kids encyclopedia robot

Arsenal de Sarandí facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Arsenal de Sarandí
Arsenal Sarandí logo.svg
Full name Arsenal Fútbol Club
Nickname(s) Los del Viaducto (The Viaduct men)
El Arse
Founded 11 January 1957; 67 years ago (1957-01-11)
Ground Estadio Julio H. Grondona,
Sarandí, Avellaneda Partido
Ground Capacity 18,500
Chairman Julio Ricardo Grondona
Manager Darío Espínola (interim)
League Primera Nacional
2023 28th (relegated)
Third colours

Arsenal Fútbol Club (Spanish pronunciation: [aɾseˈnal ˈfuðβol ˈkluβ]), usually referred as Arsenal de Sarandí [aɾseˈnal de saɾanˈdi], or simply Arsenal, is an Argentine sports club from the Sarandí district of Avellaneda Partido, Greater Buenos Aires.

The football team currently plays in Primera División, the top division of the Argentine football league system. The squad plays its home games at the Estadio Julio H. Grondona, named after one of the founders, which has a capacity of 16,000. It opened in 1964 but was not used in the First Division until 2004. The club's colours are red and light blue, in honour of the traditional teams of Avellaneda (Independiente and Racing). Arsenal won its first Primera División championship in 2012. Until then, club's major title had been the Copa Sudamericana win in 2007.

Apart from football, the club hosts other sports such as field hockey, futsal, and handball.

History

The beginning

Arsenal 1964
The team that won the Primera C championship in 1964.

The club was founded in January 1957 by brothers Héctor and Julio Humberto Grondona, inspired by the English club Arsenal. Not only does it share its name with the eponymous Gunners of North London, the stories of the naming of the two clubs are very similar – both had military arsenals nearby. The team's shirt colour is light blue with a diagonal red band (similar to the shirt used by River Plate). The colours were chosen as a combination of the two older clubs in Avellaneda – Racing (light blue) and Independiente (red).

Arsenal 1962
The 1962 Arsenal team, which won the first official title for the institution.

Julio Grondona went on to become president of Independiente, and then, in 1979, president of the Argentine Football Association, until 2014. He was also a vice-president of FIFA. Héctor Grondona, and then son Julio Ricardo, became presidents of Arsenal.

The club's best known former player is Jorge Burruchaga, who started his career at Arsenal in 1979, and had several stints as coach. Burru, as he is nicknamed, scored the winning goal for Argentina in the 1986 FIFA World Cup final against Germany.

Arsenal's football team was promoted to successively higher divisions in 1962, 1986 and 1992, finally reaching the Primera División in 2002.

On 6 September 2006, Arsenal and Spanish club FC Barcelona (Barça) struck a deal whereby in exchange for the option to acquire young players that have not played more than one year in the Arsenal first team, Barça would help to improve Arsenal's infrastructure.

A member from Barça was to oversee the project, and visit the club on a monthly basis. This deal, however, fell through in 2007, reportedly because Arsenal could not afford the infrastructure to keep up with the plan.

International tournaments

The club's first appearance in an international tournament was in 2004, when, coached by Burruchaga, Arsenal reached the Quarter-finals of the Copa Sudamericana, eliminating Banfield and River Plate before losing to Bolivian club, Bolívar in its first ever official tie with a non-Argentine team.

Arsenal's results in the Apertura and Clausura of the 2006–07 season, qualified them for two major international tournaments, the secondary 2007 Copa Sudamericana and the top 2008 Copa Libertadores, the first time in their history that Arsenal qualified for South America's premier club tournament.

Arsenal's run through the 2007 Copa Sudamericana would lead Sports Illustrated to declare them "the underdog that couldn't be stopped". They beat reigning Argentine champions San Lorenzo in the qualifying round to earn a place in the Round of 16 where it faced Brazilian team Goiás. Arsenal won 3–2 in Brazil and recorded a 1–1 draw in the second leg to win the tie 4–3 on aggregate, achieving its first official victory over foreign opposition. Arsenal then met Mexican side Guadalajara in the quarter-finals, with a 0–0 draw at home, and a 3–1 victory at Estadio Jalisco. Advancing to the semi-finals, Arsenal met the other Argentine team still in the running, River Plate. Both games against River ended 0–0, Arsenal progressing to the final after winning the penalty shootout 4–2, with a number of saves from Mario Cuenca, Arsenal's goalkeeper.

In the first leg of the 2007 Copa Sudamericana final, Arsenal beat Club América of Mexico 3–2 at Estadio Azteca. Their upcoming home field advantage was mitigated by the fact that the second match could not be held in the Estadio Julio H. Grondona, because its capacity of 16,300 did not meet the CONMEBOL criteria of 40,000 for major finals. The game was finally held at the Estadio Juan Domingo Perón in Avellaneda. Arsenal entered the match without captain Carlos Castiglione, who was suspended due to a red card in the first leg. With these mitigating factors, Arsenal needed to avoid letting Club América win by a two-goal margin. The match started badly for the Argentine team when Christian Díaz scored an own goal inside the first 20 minutes. José Luis Calderón then hit the woodwork twice for Arsenal. In the 2nd half Arsenal conceded a second goal, but with only 7 minutes remaining Martín Andrizzi scored, giving Arsenal their first major title on the away goals rule.

Arsenal was not as successful in the 2008 Copa Libertadores, which started the month after their 2007 Copa Sudamericana. However, on 30 July 2008, Arsenal won its second international cup, the Suruga Bank Championship, which they qualified for as Copa Sudamericana champion. The rival was J.League Cup champions Gamba Osaka from Japan. After a hard match, captain Carlos Casteglione scored the only goal with a precise header on the 86th minute of play.

First domestic titles

Arsenal won its first championship on 24 June 2012 after defeating Belgrano de Córdoba 1–0 with a goal scored by Lisandro López. The squad totalized 38 points over 19 games played, with 11 matches won and only 3 defeats. Arsenal also became the first team to win a Primera División title after playing in the five divisions that Argentine football league system is made of. As champions, Arsenal classified for the Supercopa Argentina, a one-match tournament between the Primera División and the Copa Argentina winners. On 7 November 2012 Arsenal defeated Copa Argentina champions Boca Juniors 4–3 by penalties after a 0–0 draw.

Arsenal won the Copa Argentina on 16 October 2013 by defeating San Lorenzo de Almagro 3–0 in a final match played at the Catamarca Province

Stadium

Estadio.Arsenal.Futbol.Club
Estadio Julio H. Grondona

The Estadio Julio H. Grondona in Sarandí has a capacity of 36,300, and is known as el Viaducto (The Viaduct). It is located at 3660 Juan Díaz De Solís in Sarandí.

Arsenal's first stadium was started to be built on 11 October 1962, officially opening on 22 August 1964. When Arsenal won promotion to the Primera, its basic concrete stadium was deemed unfit for the league and the team played at the grounds of Lanús and Racing for two seasons until work on the stadium was complete. The remodeled stadium (named "Julio Humberto Grondona") was opened on 7 August 2004 with a party for the fans. The first game was against Banfield in the Copa Sudamericana. The new stadium has witnessed defeats of the biggest teams in Argentine football such as Boca Juniors and River Plate.

Players

Current squad

.

No. Position Player
1 Argentina GK Tomás Sultani
2 Argentina DF Ignacio Gariglio (on loan from Estudiantes)
3 Argentina DF Leonardo Marchi
4 Argentina DF Lucas Souto (on loan from Defensa y Justicia)
5 Argentina DF Adrián Spörle
6 Argentina MF Tiago Banega (on loan from Racing)
7 Argentina FW Facundo Pons
8 Argentina MF Braian Rivero (on loan from Defensa y Justicia)
9 Colombia FW Flabián Londoño (on loan from River Plate)
10 Argentina MF Santiago Toloza (on loan from Talleres)
11 Argentina FW Lucas Brochero (on loan from Boca Juniors)
13 Argentina DF Joaquín Pombo
14 Argentina MF Mauro Burruchaga
15 Argentina MF Franco Vega (on loan from Vélez Sarsfield)
No. Position Player
16 Argentina MF Tomás Sives (on loan from Defensa y Justicia)
17 Argentina GK Francisco Rivadeneira
18 Argentina MF Gonzalo Muschia
19 Argentina DF Maximiliano Centurión
21 Argentina FW Juan Ignacio Peinipil
22 Argentina FW Lautaro Guzmán (on loan from Talleres)
23 Argentina GK Alejandro Medina
24 Argentina FW Daniel Lucero
25 Argentina DF Néstor Breitenbruch (on loan from Godoy Cruz)
26 Argentina DF Franco Martínez
27 Argentina MF Bautista Cejas
28 Argentina FW Leandro Moreira
29 Argentina FW Brandon Sosa
30 Argentina DF Facundo Cardozo
31 Argentina DF Iván Cabrera
33 Argentina FW Juan Cavallaro
34 Argentina MF Facundo Brestt
36 Paraguay MF Alfredo Amarilla (on loan from Tacuary)
37 Argentina DF Agustín Álvarez

Out on loan

No. Position Player
Argentina GK Alejandro Rivero (at Dock Sud until 31 December 2022)
Argentina DF Fernando Torrent (at Huracán until 31 December 2023)
No. Position Player
Argentina MF Ramiro Balbuena (at Estudiantes RC until 31 December 2022)

Former coaches

  • Argentina Oscar López
  • Argentina Juan Emilio Elena (1961–72)
  • Argentina Roberto Iturrieta (1973–74)
  • Argentina Juan Emilio Elena (1974–82)
  • Argentina Roberto Iturrieta (1983–84)
  • Argentina Juan Emilio Elena (1985–89)
  • Argentina Roberto Iturrieta (1989–94)
  • Argentina Roberto Ferreiro (1994–95)
  • Argentina Humberto Grondona (1995)
  • Argentina Roberto Iturrieta (1995–97)
  • Argentina Roberto Ferreiro (1997–98)
  • Argentina José María Bianco (1998–01)
  • Argentina Roberto Mariani (2001)
  • Argentina Jorge Burruchaga (1 Jan 2002 – 30 June 2005)
  • Argentina José María Bianco (1 July 2005 – 22 March 2006)
  • Argentina Luis de Luise (interim) (2006)
  • Argentina Miguel Ángel López (2006)
  • Argentina Gustavo Alfaro (1 Dec 2006 – 30 June 2008)
  • Argentina Daniel Garnero (1 July 2008 – 26 April 2009)
  • Argentina Jorge Burruchaga (1 May 2009 – 30 April 2010)
  • Argentina Carlos Ruiz (interim) (1 May 2010 – 30 June 2010)
  • Argentina Gustavo Alfaro (1 July 2010 – 14 April 2014)
  • Argentina Martín Palermo (18 April 2014 – May 2015)
  • Argentina Ricardo Caruso Lombardi (May 2015 – Nov 2015)
  • Argentina Sergio Rondina (Nov 2015 – Nov 2016)
  • Argentina Lucas Bernardi (Nov 2016 – Dec 2016)
  • Argentina Humberto Grondona (Dec 2016 – Dec 2017)
  • Argentina Sergio Rondina (Jan 2018 – Aug 2021)

Titles

Domestic

League

  • Primera División (1): 2012 Clausura
  • Primera B Nacional (1): 2018–19
  • Primera C (1): 1964
  • Primera D (1): 1962

Cup

  • Copa Argentina (1): 2012–13
  • Supercopa Argentina (1): 2012

International

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Arsenal Fútbol Club para niños

kids search engine
Arsenal de Sarandí Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.