Real Cartagena

Full Name: Corporacion Deportiva Club Real Cartagena
City: Cartagena de Indias, Bolívar
Founded: March 21, 1971
Stadium: Estadio Jaime Morón León (25,000)
Colors: Yellow, Green
Previous: Real Cartagena (1971-90), Atlético Cartagena (1990-91)
Nickname: Auriverdos, Heroicos

Description:
Despite being the fifth largest city in Colombia the resume of Cartagena de Indias in the country's premier league, the Dimayor, is very spotty. The first appearance of a local club in the national championship did not come until 1971 and the second a further twenty years later. Real Cartagena will be contesting just their ninth ever season in the Dimayor and since their return to the professional level in 1992 have already been relegated three times. They're back at the top for the 2009 season, we shall see if they're able to turn this into a long-term stay.

Before the start of the 1971 Dimayor season Atlético Bucaramanga were facing grave financial difficulties and looked certain to go bankrupt and withdraw from the league. They were thrown a lifeline by fellow Caribbean city Cartagena, who offered to take their place in the Dimayor for one season while Atlético sorted out their financial problems. Real Cartagena were duly created primarily using players on loan from Atlético Bucaramanga. They finished a respectable 11th out of 14th. Atlético Bucaramanga were ready to return for the 1972 season and, though they played the first half of the season in Cartagena in a show of appreciation, that was the end of professional football in the city for the next two decades. Real Cartagena continued to compete in the Liga de Fútbol de Bolivar, the local provincial amateur competition.

From 1983-89 Real Cartagena were affiliated to Cali heavyweights Millonarios as a developmental team. This came as a real boost to the club as they were going through serious financial problems at the time the relationship began. It lasted until 1989 when Real Cartagena became an independent club once more.

In 1990 the club was sold to a new ownership group, who changed the name of the club to Atlético Cartagena. The following year a new third-tier league was created in Colombia, the Primera C. Atlético Cartagena were one of the founding members. This same season Dimayor club Union Magdalena left their original home city of Santa Marta (also on Colombia's Caribbean coast) to play in Cartagena. Although Union Magdalena returned to Santa Marta the following season it got the locals thinking about getting serious funding and getting the city a team in the Dimayor. In the off-season a group of local worthies purchased Atlético Cartagena, changed the name back to Real Cartagena, bought the Dimayor franchise of Sporting Barranquilla and Real Cartagena made their long-awaited return to the Dimayor for the 1992 season.

Their stay was unfortunately a very short one, lasting only one season before relegation to the Primera B. The Auriverdos (the green and yellow) spent the following seven seasons in the second division, including a last place finish in the 1995-96 season. They were scheduled to be relegated but a decision was made to expand the Primera B and they were granted a reprieve. Three years later they made a triumphant return to the Dimayor, winning the first of their three Primera B titles. Real Cartagena have been relegated two further times (2002 and 2007) and both times have been promoted as champions of the Primera B (2004 and 2008). Mixed in these ups and downs was the club's best-ever finish, a berth in the 2005 Finalizacion finals, where they lost to América de Cali.

Their home stadium is the 25,000 seat Estadio Jaime Morón León, named for a footballer from Cartagena who had great success at Millonarios. It has had this name only since 2007, originally bearing the name Estadio Pedro de Heredia after the Spanish Conquistador who founded the city. The Auriverdes played the 2006 season in Sincelejo (about 50 miles south of Cartagena) while the stadium was renovated to play host to the 2006 Central American & Caribbean Games.

Cartagena was for many years the seat of government of the Spanish Empire in Colombia and the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada which occupied a large stretch of northern South America (Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador). Due to this "royal" heritage the club adopted the name Real Cartagena. The full club name translates as Royal Cartagena Sports Corporation. As for its nickname Heroicos this requires a further bit of exploration into Colombian history. In the early 1800s, during Colombia's battle for independence from Spain, the city survived a long and bitter siege that resulted in the deaths of a great many residents. This episode earned the city the nickname La Ciudad Heroica - The Heroic City.

Real Cartagena's logo adopts the red, yellow and green colors of both the city of Cartagena and the departamento of Bolívar.

Trophy Room:
* Categoria Primera B: 3 (1999, 2004, 2008-II)
* Best finish in the Dimayor: 2nd, 2005-II

Estadio Jaime Morón León

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Links:
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Corporacion Deportiva Club Real Cartagena