Deportivo Rionegro
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| Full name | Itagüí Leones Fútbol Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 15 February 1957 |
| Ground |
Estadio Metropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí Itagüí, Colombia |
| Capacity | 12,000 |
| Chairman |
 Carlos Murillo |
| Manager |
Juan Carlos Álvarez |
| League | Categoría Primera B |
| 2016 | 5th |
Leones F.C., also known as Itagüí Leones, is a professional Colombian football team based in Itagüí that plays in the Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Estadio Metropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí.
Leones Fútbol Club is the only team that has participated in all tournaments of the Categoría Primera B, from 1991 to today, in addition to being a traditional team in Antioquia.
The team was founded in 1957 as Deportivo Rionegro, its first president was Libardo Sanchez, and his first coach was Alfonso Piedrahita. Thanks to his performance in the 1961-1962 season the team ascended to the Categoría A Departamental after defeating Colo-Colo (2-1) and Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (5-0). His stay in this category lasted until 1968 when after a bad performance dropped again to the División B. In 1978 the team lost the opportunity to continue in División B and fall to Ascenso Mayores, third division of the Liga Antioqueña. The way to glory began in 1979 when Alfonso Restrepo and Oliverio Echeverri took over the team, and reached the championship of the Primera B of amateur football in the department of Antioquia. Later in 1981 the technical direction was taken by Marcos Gutiérrez and that same year won the Copa Oriente Riotex 10 Años, Senior Category. In 1982 the team succeeded to get the departmental championship and returned to the División B.
Since the 80s achievements of this club became more abundant, allowing the team to participate in the first edition of Professional Categoría Primera B. In 1993, under the orders of Carlos Augusto Navarrete, Rionegro managed to be among the five best in the tournament. In 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2002 achieved the fourth place, but his best performance was in 2001 when they were runners-up with coach Orlando Restrepo.
In 2008 Deportivo Rionegro, with René Higuita as their captain and star, and with Oscar Aristizabal as coach, managed to win the first tournament of the Primera B, defeating Unión Magdalena in the final, but in the second half failed to reach the final, so it had to fight for the title of the Primera B against Real Cartagena, falling on aggregate by 2-4. Later played the promotion match against Envigado FC, but lost by a score of 3-1 on aggregate. In 2014 Deportivo Rionegro moved to Bello, being renamed to Leones Fútbol Club, and the following year they moved to Turbo where they stayed for another year before moving to Itagüí in 2016.
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