Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield () is an Argentine sports club based in Liniers, Buenos Aires. Its football team plays in Primera División, the highest level of the Argentine league system. Founded in 1910, the club has spent most of its history in the top tier of Argentine football. The club's home ground is the 49,540-capacity José Amalfitani Stadium, where they have played since 1951.
One of the most successful clubs in Argentine football, Vélez Sarsfield had their first major success in 1968, when they won the league championship, and subsequently made regular seasons between 1970 and 1990. The club have enjoyed their greatest period of success in the past three decades, winning 17 trophies since 1993. Domestically, Vélez have won eleven Primera División titles, while in continental competitions have won five international cups (including both the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup). It is one of eight teams to have won CONMEBOL's treble.
Vélez Sarsfield's regular kit colours are white shirts and shorts, with some details in blue. The club's crest has been changed several times in attempts to re-brand the club and modernise its image. It is one of the most supported clubs in Argentina. Apart from football the club takes part in other sports such as athletics, basketball, gymnastics, handball, field hockey, martial arts, tennis, roller skating and volleyball.
History The beginning
Vélez foundation dates back to the last days of 1909, when rain interrupted an informal football game played near the Vélez Sarsfield railway station of the Buenos Aires Western Railway, which served the barrio of Vélez Sársfield, named after jurist Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield (Vélez Sarsfield station is in Floresta barrio and was renamed Floresta station in 1944). Three of the young men whose game got interrupted, Julio Guglielmone, Martín Portillo and Nicolás Marín Moreno, sheltered in the station and discussed the possibility of founding a football club to practice the sport more seriously. The club was officially founded on 1 January 1910, in Marín Moreno's house. The founders decided to call the new club Club Atlético Argentinos de Vélez Sarsfield (), and appointed Luis Barredo as their first chairman.
Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield was a descendant of the Irish patriot and exile Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, from whom the name Sarsfield is derived.History Ireland Like their Buenos Aires rivals, Boca Juniors, the Vélez Sarsfield sports club hence trace their roots to an Irish connection from an era when the Irish Argentines community, including Dalmacio, was at its zenith.
The founders of Vélez Sarsfield sports club chose to form two teams (one for the Argentine third division and the other for the fourth) and chose to sport white shirts, that were easy to obtain for everyone. In 1912, however, the directive board decided to change the uniform to navy blue shirts and white shorts. Vélez Sarsfield first home ground was a piece of land located between the streets of Ensenada, Provincias Unidas (currently Juan Bautista Alberdi), Mariano Acosta and Convención (currently José Bonifacio). This block is in Floresta barrio, where it meets Vélez Sársfield and Parque Avellaneda barrios.
First steps in the league Vélez affiliated to the Argentine Football Association (AFA) in 1912. Nonetheless, on 5 September, the board decided to disaffiliate the club from AFA and affiliate it to the recently created Federación Argentina de Football (FAF), citing as reason AFA's detrimental attitude towards the club. In that same year, the team was strengthened by the joining of some former players of San Lorenzo de Almagro, who had left that club due to its internal problems. With this help, Vélez reached the Federation's second division championship final on their first year of affiliation, losing 2–4 to Tigre in GEBA's ground.
On 7 February 1913, 10 new people were accepted as members of the club. Among them was José Amalfitani, who later would go on to be club president for 30 years. Subsequently, on 23 November, the board of directors decided to shorten the club's name, eliminating the term "Argentinos" and leaving the club with its current name: "Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield". The board also decided that players from the different teams had to contribute an initial membership fee of $1 Argentine pesos, plus a monthly $0.50 of the same coin. In that year, Vélez rented a terrain in the neighbourhood of Mataderos known as Quinta de Figallo, located in the Tapalqué street, between Escalada and Chascomús streets. This new ground had the advantage that a wind mill could provide water for the dressing rooms. The club's stay in Mataderos was short however, as they moved again in 1914, this time to the neighbourhood of Villa Luro. There, they bought a terrain between the streets of Bacacay, Víctor Hugo and Cortina, and the Maldonado Stream (parallel to what today is the Gaona avenue).
In 1915, Vélez re-affiliated to AFA after the disappearance of FAF. One year later, on 14 March, and owing to the great number of members of the club who were Italian immigrants, the kit was changed again. The new colours adopted were green, red and white, the colours of the Italian flag. From then on the club played in green, red and white stripes. During the decade, the team fought to achieve promotion to Primera División, the Association's first division. On 2 December 1917, Vélez lost the Intermedia (second division) final to Defensores de Belgrano in GEBA's ground. The club regularly took part in the Copa de Competencia Jockey Club, in which both first and second division teams could compete. In 1919, however, Vélez left AFA in protest of alleged discriminatory policies that hindered the club's prospects of achieving promotion. Another 6 teams protested against these maneuvers and were expelled from the Association, while another 7 were expelled for protesting the expulsion of the first 6. All together, the expelled clubs formed a rival association, the Asociación Amateurs de Football (AAF).
Primera División
Therefore, in 1919 Vélez competed in the first division for the first time in their history, in the AAF's inaugural season. The team played their first game against Independiente, winning 2–1 with two goals scored by Martín Salvarredi. On their debut season, the club finished as runner-up, behind Racing Club, who were seven times consecutive champions of AFA's league. During the campaign, Vélez won 9 games, drew 2 and lost 2; scoring 21 goals and conceding 8.
The most frequent line-up was: Acacio Caballero, Atilio Braneri, Atilio Barderacco, Miguel Fontana, José Luis Boffi, Julio Giachi, Juan Bru, Humberto Bassadone, Marcelino Martínez, Martín Salvarredi, Alberto Granara.
Vélez made its debut in Primera División playing at dissident Asociación Amateurs de Football in 1919, where the team finished 2nd to Racing. The following championship Vélez finished 6th, and team's forward Salvador Carreras was the first player of the club to become top scorer in an Argentine league. In 1921, José Luis Boffi became the first player of the club to represent the Argentina national football team, playing against Chile in Valparaíso, a game which Argentina won 4–1.
On 13 March 1923, José Amalfitani was elected president of the club for his first two-year period. One year later, the club rent a new field to establish its home ground, staying in the neighbourhood of Villa Luro, but this time in the intersection of the streets Basualdo, Schmidel, Pizarro and Guardia Nacional. The stadium's main wood stand was finished in November of that year, and was inaugurated on 16 March 1924, in a 2–2 draw with River Plate (Vélez' scorer was Ángel Sobrino).
Four years later, in 1928, the Basualdo St. stadium hosted the first night game in Argentine football history, between the Argentina Olympic national team (silver medalist in that year's Olympics) and a team formed by players from the AAF's league. The Olympic team won 3–1, with goals by Roberto Cherro, Manuel Ferreira and Cesáreo Onzari for the Olympics, and Manuel Seoane for the AAF.
Vélez Sarsfield was also the first Argentine football team to have a manager. The job was held by Luis Martín Castellano (a physical education teacher) from 1928 to 1936.
Between 1930 and 1931, Vélez made a Pan-American tour playing against teams from Chile, Peru, Cuba, Mexico and the United States. The team played a total 25 games, winning 20, drawing 4, and losing 1 (against Fall River in Rhode Island); scoring 84 goals and conceding 32. The team was formed with 17 players, 10 from the club and another 7 loaned freely by other teams, a common practice during the amateur era. The club's players were: Celio Caucia, Eleuterio Forrester, Manuel de Sáa, Alfredo Sánchez, Rodolfo Devoto, Norberto Arroupe, Saúl Quiroga, Alberto Álvarez, Eduardo Spraggón and Ernesto Garbini; while the loaned players were Fernando Paternoster (Racing Club), Bernabé Ferreyra (Tigre), Francisco Varallo (Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata), Carlos Volante (Platense), Gerónimo Díaz and Agustín Peruch (both from Newell's Old Boys) and Alberto Chividini (Central Norte de Tucumán). Varallo (who had played the inaugural World Cup previously that year) and Ferreyra (who was later sold by Tigre to River Plate) were the top scorers, scoring 16 and 38 goals respectively.
In 1931, Vélez Sarsfield and another 17 clubs broke away from the official AFA league (that remained amateur) to form the Liga Argentina de Football, the first professional league in Argentine football. The team debuted on the first fixture of the 1931 inaugural championship, in a 0–1 defeat to Platense. Vélez would eventually finish the competition in the 9th place.
In 1932, the club's nickname el Fortín (in English: "the Small Fort") was coined by journalist Hugo Marini (Crítica) in reference to the club's Villa Luro stadium, to describe Vélez strength while playing at home. Vélez had a 24 games unbeaten run at the old Villa Luro stadium between 1934 and 1935. However, the club's home unbeaten record of 28 games was achieved at the current Liniers stadium, the José Amalfitani Stadium, between 1967 and 1969.
In 1933, the club changed their kit to the present colors, when a sports-equipment merchant offered a white jerseys with a blue "V" on the chest ordered by a rugby union team that had not claimed them. The new design has remained unchanged to the present day, replacing the red, white and green shirt used since 1915. However, Vélez has used the original Italian flag colors in alternate jerseys throughout their history. On 1935, Agustín Cosso became the first Vélez' player in the professional era to become Primera División top scorer. During the following year, Vélez toured South America again, playing games in Chile, Peru and Brazil.
Relegation and return
During the 1940 season, Vélez was relegated from the first division for the only time to date. Vélez finished penultimate, one point behind Atlanta that defeated Independiente on their final fixture for 6–4 (being 6–0 at the end of the first half, on a match suspected to be fixed). With the club on the second division, it entered a crisis and was forced to vacate the stadium's lot. José Amalfitani returned to the club's presidency, and eventually the team moved to the Liniers neighbourhood.