América de Cali Femenino, commonly known as América Femenino, is the

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

section of

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 ...

based in the city of

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

, Colombia. They participate in Liga Profesional Femenina, the highest category of women's football, organized by Dimayor. Like their male counterpart, they play their home games at the

Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero The Estadio Olimpico Pascual Guerrero is a football stadium, also used for athletics, concerts, and rugby sevens, in Cali, Colombia. The stadium is named to honor the poet Pascual Guerrero. The stadium and the sports complex that surrounds it ar ...

History

The team was officially presented on 15 September 2016 in Cali, along with its first two signings, players

Catalina Usme María Catalina Usme Pineda (born 25 December 1989), known as Catalina Usme, is a Colombian footballer who plays as a forward for Turkish Women's Super League club Galatasaray and the Colombia women's national team. Club career Usme has ...

and Nicole Regnier. Marcela Gómez, daughter of the club's main shareholder Tulio Gómez, was in charge of the idea of creating a women's team linked to América; she would become the first president of the women's team. Thus, América would be linked to the project of promoting women's football in the country, both at the continental and world level. América Femenino was a founder club of the Colombian Women's Football League, entering the competition since its first edition held in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. In their first match in the competition, they lost 2–0 to Orsomarso at

Estadio Francisco Rivera Escobar Estadio Francisco Rivera Escobar is a multi-use stadium in Palmira, Colombia. It is used mostly for football matches. The stadium has a capacity of 15,300 people. Local club Orsomarso plays its home matches at this stadium, with Internacional F ...

in Palmira. The team, managed by Gerardo Londoño in the early rounds of the league and later by Enrique Guevara, managed to qualify for the knockout stages of the championship, being defeated by the eventual champions Santa Fe in the quarter-finals. Former men's team player Jersson González was appointed as manager for the following season, in which they reached the semi-finals, losing to

Atlético Huila Atlético Huila is a professional Colombian association football, football team based in Neiva, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded in 1990, making it one of the youngest professional football clubs in Colombia. ...

5–1 on aggregate. Andrés Usme was signed as manager for the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, in which América qualified for the knockout stages without much trouble, and reached the final series for the first time after defeating

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 ...

in the quarter-finals and Millonarios in the semi-finals. In the finals, they played against

Independiente Medellín Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club (association football), football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their ...

, whom they defeated 3–2 on aggregate to win their first league title. Along with team captain Catalina Usme, goalkeeper Natalia Giraldo, midfielder Carolina Pineda, and striker

Linda Caicedo Linda Lizeth Caicedo Alegría (born 25 February 2005) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a Forward (football), forward for Liga F club Real Madrid Femenino, Real Madrid and the Colombia women's national football team, Colombia ...

were among the most outstanding players América featured in this campaign. Caicedo, being 14 years old at the time, was the league's top scorer with 6 goals. The title in the Women's League allowed América de Cali to take part in the 2019 Copa Libertadores Femenina held in Ecuador, in which they placed third. In the 2020 Colombian Women's Football League, América advanced to the knockout stages after topping their group with 15 out of 18 points, only losing one match against crosstown rivals

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful football t ...

. After defeating Atlético Nacional and Millonarios in successive order just like in the previous season, they faced Santa Fe in the finals, losing both matches to end up as league runners-up. Nevertheless, they returned to the

Copa Libertadores Femenina The CONMEBOL Libertadores Femenina, commonly known as "Copa Libertadores Femenina" ( Portuguese: ''Copa/Taça Libertadores Feminina''), is an annual international women's association football club competition in South America. It is organized by th ...

, in which they were drawn in Group A along with the defending champions

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

, El Nacional from Ecuador and Peruvian side Universitario. América advanced as group runners-up after thrashing both El Nacional and Universitario and losing 3–0 to Corinthians, and in the knockout stages they defeated Argentine side

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

in the quarter-finals and Corinthians in the semi-finals before losing 2–1 to Brazilian team Ferroviária in the final. After failing to advance out of the first stage of the league for the first time in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, they reached the final of the league in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, defeating Deportivo Cali in the two-legged final to claim their second league title. They once again took part in the

in which they won all their group stage matches and reached the semi-finals where they were beaten by

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

and later claimed another third place finish in the competition with a 5–0 win over Deportivo Cali. Shortly after the end of the Copa Libertadores Femenina, manager Andrés Usme announced his departure from the team. Usme was replaced by Carlos Hernández for the 2023 season, in which América once again reached the domestic league finals, losing the double-legged series to Santa Fe.

Stadium

Current squad

Honours

* Liga Femenina Profesional: ::Winners (2):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

::Runners-up (2):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

: ::Runners-up (1):

::Third place (2):

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:America de Cali Femenino Women's football clubs in Colombia Association football clubs established in 2016 2016 establishments in Colombia