Nacional (football club, Montevideo)

Nacional was founded on May 14, 1899 and is the first football club in South America , which was founded by local residents, for which it received its name. On September 13, 1903, in Buenos Aires , the Nacional appeared as the national team of Uruguay and won the friendly match against Argentina with a score of 3: 2.

In the future, from the very first years of the existence of the Football League in Uruguay, between Peñarol and Nacional, the main struggle for the champion title has been developing from year to year.

Nacional players made up the backbone of the Uruguayan national team at many major tournaments, which ended with the victory of the Uruguayans. In 1924, seven representatives of Nacional and none of Peñarol went to the Olympics in Paris , since then the main rival of the Tricolor appeared in the disgraced league under the auspices of the Football Federation of Uruguay, and the Football Association was officially in FIFA . Moreover, a maximum of three players (from Lito and Liverpool ) were delegated to the national team from other teams ^[3] .

After the success of the national team in Paris in 1925, Nacional arranged a triumphal tour of Europe (that year there were no domestic tournaments in the country, as the contradictions between the Association and the Football Federation were settled). For 6 months, the team played 38 matches against national teams and clubs of nine countries. Nacional won 26 matches, tied 7 times and lost only in 5 matches with a difference of 130: 30 scored and conceded goals ^[4] .

In 1928, the Nacional was also represented by seven players at the Olympics in Amsterdam , while four players became Olympic champions from Peñarol (as well as from Belle Vista ) ^[5] .

Two years later, the first world championship held in Montevideo, the coaching staff of the Uruguayan national team took eight representatives of Nacional and five peñaroles. Only four Nacional players (Jose Leandro Andrade and Jose Pedro Cea) played all four matches at the tournament, as many as Peñarola players ( Alvaro Hestido and Lorenzo Fernandez ), but in general it was a team more focused on Nacional players, rather than representatives of other teams (in particular, Hector Scarone missed only the opening meeting and six of the eight Nacional players at that tournament appeared on the field, while three out of five Pengirol players played three) ^[6] .

In 1950, at the World Championships in Brazil, Celeste was already more fully staffed with representatives of Peñarol - nine out of 22 people represented this club. Nacional was represented by five players. Of these, Julio Gervasio Perez and Eusebio Ramon Tejera spent all four games, and Schubert Gambetta - the last two, including Maracanaso . Among the Peñarol players there were five who played all the Mundial games, and only two did not appear during the tournament as part of the national team ^[7] .

The club has set an unbeaten record for the number of wins in a row in the Uruguayan league: in the 1940–1942 seasons, Nacional won 32 games in a row, with a goal difference of 131: 34. In the 1940 championship, 10 matches (starting from the 12th round), victory in all 20 matches of the 1941 championship , 2 victories the following year . The last winning match ended in the defeat of Defensor with a score of 10: 1.

In terms of the number of international titles won, both unofficial and under the auspices of FIFA , Nacional is the first team in the world - the club has 21 victories in prestigious international tournaments. However, the statistics that the historians of Nacional take into account include many of the currently unimportant trophies, which were played at the beginning of the 20th century. In victories in the Libertadores Cup , the Nacional is inferior to the Peñarol - three against five. At the same time, Nacional retained parity with its main competitor in terms of victories in the Intercontinental Cup - if the “black and gold” lost in the two finals of this tournament, then Nacional in all three cases after the victories in the Cup Libertadores always beat European rivals.

In the 1960s, Nacional reached the finals of the main South American club tournament three times, but could only win in 1971 . Then there were victories in 1980 and 1988 - the last victory of the club is the last success for the Uruguayan teams in the Libertadores Cup at the moment. Only in 2011, “Peñarol” managed to reach the finals of the tournament, but there he was defeated by the Brazilian “ Santos ”. Therefore, Nacional continues to be the last Uruguayan winner of the Libertadores Cup.

•   Champion of Uruguay (46): 1902 , 1903 , 1912 , 1915 , 1916 , 1917 , 1919 , 1920 , 1922 , 1923 (AUF) , 1924 (AUF) , 1933 , 1934 , 1939 , 1940 , 1941 , 1942 , 1943 , 1946 , 1947 , 1950 , 1952 , 1955 , 1956 , 1957 , 1963 , 1966 , 1969 , 1970 , 1971 , 1972 , 1977 , 1980 , 1983 , 1992 , 1998 , 2000 , 2001 , 2002 , 2005 , 2005/06 , 2008/09 , 2010/11 , 2011/12 , 2014/15 , 2016
•   Ligilla winner (8): 1982 , 1990 , 1992 , 1993 , 1996 , 1999 , 2007 , 2008
•   Intermediate Tournament Winner (2): 2017, 2018
•   Uruguay Super Cup Winner (1): 2019
• Libertadores Cup Winner (3): 1971 , 1980 , 1988
• Recop Holder (1): 1988
•   Inter-American Cup Winner (2): 1972, 1989
• Intercontinental Cup Winner (3): 1971 , 1980 , 1988

As of April 15, 2019

Main coach:   Alvaro Gutierrez ( 1968 )

According to the official website of "Nacional" ^[8]

• Official site (Spanish)
• Unofficial site (Spanish)