Club Overview

Liga Deportiva Universitaria (LDU) de Quito, known colloquially as (la) Liga, is a professional football club based in Quito, Ecuador. They play in Primera A, Ecuador's premier league, and their home stadium is the Estadio de Liga Deportiva Universitaria, best known as "La Casa Blanca". LDU are the reigning South American champions having won the 2008 Copa Libertadores. The title is also the first one to be won by a team from Ecuador.

The team is historically one of the most successful teams in the country in terms of national championships won, with 9 titles. Among their classic rivals are Sociedad Deportiva Aucas, Club Deportivo El Nacional and Sociedad Deportivo Quito, all from the country's capital.

Club History

Foundation

LDU was founded January 12, 1930, by a group of students and professionals from the Universidad Central del Ecuador. The team started as a semi-pro from the University in the year 1918, having Dr. César Jácome Moscoso as the main leader. In 1930, having Dr. Bolívar León as president, everything started. In those days Liga had different sports such as: soccer, basketball, athletics, box, baseball, swimming, ping-pong, and chess. The starting budget was around 500 sucres. That first team had as players students from Universidad Central del Ecuador, who had to pay their own uniforms, medicines, and various expenses. Dr. León, had to design the first uniform, a white shirt with a red U having a background two triangles, one blue and another red, pretty similar to the University's chest.

Amongst the first players were: Carlos Andrade Marín, Oswaldo Mosquera, Alfonso Cevallos, Alfonso Troya and "El mono" Icaza.

The first years

In 1932, a first category championship was played in Pichincha province. This tournament was played by five teams: Liga, Gladiador, Gimnástico, Atlétic and Cleveland. Liga won all games, and in the final game against Gladiador, played in the City Stadium of "El Ejido", won 4-0. In that team the players were: Jorge Zapater, Eduardo Flores, Alfonso Cevallos, César González, Jorge Vallarino, Jorge Naranjo, Bolívar "Ñato" León, Alejandro Dávalos, Humberto Yáñez, Humberto Freire and Ernesto Guevara, the coach was Bolívar León. That's how Liga won the first title in its history.

1945: The first Super Classic

February 11th, 1945: a game played by Liga and Aucas will eventually become the most important game in the province, and the second most important in Ecuador. The Super Classic was born. That first game ended with a 1-1 tie. The Pichincha Football Association decided to give an opportunity to one of its teams to raise into the first category. On the 18th, the two teams met again, with another draw, 2-2. Liga was ahead in the score 2-0. Aucas scored, and when the 90 minutes were over, the time keeper ended the game, however the referee didn't notice and let the game continue for two more minutes more, and Aucas equalized. The attendance rioted and didn't let the game proceed into extra time unless the referee was changed. Finally the game restarted, but the score remained the same. As a curious fact, that year Liga had its first foreign player and coach, "El Chile" Díaz.

The team since 1990

LDU has had a lot of achievements on the last 18 years winning 6 of its 9 national titles in this period. The team has been important for the growth and development of the Ecuadorian football internationally as well, being an important contributor to the Ecuadorian national team that qualified and participated in the FIFA World Cups: Korea-Japan 2002 and Germany 2006. In the 2006 edition they were the team that contributed with the most players in a squad from a Southamerican club with a total of 7 including former Liga goalkeeper Cristian Mora, former Liga defenders Neicer Reasco and Giovanny Espinoza, Paul Ambrossi, Patricio Urrutia, Agustin Delgado and former Liga midfielder Edison Mendez.

Other important contributions and achievements of the team in the last years have been the contribution to the U-17 national team that obtained the first official title in Ecuadorian history: the 2007 Pan American Games. They contributed with at least 4 U-17 players in that squad: Deison Mendez, Pablo Ochoa, Carlos Delgado and Israel Chango.

On July 2, 2008, they became the first Ecuadorian team ever to win the Copa Libertadores, after defeating Fluminense. They tied against Fluminense 5-5 on aggregate and won 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out. Their success has flown through to the National Team, as 6 of their players were called up to the squad that faced Argentina and Colombia for the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers. Another important achievement of Liga in the last 18 years was getting the 3rd place in the Copa Sudamericana in 2004.

Championships

National

Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Primera A

Champions (9): 1969, 1974, 1975, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007

Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Primera B

Champions (2): 1974 E1, 2001

International

Copa Libertadores Champions (1): 2008

Performance in CONMEBOL Competitions

Copa Libertadores

(14 Participations) 1970, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. Semifinals 1975 & 1976 Quaterfinals 2006 Champions 2008

Copa Sudamericana

(5 Participations) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008. 3º in 2004 Semifinals.

Copa CONMEBOL

(1 Participation) 1998 First Round in 1998

Club Rivalries

Stars of the Current Squad

Francisco Cevallos, Paul Ambrosi, Luis Bolanos, Patricio Urrutia.

Club Legends

Most Appearances

Most Appearances Internationality

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Team Honours

Club Management

Uniforms

Stadium

Casa Blanca

Sponsors

Important Links

http://www.bocajuniors.com.ar/ http://www.cariverplate.com.ar/ http://www.conmebol.com/

References

www.clubldu.com