Cafeteros Pro is a professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team based in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The team was founded in 2020 to compete in

Súper Liga Americana de Rugby Super Rugby Americas (SRA) is a franchise rugby union tournament format in the Americas that began its first season in February 2023 after efforts by World Rugby. It is organized and led by Sudamérica Rugby, the highest rugby entity in South Am ...

finals series of the

2020 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season The 2020 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season was the inaugural season of Súper Liga Americana de Rugby, an annual rugby union competition sanctioned by Sudamérica Rugby. The competition began on 4 March and was scheduled to end on 29 May. On ...

, however the season was cancelled following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The team however did join the competition full-time ahead of the

2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season The 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season was the second season of Súper Liga Americana de Rugby, an annual rugby union competition sanctioned by Sudamérica Rugby. The competition began on 16 March and ended on 15 May. Teams Team c ...

. Cafeteros Pro became the first professional rugby union team from Colombia.

Beginnings

Ahead of the 2021 season, Cafeteros Pro appointed Argentine

Rodolfo Ambrosio Carlos Rodolfo Ambrosio was born on 27 December 1961 in Córdoba, Argentina. He is an Argentine rugby union former player where he played as a fly-half and as a center, and is currently the head coach of the Uruguayan national team. Playing c ...

as head coach. The team is set to have a budget of US$330,000 for their first season and their side will be a mixture of Colombian professional players and Argentine professional players. The team along with the Paraguayan SLAR side

Olímpia Lions Yacare XV is a Paraguayan professional rugby union team based in Asunción. The team was founded in 2019 as Olimpia Lions to compete in Súper Liga Americana de Rugby. Olimpia Lions was an offshoot of the Club Olimpia sports club. The team was re- ...

will have priority of drafting Argentine players, with there being an excess of Argentine players due to the Argentine Jaguares side departing

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. On 4 January 2021, it was announced that 10 Argentine players had been drafted to the side. In the longer term the team is hoping to become a Colombian-centric team, with 90% of the players to be Colombians. Ahead of the 2021 season, there were seven Colombian players playing professional rugby in foreign leagues: Brayan Campiño and Andrés Zafra (both playing in France), Julio Cesar Giraldo (who played for American side

Rugby United New York Rugby New York, originally known as Rugby United New York and officially nicknamed the Ironworkers, was a professional rugby union team based in New York City that was a member of Major League Rugby (MLR). The team played an exhibition season in s ...

in the

2020 Major League Rugby season The 2020 Major League Rugby season was the third season of Major League Rugby, the professional rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The regular season schedule was released on September 23, 2019, and began on February 8, 2020. Thre ...

), Giovanni Carvajal, Diver Ceballos and Danny Giraldo (who all played for the Uruguayan side

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

in the 2020 SLAR) and Johan Larrota.

Stadium

The Cafeteros Pro have yet to announce their stadium or stadia in

ahead of the

Current squad

The Cafeteros Pro squad for the

2022 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season The 2022 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season was the third season of the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby, an annual rugby union competition sanctioned by Sudamérica Rugby. Format The six clubs in the competition competed in the regular season ...

is: * Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold. * * denotes players qualified to play for on dual nationality or residency grounds.

References

External links

* {{Súper Liga Americana de Rugby Rugby union in Colombia Rugby clubs established in 2020 2020 establishments in Colombia Sport in Medellín Super Rugby Americas