Maritimo (football club, Caracas)

The club was founded in 1959 by Portuguese immigrants. Since most of them came from the island of Madeira , where the football club Maritimo is based, they decided to take this name for the new club, adding the specification “from Venezuela”. For many years, the newly formed team played in the lower leagues of Venezuelan football without any success.

Only in 1985, Maritimo managed to achieve an exit to Primer thanks to the first place in the Second Division. In the First League, the team quickly adapted and in its second season (1985/86) managed to win the champion title ^[1] . In just seven years, Maritimo managed to win three more championships - 1987/88, 1989/90 and 1992/93. In addition, in 1987 and 1989, the team won the Venezuelan Cup ^[2] .

The Caracas Maritimo participated in five Libertadores Cup . In four of the five participations, the team could not overcome the group stage. In the 1992 Libertadores Cup , there was a rather lenient time limit - in group 3 it was necessary to take a place not lower than the third to reach the second round. Maritimo scored the same amount of points with compatriots from Universidad de los Andes , and in an additional match for reaching the playoffs, he beat them with a score of 1: 0. In the second round (actually the 1/8 final), Maritimo played against Atletico Nacional . The more experienced Colombian team played 0-0 in Caracas and won 3-0 in Bogota ^[3] .

The following year, the red-green battleship won its last champion title ^[4] . In 1994, the team for the first time in its history of participation in the Example finished below third place, becoming the eighth ^[5] . The 1995 season was more successful - at first Maritimo managed to qualify for the final round of Aperture (which was not possible a year earlier), but it took the last sixth place. Then, in the National tournament, “Maritimo” successfully hit the top three in Group B, which was supposed to continue the fight for the title in the Finalision Tournament. However, the Maritimo stadium failed to pass licensing and the club was disqualified. His place was first taken by Monagas and then the fifth team of the group, Lara , which eventually finished fourth in the championship ^[6] .

The team mainly performed at the Brhido Iriarte stadium in Caracas, which seats 8 thousand spectators. Often, the Olympic Stadium became the home arena, which can seat much more spectators - 30 thousand. At the end of its existence, the games were held at the Guido Blanco Stadium in the city of Guatira ( Miranda State), which is part of the Greater Caracas metropolitan area. Due to the non-admission of this 1.5-thousandth stadium "Maritimo" and was disqualified in his last championship ^[7] .

In the early 1990s, the number of club members reached 2 thousand. The graduate of the Maritimo Youth Academy is one of the best footballers in the history of Venezuelan football, José Manuel Rey ^[7] . In the mid -2000s, the process of gradual restoration of the club’s legal status began. The Portuguese club Marítimo ( Funchal ) also made efforts to recreate the Venezuelan partner club. In 2006, a training ground was built and the Maritimo football school was opened. But the full-fledged recreation of the football team did not happen.

• Champion of Venezuela (4): 1986/87 , 1987/88 , 1989/90 , 1992/93
• Vice-champion of Venezuela (1): 1990/91
• The third winner of the championship of Venezuela (3): 1986 , 1988/89 , 1991/92
• Winner of the Venezuela Cup (2): 1988 (golden double) , 1989
• Winner of the Second Division of Venezuela (1): 1985

• Copa Libertadores (5):
  • Group stage - 1988
  • Group stage - 1989
  • Group stage - 1991
  • 1/8 finals - 1992
  • Group stage - 1994
• CONMEBALL Cup (1):
  • First round - 1992

• Carla Salcedo Leal . A 20 años de su desaparición: El efecto CS Marítimo de Venezuela (Spanish) , correiodevenezuela.com (8 de noviembre de 2014). The appeal date is December 17, 2018.