Club Social y Deportivo Municipal, also known as Municipal or Los Rojos (the Reds), is a Guatemalan professional football club based in Guatemala City.
They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football, and play their home matches at the Estadio El Trébol. As of 2015, they are the team that has remained the most years at the top level in Guatemala, having done so since the inception of the national league in 1942. They have won the domestic league 31 times; most recently winning the 2019 Apertura tournament. They won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup in 1974.
Municipal is the most popular football club in Guatemala and are traditional arch-rivals of Comunicaciones, who is also based in Guatemala City, and with whom they share the lead in all-time league titles in the country with 31 each as of 2022.
History
The club was founded on May 17, 1936 by workers of the Ayuntamiento (city hall) of the Guatemala City municipality, hence the name Municipal. They were first promoted to the top division, (then called Liga Capitalina) in 1938. They finished in second place in their debut season,[2] and have since remained in the top division.[3]
Early domestic success (1940s–1960s)
The team won its first national league title in the 1942–43 tournament, the first ever official national league championship in Guatemala. They won three of the following six tournaments, the other three being won by Tipografía Nacional, whom which they had their first known rivalry. Municipal were coached by Manuel Felipe Carrera, one of the original founders of the club, and whose name was later given to the stadium where the team currently practices.
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Municipal's most iconic player was the forwardCarlos "Pepino" Toledo, who wore the red shirt throughout his career. He helped the club win their first four league titles, the last of them coming at the 1954–55 tournament (also the year Toledo retired). His career total of 129 goals remains the fourth-highest in club history. He was also one of Guatemala's first national stars and was chosen for the national team. Later, he became Municipal's coach.
Municipal team that participated in the 1948 tournament in Cuba, holding the flag of the host country
In 1948, Municipal won its first international honors at a friendly tournament held in Havana, Cuba to commemorate the Cuban Independence. That squad featured Toledo, Mario Camposeco, and goalkeeper José Pedro "Tarzán" Segura.[4]
The end of the 1950s were a darker time for Municipal. Toledo had retired and Comunicaciones had dethroned them at the top of the league, winning it three years in a row. Municipal struggled through an eight-year title drought. They managed to break that drought with three championships in the 1960s (1963–64, 1965–66, and 1969–70), but Comunicaciones remained Guatemala's dominant team, winning seven titles in fourteen years from 1956-72. The Comunicaciones-Municipal match emerged as a high-profile local derby, the biggest in the country. Another rivalry developed with a third Guatemala City club, Aurora, which also won three titles during this time.
1970s: First international success
In 1973, Uruguayan coach Rubén Amorín arrived at Municipal. He managed a group of players that included defender Alberto López Oliva, midfieldersBenjamín Monterroso and José Emilio "Pepe" Mitrovich, and forward Julio César Anderson. Anderson would become the club's highest ever goalscorer, and help lead the team to its era of greatest glory. Municipal won league championships in both 1973 and 1974 (their first-ever repeat titles). In 1974, the same year that they were marching to a dominant repeat championship, they also became the first Guatemalan club to win the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The Rojos then went on to play the Copa Interamericana against Argentina's "red team", Independiente.
The first leg was played in Guatemala on November 24, 1974, and Independiente won, 1-0. However, Municipal surprised the continent by winning 1-0 in Argentina two days later. The hero was Argentine-born José Emilio "Pepe" Mitrovich in the second half. With both teams equal in points and goal difference, the match went to extra time. No further goals were scored, and the match went into penalty kicks. Misses by Julio César "Morocho" Anderson and Benjamín "Mincho" Monterroso allowed Independiente to prevail, 4-2, but Municipal had earned continental respect.
1980s: Almost relegated
Municipal's glory years continued with another league title in 1976, but their results began to fade. They finished 8th in 1979-80, and in 1981 they fell even further to 11th, forcing them into a relegation mini-league. Ironically, their safety was secured when old rivals Tipografía Nacional were relegated instead. In 1982, the club came even closer to oblivion, finishing 9th in the regular season. That result put them back in the relegation mini-league, and this time they escaped only on goal differential. Over the next several years, Municipal put some distance between themselves and the bottom of the table, but they would not seriously challenge for another title until 1987.
1980s and 1990s: Return to the top
1987 was the year that Argentine coach Miguel Ángel Brindisi arrived in Guatemala City. A former midfield star who had won two Argentine titles and played a stint in Spain, he came to Municipal with just one previous year of managerial experience. His two years in Guatemala saw brilliant success. In 1987, they beat Aurora 4-2 on penalties to win a championship playoff and claim the Guatemalan title for the first time since 1976. A year later, they repeated as champs for the first time since the early 1970s. Brindisi moved on to a new job managing Barcelona SC in Ecuador, but successor Walter Ormeño kept the momentum going by guiding the team to a third straight crown.
In 1990-91, Municipal came within one match of a fourth straight title, but bowed 1-0 to Comunicaciones in the championship final. They avenged that defeat in 1991-92, beating Comunicaciones 2-1 in a championship playoff replay. That made it four titles in five years.
The team reached the finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in December 1993, narrowly losing out to Costa Rican champions Saprissa. They did manage to claim some silverware from the season, winning the Guatemalan championship for the fifth time in seven seasons.
2000s: A Decade of Success
In 2000, after the league's competition format was changed to two yearly tournaments on the Apertura and Clausura fashion, Municipal won the title again after Comunicaciones had set a record by winning the previous four; Municipal surpassed that record in 2006 when they won the 2006 Apertura tournament, their fifth consecutive title, under coach Enzo Trossero. They also added third and fourth Central American titles by winning the Copa Interclubes UNCAF in 2001 and 2004.
Colours and crest
Initially, the team's uniform colors consisted of a red-and-black striped shirt and black shorts.[5] The colours soon changed to the current red shirt and blue shorts for home matches, and all blue for away matches, although other colors have been used for away matches.
The club's logo is based in the emblem of the Municipalidad de Guatemala, which is itself based in the original coat of arms of the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, with the image of Apostle Santiago (Saint James) over the stylized scenery of the region. The team's version includes an image of the type of ball used at the time the club was founded, next to a blue and red striped canton in between the former two elements. The circular field is surrounded by the name of the team on a red background.
Stadium
Throughout the years, Municipal has used the Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores as their home ground, sharing it with Comunicaciones since the 1950s until 1991, and again starting in 2005. Other stadiums hosted Municipal in the beginning, namely the Estadio Autonomía. The Estadio La Pedrera has been used when the Mateo Flores has not been available and houses a soup kitchen in the basement. The Estadio Manuel Felipe Carrera, also known as "Estadio El Trébol", has been the training venue for the team, and it has been occasionally used for official matches by the club; Municipal had an undefeated streak of 33 official matches in this ground from July 9, 1991 until March 7, 2008, when they lost to Deportivo Petapa 1–0 for the 2008 Clausura tournament.[6]
Supporters
Municipal is believed to have the largest fan base of all Guatemalan clubs, and that their popularity have earned them nicknames like El mimado de la afición (Fans' pampered team) and El equipo del pueblo (People's team).
Statistics and records
Municipal has set a record in Guatemalan football by being the club that has spent the most consecutive seasons in the maximum division, having remained there uninterruptedly since 1938.
Juan Carlos Plata is the team's all-time top goalscorer in league matches and overall. As of the end of 2010, Plata has scored 299 league goals and 403 overall goals with Municipal,[7] the only club he has played for.
^"Historia, Rojos del Municipal" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2006-12-10. – Note: Unable to retrieve direct link. Click on "Historia" on the main menu to access.
