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Cerro Porteño

Full name	Club Cerro Porteño
Nickname(s)	El Ciclón (The Cyclone) Club del Pueblo (The People's Team) La Mitad más Uno (The Half plus One) El Azulgrana (The Blue And Red)
Founded	1 October 1912; 112 years ago (1912-10-01)
Ground	Estadio General Pablo Rojas
Capacity	45,000
Chairman	Juan José Zapag
Manager	Diego Martínez
League	Primera División
2024	Primera División, 3rd of 12
Website	http://www.clubcerro.com/
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Primera División titles and is one of the most popular football clubs in Paraguay. Its president is Raúl Zapag and the manager is Carlos Jara Saguier. Cerro Porteño plays the Paraguayan derby with its main rival Club Olimpia. They play their home games at the 45,000-seat General Pablo Rojas Stadium, also known as La Nueva Olla (The New Boiler), the biggest in the country.

History

Cerro Porteño was founded on 1 October 1912 by Susana Núñez and a group of young people looking to create a new football club. At the time of Cerro's foundation, the situation in Paraguay was tense with instability in the government caused by the fervent rivalries between the two leading political parties, the Partido Colorado (Crimson Party) and the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party).

Because of the tensions, the founders of the club decided to use the colours of both parties, red (Colorados) and blue (Liberals), as the club's colours as a symbol of unity and friendship between Paraguayans. Later, white was used on the shorts to incorporate all the colours of the Paraguayan flag.

The club owes its name to the battle fought between the forces of Buenos Aires, Argentina (The Porteños) and the Paraguayan army, in the neighbourhood of the Cerro Mbaé (Mbaé Hill) – named after that battle as the Cerro Porteño (Porteño Hill) – on 19 January 1811. During that battle, the troops of Paraguay (at that time a Spanish colony) were abandoned by the Spanish governor but continued to be led by the Paraguayan officials, who led them to a great victory against the Porteño's troops. That battle is known as the "Battle of Cerro Porteño" and is a highlight of Paraguayan military history.

Over the years the club has won a significant number of national championships. However, to date, it has not won any international tournaments despite a few good runs in the Copa Libertadores including semi-final appearances in 1973, 1978, 1993, 1998, 1999 and 2011.

Osvaldo Ardiles joined the club as manager in May 2008, but was sacked in August of the same year after a string of poor results and was replaced by Pedro Troglio.

In 2014, Cerro Porteño president Juan José Zapag spoke in reference to the corruption in Paraguayan football that various persons had complained to him about not buying games and that if his club were to win then they would not do it by buying and doping players to become champions.

Stadium

Cerro Porteño's stadium, Estadio General Pablo Rojas, also known as "La Nueva Olla" or "La Olla", is located in Asunción's Obrero neighborhood. It has a seating capacity of 45,000, making it the biggest in Paraguay.

International record

• Copa Libertadores: 45 appearances

Best: 1973, 1978, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2011 (Semi-finals)

• Copa Sudamericana: 11 appearances

Best: 2009, 2016 (Semi-finals)

Honours

•   record
• shared record

Ranking

World Club Ranking

As of 21 March 2024.

Rank	Country	Team
45		Aston Villa
46		Panathinaikos
47		Cerro Porteño
48		Atlético Nacional
49		Monaco

South America Club Ranking

As of 21 March 2024.

Rank	Country	Team
12		Estudiantes de La Plata
13		Cruzeiro
14		Cerro Porteño
15		Atlético Nacional
16		Racing

Players

First team

As of 13 September 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ARG Alexis Martín Arias 2 DF  PAR Alan Benítez 4 DF  BRA Eduardo Brock 5 DF  PAR Jorge Morel 6 MF  COL Rafael Carrascal 7 MF  PAR Enzo Giménez 8 MF  ARG Federico Carrizo 9 FW  BRA Chico 10 FW  PAR Cecilio Domínguez 11 FW  PAR Juan Iturbe 12 GK  PAR Miguel Martínez 13 GK  BRA Jean 14 DF  PAR Lucas Quintana 15 DF  PAR Rodrigo Melgarejo 16 FW  PAR Édgar Páez 17 FW  PAR Gabriel Aguayo 18 DF  PAR Bruno Valdez (on loan from Boca Juniors) 19 FW  ARG Diego Churín (captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  PAR Wilder Viera 21 FW  ARG Sergio Araujo 22 FW  PAR Derlis Rodríguez 24 DF  PAR Cristian Báez 25 GK  PAR Antonio Martínez 26 MF  PAR Robert Piris Da Motta 28 MF  PAR Alexis Fariña 29 DF  PAR Enzo Cabrera 30 DF  PAR Alan Núñez 31 DF  PAR Luis Vargas 32 DF  PAR Víctor Cabañas 34 DF  PAR Miguel Benítez 35 DF  PAR Ronaldo de Jesús 36 FW  PAR Luis Olmedo 37 DF  PAR Diego León 38 DF  PAR Tobías Marecos 39 FW  PAR Tobias Portillo 40 FW  PAR Fernando Fernández

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  PAR Rodrigo Delvalle (at Sol de América until 31 December 2024) — DF  PAR Daniel Rivas (at Nacional until 31 December 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  PAR Ángel Cardozo Lucena (at Libertad until 31 December 2024) — MF  PAR Antonio Galeano (at Nacional until 31 December 2025)

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have either:

• Played at least 125 games for the club.
• Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club.
• Been part of a national team squad at any time.
• Played in the first division of any other football association (outside of Paraguay).
• Played in a continental and/or intercontinental competition.

Non-CONMEBOL players

• Adriano Custódio Mendes (1988)
• Jerry Laterza (1994–95)
• William Inganga (1996)
• Tobie Mimboe (1996)
• Geremi Njitap (1997)
• Cyrille Florent Bella (1998)
• Kenneth Nkweta Nju (2000–01)
• Nozomi Hiroyama (2001)
• Froylán Ledezma (2001–02)
• Diego Madrigal (2011)
• Daniel Güiza (2013–15)
• Luís Leal (2016–17)

Managerial information

Records

Most appearances for the club (in all competitions):

1. Julio Dos Santos: 267
2. Jorge Achucarro: 257
3. Aldo Bobadilla: 265
4. Estanislao Struway: 227

Most goals for the club (in all competitions):

1. Virgilio Ferreira: 90
2. Julio Dos Santos: 88
3. Erwin Ávalos: 70
4. Saturnino Arrua: 88
5. José Vinsac: 58

Most appearances for the club (in league):

1. Salvador Breglia: 225
2. Jorge Achucarro: 215
3. Julio Dos Santos: 212
4. Blas Marcelo Cristaldo: 201

Most goals for the club (in league):

1. Virgilio Ferreira: 67
2. Erwin Ávalos: 64
3. José Vinsac: 58
4. Saturnino Arrua: 55

Most appearances for the club (in international cup):

1. Aldo Bobadilla: 67
2. Estanislao Struway: 64
3. Virgilio Ferreira: 61
4. Blas Marcelo Cristaldo: 57

Most goals for the club (in international cup):

1. Virgilio Ferreira: 23
2. Santiago Salcedo: 15
3. Celino Mora: 14
4. César Ramírez: 13

Other disciplines

Women

The women's team has won the Paraguayan women's football championship four times, in 2007 and 2012 to 2014. The team then played in the Copa Libertadores Femenina.

Youth

One of the club's youth teams played at the 2006 Torneo di Viareggio.

Futsal

The club's futsal division is the best club in the Liga Premium de Futsal, the premier professional futsal clubs league of the country, having won all of its seven editions as of 2023, for which they are known as "Los Dueños del Futsal" (The King of Futsal).

References

1. "Mayoria piensa que Cerro Porteño es el club mas popular - Deportes - ABC Digital". Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
2. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Geremi Njitap". www.national-football-teams.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
3. Archived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Troglio replaces Ardiles
4. "Paraguay: ¿país expuesto a la corrupción en el fútbol?". d10.ultimahora.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
5. "Ficha Estadistica de INCA -glaucineis martins da silva- (perfil, ficha, profile, stats)". www.bdfa.com.ar. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
6. "Bolivia - M. Martins - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
7. "Custodio Mendes". worldfootball.net. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
8. ELIAS MAKORI More by this Author (9 May 2014). "Leopards legend Inganga faults Nandwa sacking - Daily Nation". Nation.co.ke. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2019. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
9. "Kenneth Nju". worldfootball.net. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
10. "Cerro Porteño tricampeón de fútbol femenino de Paraguay" (in Spanish). conmebol.com. 22 December 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
11. "Coppa Carnevale - Torneo Internazionale Giovanile di Viareggio". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
12. Los Dueños del Futsal: Los números de la octava conquista de Cerro Porteño - Cerro Porteño - ABC Color

External links

• Cerro Porteño on Instagram
• Official website
• Cerro Porteño: Results, schedule, players and matches

• Cerro Porteño
• Football clubs in Paraguay
• Football clubs in Asunción
• Association football clubs established in 1912
• 1912 establishments in Paraguay