Club Deportivo Árabe Unido is a professional football club located in Colón, Panama that plays in Liga Panameña de Fútbol, the top tier of the Panamanian football pyramid. The club plays its games in Estadio Armando Dely Valdés.

Árabe Unido
Full nameClub Deportivo Árabe Unido
Nickname(s)El Expreso Azul (The Blue Express)
Los Árabes (The Arabs)
DAU
La Furia colonense (The Fury from Colón)
El Más Laureado
Founded28 April 1994; 30 years ago (1994-04-28)
GroundEstadio Armando Dely Valdés
Colón, Panama
Capacity4,000
ChairmanPedro Gordon
ManagerSergio Guzmán
LeagueLiga Panameña de Fútbol
2022 (C)3rd
Current season

Its name, Árabe Unido, means "Arab Union" in English, is emphasised from its original Arab root of the club.

History

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The club has been one of the most successful in Panama in recent years, winning 15 titles (more than any other team since 1998) and finishing second five times.

It was founded in 1990 by Arab immigrants to Panama, under the name of Club Atlético Argentina, and experienced immediate success. After climbing the Panamanian league system, in 1994 they took advantage of a split in Panama's governing body to move into the top division. What happened was that a rival league (LINFUNA) formed in opposition to the older, existing top flight (ANAPROF). Árabe Unido was almost immediately successful in LINFUNA, winning both championships that the splinter league held in 1994 and 1995.[1]

Their success continued once they re-entered ANAPROF; at that time, Tauro FC was the dominant team in the league and would win three championships in four years between 1996 and 2000. The only club to break that string was Árabe Unido, which won the 1998–99 title by beating Tauro 3–0 in the playoff final.

After the league switched to the Aprtura/Clausura format in the 2001 season, Los Arabes really began winning titles. The original plan was for the winners of the Apertura to meet the Clausura in a "Grand Final" that would determine the year's champion. Árabe rendered this unnecessary by winning both tournaments. They claimed a third straight championship in Apertura 2002, although they did lose that year's grand final to Plaza Amador.

El Expreso Azul (as fans also called Árabe Unido) would go on to add further honors by sweeping the 2003 season, then winning back to back titles in Clausura 2008 and Apertura 2009. They have also won titles in Clausura 2010, Apertura 2012, Clausura 2015, Apertura 2015, and most recently Apertura 2016.l[2]

Honours

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National titles

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International titles

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Players

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Current squad

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As of 10 February 2023. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   PAN Joseph Vargas
2 DF   PAN Jamall Dickens
3 DF   COL Diego Fori
5 DF   PAN Francisco Vence
6 MF   PAN Rubén Baruco
7 FW   PAN Efraín Bristan
8 FW   PAN Leonel Tejada
9 FW   PAN Ángel Sánchez
10 MF   PAN Jamel González
11 MF   PAN Armando Cooper
13 DF   PAN Juan Mosquera
14 MF   PAN Leonel Triana
15 DF   PAN Gabriel Brown
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF   PAN César Reyna
18 FW   PAN Sergio Moreno
19 MF   PAN Jaime Harrison
20 GK   PAN Reynaldo Polo
22 MF   PAN Kevin Meneses
24 MF   PAN Rafael Emanuel
26 DF   PAN Félix Góndola
27 FW   PAN Yamar Reed
29 FW   PAN Franklin Cordoba
35 DF   PAN Jajac Cruz
71 MF   PAN Ariel Arroyo
77 MF   PAN Víctor Griffith
86 DF   PAN Omar Llerena

Retired numbers

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21 —   Amílcar Henríquez, midfielder (2003–08), (2014),(2016–2017) — posthumous honour.

Historical list of coaches

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  •   Eliazar Herrera (1998–99)
  •   Richard Parra (2001–03)
  •   Jairo Silva (2003–04)
  •   Juan Carlos Gómez Cáceres (2004)
  •   Ramón Vecinos (2005–06)
  •   Wiston Cifuentes (2006)
  •   José Alfredo Poyatos (2007)
  •   Richard Parra (Aug 2009 – Nov 10)
  •   Wilman Conde (Dec 2010 – June 11)[3]
  •   Carlos Pérez Porras (June 2011 – Nov 11)[4]
  •   Jair Palacios (Dec 2011 – Aug 14)[5]
  •   Julio Dely Valdés (August 2014 – Dec 2014)[6]
  •   Alfonso de Moya (Jan 2015–15)[7]
  •   Sergio Guzmán (February 2015 – December 2017)[8]
  •   Carlos Ruiz (January 2018 – September 2018)
  •   José Ricardo "Chicho" Pérez (September 2018 – June 2019)
  •   Alejandro Mejía (June 2019 – September 2019)
  •   Sergio Guzmán (September 2019 – August 2021)
  •   Sergio Angulo (August 2021–present)

References

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  1. ^ Árabe Unido Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine – CONCACAF
  2. ^ "Panama – List of Champions".
  3. ^ Wilman Conde, nuevo DT del Árabe – La Estrella (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Carlos Pérez Porras y sus retos con el Árabe Unido – Crítica (in Spanish)
  5. ^ Jair Palacios nuevo técnico del Árabe Unido Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine – PanamaFutbol (in Spanish)
  6. ^ Julio Dely Valdés, nuevo técnico del Árabe Unido de Colón – La Prensa (in Spanish)
  7. ^ Alfonzo De Moya es el nuevo Director Técnico del Árabe Unido Archived 2017-10-30 at the Wayback Machine – Árabe Unido (in Spanish)
  8. ^ Colombiano Juan Guzmán nuevo DT del Árabe Unido de Colón – RPC (in Spanish)
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