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| Full name | Club Cienciano (Cienciano Club) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | El Papá de América La Furia Roja Escuadrón Rojo Conjunto Incaico Elenco Colegial Los Imperiales Rojos | |||
| Founded | 8 July 1901 | |||
| Ground | Inca Garcilaso de la Vega Cusco, Peru | |||
| Capacity | 42,056 | |||
| Chairman | Sergio Ludeña | |||
| Manager | Óscar Ibáñez | |||
| League | Liga 1 | |||
| 2023 | Liga 1, 10th of 19 | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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Club Cienciano, more commonly known as Cienciano, is a Peruvianprofessional football club based in Cusco, that currently plays in the Peruvian Primera División.
The club was founded in 1901 by a group of students of the Colegio Nacional Ciencias del Cusco. They decided to give the club its name based on the word Ciencias, which means "Science".
It gained worldwide recognition after defeating River Plate in the finals of the 2003 Copa Sudamericana and Boca Juniors in the 2004 Recopa Sudamericana.[1] To this day, Cienciano is the only Peruvian club to win an international competition.[2]
Cienciano was founded on 8 July 1901 by a group of students from the National School of Science of Cusco (Colegio Nacional Ciencias del Cusco). It participated in several leagues and tournaments of the region.
In 1966 Hector Ladrón de Guevara was the inaugural Cienciano player to be named captain of the Peru national team. In 1972, it began to play in the Peruvian First Division; however, the club was relegated four years later.
In 1988, the FPF invited the club to play in a tournament of the southern region. In 1991, Cienciano won the tournament and in 1992 it once again played in the First Division.
In 2001, Cienciano won its first title with the 2001 Torneo Clausura,[3] although it lost the superfinal (played between the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments) to Alianza Lima.
In 2003, Cienciano, led by Peruvian coach Freddy Ternero, qualified to the Copa Sudamericana for the first time in its history, after beating Sporting Cristal in an internal qualifying tournament. The team went through every later knockout round as the clear underdog defeating Peru's Alianza Lima, Chile's Universidad Católica, Colombia's Atlético Nacional (once Copa Libertadores champion) and Brazil's Santos (twice Copa Libertadores champion), to get to the finals. Once at the finals the team faced one of the biggest teams in South American football, River Plate of Argentina (twice Copa Libertadores champion). After a 3–3 draw in Buenos Aires, Cienciano went on to win 1–0 in Peru with a free-kick goal by Paraguayan defender Carlos Lugo, which put the aggregate score at 4–3 in its favor to win the final.[4] The game was played at Estadio de la UNSA in Arequipa (home of Cienciano's rivals Melgar, some of whose fans actually attended the match to root for River Plate) because of the insufficient capacity for a CONMEBOL final of the Estadio Garcilaso (which has been expanded since then).[5]
This was the first international championship for a Peruvian team in history; only two other Peruvian teams had advanced to the finals of an international tournament, which was in the Copa Libertadores (Universitario in 1972 and Sporting Cristal in 1997). Both teams were defeated in the finals. The win was considered a severe upset because Cienciano had never been the Peru national champion (the team did win one half-year tournament in 2001 but lost the national championship title through a penalty shootout to the winner of the second tournament, Alianza Lima, in the year in which both celebrated their centenary. The situation was repeated in 2006, but reversed: Cienciano won the second tournament but lost the final to Alianza Lima on aggregate.
After winning the Copa Sudamericana, Cienciano went on to play against Boca Juniors of Argentina, another South American giant, for the 2004 Recopa Sudamericana, this being just one match, much like the UEFA Super Cup, which was disputed between the winners of both South American Cups of the previous season: the Copa Sudamericana and the Copa Libertadores. After a 1–1 draw, Cienciano went on to win the title 4–2 on penalties. The match was played at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[2][6]
In 2005, the Cusco-based club won the Torneo Apertura, but lost the superfinal to Sporting Cristal. The following year, it won the 2006 Clausura, but lost the superfinal again to Alianza Lima, the same team that had beaten them in the 2001 national championship final.
In 2015, the club was relegated after finishing in the bottom three of the aggregate table. The club finished third and was one point off from the title play-off in the 2016 season. In 2018, the club won third place in the league and participated in the promotion play off group, where the top two teams get promoted to the 2019 Liga 1. Cienciano placed third with four points. In 2019, it was finally promoted back to the first division after winning the 2019 Liga 2.
Cienciano has had a long-standing rivalry with FBC Melgar, Cusco FC and Deportivo Garcilaso. Ciencianos rivalry with Deportivo Garcilaso, along with Cusco FC, is known as the Clásico Cusqueño.Clásico del Sur
Cienciano also has another rivalry with Melgar known as Clásico del sur. Cienciano has a total of 42 wins, with Melgar having 25. The largest defeat was in 1990, where Cienciano lost 5-0. Ciencianos largest result against Melgar was a home win of 5-2 in 2000. Both teams are one of the oldest in Peru.
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Main article: Inca Garcilaso de la Vega Stadium |
Cienciano plays its home games in Estadio Garcilaso de la Vega which is in Cusco. It was named after the Peruvian Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. When first inaugurated in 1950, it had a spectator capacity of 22,000 and had a running track. In 2004, the stadium's capacity was expanded to 42,000, losing its running track, because of Cienciano's success in international tournaments and it would be a venue in the 2004 Copa América. The stadium hosted only one match of the tournament, being the third place play-off between Uruguay and Colombia. A renovation plan was set in 2013, giving the stadium a more clean look and expanding it to 45,000. It is the fourth largest stadium in Peru. Cienciano shares the stadium with city rivals Deportivo Garcilaso and Cusco FC.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Type | Competition | Titles | Winning years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-year / Short tournament (League) |
Torneo Apertura | 1 | |
| Torneo Clausura | 2 | ||
| International (Cup) |
Copa Sudamericana | 1 | 2003 |
| Recopa Sudamericana | 1 | 2004 |
Titles won in lower divisions:
| Type | Competition | Titles | Winning years |
|---|---|---|---|
| National (League) |
Segunda División | 1 | 2019 |
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For a list of all former and current Cienciano players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Cienciano footballers. |
Eloy Campos (1977) Diego Agurto (1986–87)
Gualberto Martínez Sarabia (1991) Ramón Quiroga (1992) Hector Berrío Vega (1993) Luis Roth (1993) Freddy Ternero (1994)
César Cubilla (1994) Victor Bustamante (1995–96)
Francisco Bertocchi (1995) Ramón Quiroga (1996–98) Antonio Alzamendi (1998) Freddy Ternero (2000–01) Carlos Jurado (1999-2000 / 2001) Teddy Cardama (2002) Freddy Ternero (2003–04)
Carlos Sevilla (2005) Wilmar Valencia (1 Jan 2005 – 26 Mar 2006) Julio César Uribe (1 Jan 2007 – 8 Mar 2007)
José Basualdo (19 March 2007 – 27 Sept 2007) Franco Navarro (2007-2008) Julio César Uribe (2008-2009) Marcelo Trobbiani (2009) José Torres (2009) Edgar Ospina (2010)Sergio Ibarra (interim) (2010) Marcelo Trobbiani (2011) Carlos Jurado (2011-2012)
Raúl Arias (2012) Mario Viera (2013-2014) Paul Cominges (2015–2016) Óscar Ibáñez (2016) Fredy García (2017) Sergio Ibarra (2017-2018) Gustavo Roverano (2018) Duilio Cisneros (2019) Marcelo Grioni (2019-2021) Víctor Rivera (2021) Gerardo Ameli (2021-2022) César Vigevani (2022) Leonel Álvarez (2023) Gerardo Ameli (2023-)
