Alianza Fútbol Club is a Colombian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team based in

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. The ...

Cesar Department Cesar Department (), or simply Cesar, () is a departments of Colombia, department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to ...

, that currently plays in the

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

. The club was founded on 16 January 2024 and plays its home games at the Armando Maestre Pavajeau stadium.

History

Alianza F.C. was founded by the owner and chairman of

Alianza Petrolera Alianza Petrolera Fútbol Club was a Colombian professional football team based in Barrancabermeja, Santander, that last played in the Categoría Primera A. The club was founded in 1991 and played in the Categoría Primera B until 2012. They play ...

, Carlos Orlando Ferreira, who relocated the club from

Barrancabermeja Barrancabermeja () is a municipality and city in Colombia, located on the shore of the Magdalena River, in the western part of the department of Santander. It is home to the largest oil refinery in the country, under direct management of ECOP ...

Santander Department Santander () is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine original states of the United States of Colombia. It is located in the central northern part of the country, borders the Magdalena River to the east, Bo ...

after being offered financial support by the newly elected authorities and private enterprises from

and the

. Whilst Alianza Petrolera came from an eighth-place finish in the aggregate table of the

2023 Categoría Primera A season The 2023 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2023 Liga BetPlay Dimayor season for sponsorship purposes) was the 76th season of the Categoría Primera A, Colombia's top-flight football league. The season began on 24 January and en ...

that qualified them for their first international competition, the

2024 Copa Sudamericana The 2024 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 23rd edition of the Copa Sudamericana, CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana''), South America's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBO ...

, by early January 2024 issues regarding financial support as well as the fact that

Estadio Daniel Villa Zapata Estadio Daniel Villa Zapata is a multi-use stadium in Barrancabermeja, Colombia. It is currently used mostly for association football, football matches. The stadium was originally built in 1960 with a capacity of 6,000 people, which was raised t ...

in Barrancabermeja was not suitable to host international games came up, along with an interest from Valledupar for the club to play their home matches there. On 16 January 2024 Alianza Petrolera officially confirmed their departure from Barrancabermeja due to the lack of financial support from local authorities while also dropping the word ''Petrolera'' from their name and the yellow and black colors that identified them. That same day, ''Alianza Fútbol Club'' was presented at a press conference held in Valledupar, where it was confirmed that the club would play under a new crest and would adopt as new colors those representative of the city. The club played its first match on 21 January 2024, losing 3–1 to

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

for the first round of the 2024 Apertura tournament. On 6 March Alianza played their first international match, defeating

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

2–1 in the

first stage First stage or First Stage may refer to: * First Stage Children's Theater, a professional American children's theater based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin * First stage (rocketry), the first stage of a multistage rocket * the first reading of a bill in t ...

of the Copa Sudamericana to advance to the group stage of the competition. Despite staging an upset against Cruzeiro with a 3–3 draw at

Mineirão Mineirão (; , named after its large structure), officially known as Governador Magalhães Pinto Stadium (, ; , named after Magalhães Pinto), is an association football stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Owned by the state of Minas Gerais, it ...

in their second group stage match, Alianza failed to make any further progress in the competition.

Stadium

Alianza F.C. play their home matches at Estadio Armando Maestre Pavajeau in Valledupar, built in 1974 and renovated between 2013 and 2015 to host the 2015 South American U-15 Championship. The stadium, with a capacity of 11,000 spectators, served previously as home stadium for former

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is the second-division association football, football league in Colombia. The tournament was inaugura ...

club Valledupar F.C., which folded in June 2023.

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

Managers

César Torres César Fernando Torres Ramírez (born 23 September 1976) is a Colombian football Manager (association football), manager, currently in charge of the Colombia national under-20 football team, Colombia national under-20 team. Career Torres was bo ...

(January 2024 – April 2024) * Hubert Bodhert (April 2024 – present) Source
Worldfootball.net
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References

External links

Official site

Team profile
at Soccerway {{Portal bar, Colombia, Association football Football clubs in Colombia A Categoría Primera A clubs Unrelegated association football clubs Alianza F.C. (Colombia)