colombia COL Carlos Cantillo (on loan from Barranquilla)
20 FW Colombia COL Joel Canchimbo
22 DF Colombia COL Jhon Lerma (on loan from Atlético Huila)
23 FW Colombia COL Stiven Rodríguez
No. Pos. Nation Player
24 MF Colombia COL Víctor Cantillo
25 MF Colombia COL Andrés Colorado (on loan from Necaxa)
26 DF Colombia COL Jhon Navia
28 DF Colombia COL Jermein Peña
30 GK Colombia COL Jefersson Martínez
31 GK Colombia COL Jaime Acosta
33 MF Argentina ARG Nicolás Zalazar
34 MF Colombia COL Léider Berdugo
70 FW Colombia COL Carlos Bacca (captain)
77 GK Uruguay URU Santiago Mele
80 MF Colombia COL Roberto Hinojosa (on loan from Unión Magdalena)
88 FW Colombia COL Bryan Castrillón
90 DF Colombia COL Yairo Moreno
99 FW Colombia COL José Enamorado
— GK Colombia COL Sebastián Araujo

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
— MF Colombia COL Fabián Ángel (at Deportivo Cali until 31 December 2024)
— MF Colombia COL Kevin Padilla (at Fortaleza CEIF until 31 December 2024)
— FW Colombia COL Ferlys García (at Barranquilla until 31 December 2024)

World Cup players

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The following players were chosen to represent their country at the FIFA World Cup while contracted to Junior de Barranquilla.

Club captains

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Personnel

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Technical staff

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Position Staff
Manager Colombia Arturo Reyes
Assistant manager Colombia Luis Grau[5]
Assistant manager Colombia José María Pazo[6]
Fitness coach Colombia César Gaitán[7]

Source: [citation needed]

Notable players

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Most appearances

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Rank Player Appearances
1. Uruguay Sebastián Viera 627
2. Colombia Dulio Miranda 445
3. Colombia Hayder Palacio 432
4. Colombia Alexis Mendoza 417
5. Colombia José María Pazo 392
6. Colombia Gabriel Berdugo 379
7. Colombia Víctor Pacheco 367
8. Colombia Jesús Rubio 363
9. Colombia Luis Grau 341
10. Brazil Othon Dacunha 333

Most goals

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As of 19 May 2024
Rank Player Goals
1. Colombia Ivan Valenciano 180
2. Colombia Carlos Bacca 116
3. Colombia Teófilo Gutiérrez 94
4. Brazil Víctor Ephanor 86
5. Uruguay Nelson Silva Pacheco 81
6. Colombia Víctor Pacheco 78
7. Colombia Martín Arzuaga 70
8. Colombia Vladimir Hernández 65
9. Colombia Orlando Ballesteros 56
10. Brazil Marcos Cardoso 55

Historic players

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International players

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The following players, despite not having been able to establish themselves as idols, had a stage as internationals with their national teams.

Managers

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Main article: List of Junior F.C. managers

Notable fans

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Affiliated clubs

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References

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  1. ^ "DIMAYOR Official Website". Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Junior de Barranquilla squad". Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Junior". Dimayor. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Copa Libertadores". Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  5. ^ "Alfredo Araújo y Lucho Grau, asistentes de Comesaña". 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Alfredo Araújo y Lucho Grau, asistentes de Comesaña". 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  7. ^ "La octava será la vencida para Julio Comesaña en Junior". 10 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
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