Full name | Albion Football Club SAD |
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Nickname(s) | El Albion |
Founded | 1 June 1891 |
Ground | Parque Dr. Enrique Falco Lichtemberger, Montevideo, Uruguay |
Capacity | 2.000 |
Chairman | Fernando Chainca |
Manager | Leonardo Blanco |
League | Segunda División Amateur |
2010–11 | 11th |
Website | Club home page |
Albion Football Club SAD is a Uruguayan football club, located in Montevideo. The club, founded in 1891, is the oldest club in Uruguay and currently plays at Uruguayan Segunda División Amateur, the third division of the Uruguayan Football Association league system.
It is considered the oldest football club in Uruguay because other institutions such as Montevideo Rowing Club and Montevideo Cricket Club had been founded before but they were not specifically dedicated to football.
Albion was established on 1 June 1891 as Football Association by students of the English High School, mainly encouraged by Henry Lichtenberger, an 18-year-old disciple of William Leslie Poole, considered the "father" of Uruguayan football. During its first years of existence, the club refused to accept non-native players although most of its footballers were British descendants but born in Uruguay. The first uniform was a white jersey with a red star on the chest.
Football Association's first match was on 2 August 1891 against Montevideo Cricket Club, where was defeated by 3–1. The second match versus the same rival FA was defeated again by 6–0. On 21 September 1891 the club changed its name to "Albion Football Club" as an homage to the country where football had been played by first time so "Albion" was the name used by Ancient Greeks to refer to Great Britain. The uniform was subsequently modified, as a result the club adopted a blue jersey with white collar.
The popularity of football increased between 1892 and 1895 amongst the Uruguayan people. In 1892 there were four clubs practising football: Montevideo Cricket, Montevideo Rowing, Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club (mostly known as "CURCC") and Albion. Montevideo CC was the most successful of them, finishing unbeaten with some remarkable results such as an 8–0 over CURCC and a 10–0 over Albion.