Corporación Club Deportes Tolima
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| Full name | Club Deportes Tolima S.A. |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) |
El Vinotinto y Oro (The Burgundy and Gold), Los Pijaos (The Pijaos) |
| Founded | 18 December 1954 |
| Ground |
Estadio Manuel Murillo Toro Ibagué, Colombia |
| Capacity | 28,100 |
| Chairman | Gabriel Camargo Salamanca |
| Manager | Óscar Héctor Quintabani |
| League | Categoría Primera A |
| 2016 | 8th |
| Website | Club home page |
Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. The club was founded 18 December 1954 and its best achievement was winning the 2003-II tournament. They play their home games at the Manuel Murillo Toro stadium.
Deportes Tolima was founded by Manuel Rubio Chávez in the year 1954 when he gave Juan Barbieri (an Argentinian living in Ibagué, Colombia) a sum of $5.000 Colombian pesos in order to hire soccer players from his native country, Argentina. Barbieri went back to Colombia with players such as Jorge Gandulfo, José Jamardo and Enrique Laino. With those players and some others Argentines and Colombians, Deportes Tolima competed for the first time in the Colombian football league in 1955 using the uniform of Racing Club of Argentina. Deportes Tolima finished 7th in the league competing with 9 other teams.
In the late 1970s and beginning of 1980s Deportes Tolima, according to many people, had its best team, ever. Senator Gabriel Camargo Salamanca was given the opportunity to work for the team. He accepted becoming the biggest stock holder of the team. He bought important players such as Víctor del Río, Francisco Maturana, Cristino Centurión, Óscar Héctor Quintabani, Gustavo "La Piña" Mendoza, Hugo Gallego, Osvaldo Redondo, Heberto Carrillo, Sapuca, Arnoldo Iguarán, Óscar López, Tito Ramon Correa, and Janio Cabezas. With this team Deportes Tolima finished second through years 1981 and 1982. In the year 1983 Tolima participated for the first time in an international tournament, the Copa Libertadores of 1982 reaching the semi-finals. Playing against many highly regarded teams of the time such as Estudiantes de Mérida and Deportivo Táchira; both from Venezuela; Cobreloa from Chile and Olimpia from Paraguay; As a consequence, this was the best international performance that Deportes Tolima has ever had in an international tournament. At the beginning of the 1990s, Tolima left the professional league due to poor results. Tolima played for one year in the second division of the Colombian Football league before rejoining professional football again in year 1995.
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