The Strongest
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| Full name | Club The Strongest |
|---|---|
| NicknameTemplate:Pluralize from text | Tigre[1][2] Aurinegro[3] Gualdinegro[4] Decano[5] |
| Founded | 8 April 1908 |
| Ground | Estadio Hernando Siles Estadio Rafael Mendoza (select games) |
| Capacity | 41,143 14,000 |
| Chairman | Daniel Terrazas |
| Manager | Eduardo Villegas |
| League | División Profesional |
| 2025 | División Profesional, 3rd of 16 |
| Website | clubthestrongest |
Club The Strongest is a Bolivian professional football club based in La Paz, that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División.
Founded in 1908,[6] their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, Estadio Rafael Mendoza, (capacity: 15,000), they play most of their games at the Estadio Hernando Siles, Bolivia's national ground (capacity: 42,000). The club is the oldest active football club in Bolivia and the only team to have played continuously in the country's top division for longer than a century.
The club was well represented in the Bolivian squad at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the last such tournament in which the national team participated, by Marcelo Torrico, Gustavo Quinteros, Óscar Sánchez and José Melgar.
History
Early years
The Strongest was founded on 8 April 1908[7] by a group of 12 students who named the team, "The Strongest Football Club", or El Club Mas Fuerte in Spanish. Its first President and founder was José León López Villamil. Its first championship was in 1911, well before any of the current Bolivian teams had even been created.
In 1930, The Strongest became the first and only Bolivian team to win a League championship with no goals scored against them. The same year, The Strongest inaugurated the Estadio Hernando Siles, with a 4–1 victory against its classical rival (at the time), Universitario.
It is the only football team in the world to have a battle named after it. In the Chaco War (1932–1935) the players, staff and members of the club, which numbered around 600, enlisted in the Bolivian Army. A division largely composed of these "Stronguistas" played a vital part in the Bolivian Army's most important victory. As a result of that, the battle is named "Batalla de Cañada Strongest" in Bolivian history books.[8]
The club was one of the founding members of the first professional Bolivia league in 1950, with all 9 clubs being from La Paz. With the 1952 Torneo Interdepartamental, the club won its first professional league championship.
The Strongest won the 1964 Copa Simon Bolívar, which gave it qualification for its first ever continental competition; the 1965 Copa Libertadores, at a time when only national champions entered the tournament. The club achieved Bolivia's first victory outside of the country on a club level, defeating Ecuador's Deportivo Quito. The team finished 2nd in its group that year, behind Argentina's Boca Juniors.
1967–1981: Rafael Mendoza era
Arguably the greatest president in The Strongest's history, Rafael Mendoza was in charge of the club from 1967 to 1980. In that time, he dealt with the Viloco Tragedy and with many economic hardships.
Deeply affected by the Viloco Tragedy, Mendoza began to think into the future and wanted the club to have its own stadium. Under his command, the stadium was built from 1974 to 1986. Along with this, the complex was finished, which included tennis, racquetball, volleyball, and basketball courts. It also has a swimming pool and dining facilities.[9]
"Don Rafo" is best remembered for his hard work in the Achumani Sports Complex and the club's stadium. Also, in this time, The Strongest achieved great national and international success. Some events to remember in his presidency are the visit by Pelé's Santos team in 1971, a game against Boca Juniors led by Antonio Roma and Silvio Marzolini, and many national championships including the formation of the Bolivian Professional Football League.
1969: The Viloco tragedy
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". On 24 September 1969, a local holiday, the team was invited to participate in an exhibition game in Santa Cruz organized by Santa Cruz's football association; the team had played its last official match on 14 September, and the friendly game was part of a break from their local competition.
On 26 September, the day the team was due to return from Santa Cruz by plane, it was announced that the aircraft, a Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano DC-6, had disappeared carrying sixteen of the team's players, one player on loan, the coach and two other staff members. A day later, there was news that the plane had crashed near Viloco, a rural area between the Tres Cruces Peaks. All 69 passengers and five crew members died. The investigation could not determine a specific cause.[10] Players Luis Gini, Marco Antonio Velasco, and Rolando Vargas were not on board the plane.[11][12]
Members of the team who died in the crash were:[12][13]
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- Template:Flagicon Armando Angelacio
- Template:Flagicon Orlando Cáceres
- Template:Flagicon Hernán Andretta
- Template:Flagicon Héctor Marchetti
- Template:Flagicon Eduardo Arrigó
- Template:Flagicon Raúl Oscar Farfán
- Template:Flagicon Julio Alberto Díaz
- Template:Flagicon Oswaldo Franco
- Template:Flagicon Ernesto Villegas
- Template:Flagicon Jorge Durán
- Template:Flagicon Angel Porta
- Template:Flagicon Juan Iriondo
- Template:Flagicon Oscar Guzmán (on loan from "Olympic" club in La Paz)
- Template:Flagicon Jorge Tapia
- Template:Flagicon Germán Alcázar
- Template:Flagicon Oscar Flores
- Template:Flagicon Diógenes Torrico
- Eustaquio Ortuño (coach)
- José Ayllón Guerra (manager)
- Felipe Aguilar (staff)
1977: Inaugural league champion
In 1977, the club was one of the founding members of the Bolivian Professional Football League, and won the first edition.
From 1979 to 1981, the club finished as runner-ups three consecutive times.
1982–2009: More titles and international campaigns
In 1986, the club won their fifth league title, same year in which their stadium opened. In 1989, they won the league title, and earned the right to play in the Copa Libertadores the following year: the 1990 Copa Libertadores, where the club was eliminated in the second round by Universidad Católica.
In 2003 the club won both tournaments of the year: Apertura and Clausura, becoming the first "Bicampeon" (two-time champion) of the new league format under Argentine manager Néstor Clausen. In that year's Copa Sudamericana, the club produced an upset by beating defending champions San Lorenzo, but were knocked out in the following round by São Paulo after a 7-2 aggregate loss.
In 2004 the club added another league title. In the 2005 Copa Sudamericana, with Eduardo Villegas as head coach, the club eliminated its classic rivals Bolívar 4–2 on aggregate. Later, the team went on to defeat Ecuador's LDU Quito – including a 3–0 victory in Quito. The Strongest was eliminated by Mexican side Pumas UNAM in the third round (round of 16) 4–3 on aggregate, who later went on to become runners-up to cup winners Boca Juniors.
2010–present: Tricampeonato and Recent history
The club became the first "Tricampeon" (three-time champion) of Bolivian football following its 2013 Apertura league title under Bolivian manager Eduardo Villegas. Tigre had previously won the 2012 Apertura and Clausura tournaments.[14]
In the 2014 Copa Libertadores, the club had a good campaign. They finished second in their group behind Athletico Paranaense to qualify for the round of 16, where they were narrowly eliminated after a penalty shootout by Defensor Sporting.
In the 2016 Copa Libertadores, The Strongest made its debut in the competition by historically beating São Paulo at Pacaembu Stadium 1–0 with a goal from Matías Alonso, earning their first Copa Libertadores away win in 34 years.[15] Their last away win in the competition was a 3–2 victory against Técnico Universitario in April 1981.[16][17] The club eventually placed third in the group with 8 points and 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses.
In 2017 the club had another good run in the Copa Libertadores. The club entered the tournament in the second phase and beat Montevideo Wanderers 6–0 on aggregate. In the next phase, they disposed of Unión Española 6–1 on aggregate, including a 5–0 home victory which equalled their highest international win margin. Now in the group stage, The Strongest began the campaign by beating Santa Fe 2–0 in La Paz. Then they lost their only game of that group, 2–0 against Santos in Brazil. They went on to draw three more games while beating Sporting Cristal 5–1.[18] The club finished second in the group and qualified for the round of 16 where they were eliminated 2–1 on aggregate by Lanús.
Kit
The Strongest adopted the yellow and black stripes upon foundation in 1908. While looking for a proper uniform, a friend sent the founders a shirt from Germany that sported a dark green with horizontal, yellow stripes. Upon this, one of the founders commented on how a local bird, the Chayñita, had similar colours. The club adopted the idea and since 1908, the main outfit has been vertically striped yellow and black with a varying number of stripes.[19]
The supplementary uniform has commonly been white with yellow and black, though there have been several other combinations such as a full yellow top and black shorts and even full yellow outfit.
It is sometimes claimed that the similarity to the kit of Peñarol of Montevideo, Uruguay is due to the fact that The Strongest lacked originality and imitated those colours. However, this theory is countered by the argument that Peñarol did not adopt a full striped kit until the 1911 season,[20] and was an unknown team at the time (won 4 titles in its 24-year existence, up to that point).
Performance in CONMEBOL competitions
- Copa Libertadores: 28 appearances
- Best: second round in 1990, 1994, 2014, and 2017
- 1965 – first round
- 1971 – first round
- 1975 – first round
- 1978 – first round
- 1980 – first round
- 1981 – first round
- 1982 – first round
- 1987 – first round
- 1989 – group stage
- 1990 – second round
- 1994 – second round
- 2000 – group stage
- 2001 – group stage
- 2003 – group stage
- 2004 – group stage
- 2005 – group stage
- 2006 – group stage
- 2012 – group stage
- 2013 – group stage
- 2014 – round of 16
- 2015 – group stage
- 2016 – group stage
- 2017 – round of 16
- 2018 – group stage
- 2019 – second stage
- 2020 – second stage
- 2021 – group stage
- 2022 – group stage
- Copa Sudamericana: 4 appearances
- 2003 – quarter-finals
- 2005 – second round
- 2011 – first stage
- 2013 – first stage
- 2022 – round of 16
- Copa CONMEBOL: 2 appearances
- 1995 – first round
- 1997 – preliminary round
- Copa Merconorte: 2 appearances
- 1998 – group stage
- 1999 – group stage
Honours
National
- Bolivian Primera División
- Winners (16): 1952, 1964, 1974, 1977, 1986, 1989, 1993, 2003-A, 2003-C, 2004-C, 2011-A, 2012-C, 2012-A, 2013-A, 2016-A, 2023
- Copa República FBF
- Winners (1): 1958
Regional
- Campeonato Paceño
- Winners (19): 1914, 1916, 1917, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1938, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1952, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1971, 1974
- Copa 20 de Octubre AFLP
- Winners (1): 1916
- Campeonato de 2.ª Categoría
- Winners (1): 1914
Records and other achievements
- First Bolivian team to win a game abroad in an official cup (1–0 in Ecuador against Deportivo Quito for the 1965 Copa Libertadores de América),
- Oldest Bolivian team, reaching the 100-year milestone playing in the top division,
- Oldest and one of two teams (with Oriente Petrolero), to have never been relegated,
Current squad
- As of 10 April, 2026
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Out on loan
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Notable players
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Managers
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- Template:Flagicon Ramiro Blacut (1980–81)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Aragonés (1992–93)
- Template:Flagicon Ramiro Blacut (1994)
- Template:Flagicon Mario Kempes (1999)
- Template:Flagicon Jorge Habegger (1 July 2000 – 30 June 2001)
- Template:Flagicon Néstor Clausen (1 January 2004 – 30 June 2004)
- Template:Flagicon Víctor Hugo Antelo (2004)
- Template:Flagicon Eduardo Villegas (2005)
- Template:Flagicon Rolando Chilavert (6 September 2006–06)
- Template:Flagicon Óscar Carmelo Sánchez (2007)
- Template:Flagicon Félix Berdeja (2007 – 31 July 2007)
- Template:Flagicon Eduardo Villegas (2007)
- Template:Flagicon Bernardo Redín (2008)
- Template:Flagicon Julio César Toresani (1 January 2009 – 30 May 2009)
- Template:Flagicon Sandro Coelho (2009–10)
- Template:Flagicon Néstor Craviotto (1 July 2010 – 30 June 2011)
- Template:Flagicon Néstor Clausen (15 January 2011 – 15 July 2011)
- Template:Flagicon Mauricio Soria (21 June 2011 – 19 March 2012)
- Template:Flagicon Úber Acosta (interim) (20 March 2012 – 23 March 2012)
- Template:Flagicon Eduardo Villegas (23 March 2012–1?)
- Template:Flagicon Néstor Craviotto (5 June 2014–15)
- Template:Flagicon Pablo Caballero (2015–16)
- Template:Flagicon Mauricio Soria (2016)
- Template:Flagicon César Farías (2016–2017)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Ischia (5 January 2018 – 26 March 2018)
- Template:Flagicon Cesar Farias (26 March 2018– December 2018)
- Template:Flagicon Pablo Escobar (December 2018– August 2019)
- Template:Flagicon Mauricio Soria (September 2019 - March 2020)
- Template:Flagicon Alberto Illanes (April 2020 - April 2021)
- Template:Flagicon Gustavo Florentin (April 2021 - August 2021)
- Template:Flagicon Christian Díaz (August 2021– August 2022)
- Template:Flagicon Claudio Biaggio (August 2022– December 2022)
- Template:Flagicon Ismael Rescalvo (2023)
- Template:Flagicon Ricardo Formosinho (2023)
- Template:Flagicon Pablo Cabanillas (2024)
- Template:Flagicon Pablo Lavallén (2024)
- Template:Flagicon Ismael Rescalvo (2024)
See also
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."El tigre The Strongest es el campeón de la Liga del Fútbol Profesional Boliviano 2016". consuladodebolivia.com. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ser del Tigre". Suplemento. Ramona. 13 February 2011.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Diario Página Siete, ed. (25 July 2021). "¡Superclásico aurinegro! The Strongest remonta y vence por 3-1 a Bolívar". Retrieved 29 October 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."8 clubes de la Liga y sus más de 21 apodos "con historia"". Opinion.com. 20 November 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Strongest, el decano con sed de gloria". Bolivia.com. 26 February 2003. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Vanauskas, Laura (1999). "The Clubs – club: The Strongest, details and references to formation". An Encyclopedia of Football in Bolivia – 1914 to 1998. Heart Books – Belgium. p. 192.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Bolivia - Foundation Dates of Clubs". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 15 April 2003. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Historia: Cañada Strongest" (in español). Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."El Complejo de Achumani, la gran obra de don Rafael Mendoza". Visión 360 (in español). 21 October 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Accident Details". PlaneCrashInfo.com. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Strongest, el más fuerte ante la tragedia". Clarìn (in español). 24 July 2013. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Strongest recuerda hoy la tragedia de Viloco". Pagina siete (in spanish). 25 September 2013. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Laudadio, Domenico, ed. (2009). "Viloco 26.09.1969 Tragedia Aerea del The Strongest". Sala della Memoria Heysel (in italiano). Retrieved 18 June 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Poblete, Juan Correa (17 December 2012). "The Strongest es el tricampeón en su país". El Comercio (in español). Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Strongest ganó 1-0 a Sao Paulo en Brasil por Copa Libertadores". Depor (in español). 17 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Sao Paulo 0-1 The Strongest: Triunfo histórico en Brasil". Goal.com. 18 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Copa Libertadores: The Strongest da la primera gran sorpresa en la Copa". Marca.com (in español). 18 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Strongest arrasa 5-1 a Sporting Cristal". livefutbol.com (in español). 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The strength and pride of Bolivia". FIFA.com. 15 April 2008. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Camisetas". Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
External links
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Template:Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano Template:Original Bolivian Primera División clubs
