Full name | Independiente Santa Fe S.A. |
---|---|
Nickname(s) |
Los Cardenales (The Cardinals) El Expreso Rojo (The Red Express) Los Leones (The Lions) El Primer Campeón (The First Champion) |
Founded | 28 February 1941 |
Ground |
Estadio El Campín Bogotá, Colombia |
Capacity | 36,343 |
Chairman | César Pastrana |
Manager | Gustavo Costas |
League | Categoría Primera A |
2016 | 1st, Finalización champions |
Website | Club home page |
Independiente Santa Fe, known simply as Santa Fe, is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Santa Fe is one of the three most successful teams in Colombia, winning sixteen titles, which includes 9 national championships (most recently in 2016), three Superliga Colombiana, two Copas Colombia, and international titles such as one Copa Sudamericana, one Suruga Bank Championship, and one Copa Simón Bolívar. Santa Fe is one of the three clubs that has played every championship in the Categoría Primera A.
Santa Fe became the first Colombian team to win the Copa Sudamericana, and the first Colombian team to win an official tournament outside of America. The club was recognized as one of the ten best clubs in the world in 2015 by the IFFHS, occupying the seventh position and being the best ranked of South America.
Santa Fe has a fierce rivalry with Millonarios who share the same stadium. The game is considered as one of the most famous derbies in South America and is known as El Clásico Bogotano or El Clásico Capitalino.
Independiente Santa Fe was officially founded on February 28, 1941 as an amateur football team. The club's founders were mainly graduates from the Gimnasio Moderno and of a high social class. Santa Fe was at first going to a team based on ex-students of Gimnasio Moderno, but later incorporated players from other schools. The primary objective of the club was to participate in a local tournament hosted by the Sports Association of Bogotá. Their first recorded game was against Universal, a match that ended in a goalless draw. The team ended the tournament as runner-up with 20 points, being beaten by Legión Militar Deportiva de los Taxis Rojos, a representative of a transportation company.