Sports

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UCV Baseball Stadium
 
UCV Olympic Stadium

There are professional Association Football, baseball and several other sports.

Professional teams include Deportivo Italia, Caracas Fútbol Club, SD Centro Italo Venezolano, Estrella Roja FC and Real Esppor Club. The Deportivo Italia has arrived to the semifinals of international tournaments such as the Copa Libertadores de America, while the Caracas Fútbol Club has arrived to the quarterfinals.

Baseball teams Tiburones de La Guaira and Leones del Caracas play in the Estadio Universitario de la UCV, of the Central University of Venezuela, with a capacity of 26,000 spectators.

Another baseball team started in Caracas: the Navegantes del Magallanes. It was moved to Valencia, Carabobo in the 1970s.

Association Football stadiums include:

Caracas is the seat of the National Institute of Sports and of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee.

Caracas hosted the 1983 Pan American Games.

Teams

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Deportivo Italia
File:Deportivo Italia.png
Full nameDeportivo Italia Fútbol Club
Nickname(s)Los Azules
FoundedAugust 18, 1948
GroundEstadio Olímpico (Caracas)
Caracas, Venezuela
Capacity30,000
Chairman  Eligio Restifo
Manager  Eduardo Sarago
LeaguePrimera División Venezolana
Apertura 20092nd
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Deportivo Italia is a Venezuelan football club.

History

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Deportivo Italia was founded on August 18, 1948 by 9 Italian immigrants: Carlo Pescifeltri, Lorenzo Tommasi, Bruno Bianchi, Giordano Valentini, Samuel Rovatti, Angelo Bragaglia, Giovanni de Stefano, Giuseppe Pane and Alfredo Sacchi.

The golden years of the team were those of the "D'Ambrosio era", that lasted from 1958 to 1978.

The D'Ambrosio golden era

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In 1958 Mino D'Ambrosio together with his brother Pompeo D'Ambrosio (who managed the financial side) took control of Deportivo Italia.

For the next twenty years the team was the most successful in Venezuela.

In those golden years Deportivo Italia won the Venezuelan First Division tournament four times (1961, 1963, 1966 and 1972) and the Copa Venezuela three times (1961,1962 and 1970), and was runner up in the first division in 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971 and in the Copa Venezuela in 1976. Deportivo Italia even managed to participate in the Copa Libertadores six times (1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971 and 1972).[1]

In the 1971 Copa Libertadores, Deportivo Italia was even able to defeat Fluminense (Champion of Brasil) in the Stadium Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.

Deportivo Italchacao

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right In August 1998, Deportivo Italia and Deportivo Chacao F.C., merged and changed the name to “Deportivo Italchacao Fútbol Club, S.A.”, in order to preserve the colors, the logos and the history of more than 50 years of Deportivo Italia.

For the 2006/2007 season the team returned to its original name: Deportivo Italia. In 2008, with manager Eduardo Saragó, Deportivo Italia won Torneo Apertura, beating with Aragua FC (0-2) on November 30, and for this, qualificate to Copa Libertadores.

Stadium

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The club played until 2006 their home matches at Estadio Brígido Iriarte, which has a maximum capacity of 15,000 people. Nowadays, the team plays at the Estadio Olímpico (Caracas), with a capacity of 30,000.

Colors

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The colors are the same as the Italian national football team (blue and white).

Titles

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Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

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Best: Quarter-Final in 1969.
1964: First Round
1966: First Round
1967: First Round
1969: Quarter-Final
1971: First Round
1972: First Round
1985: First Round
2000: Preliminary Round
2001: Preliminary Round
2010:
Best: Second Preliminary Round in 2003.
2003: Second Preliminary Round
2004: Preliminary Round
:
Best: First Round in 1998.
1998: First Round
Best: First Round in 2001.
2001: First Round

Current squad

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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   BOL José Carlo Fernández
2 DF   VEN David McIntosh
3 DF   VEN Daniel Diez
4 DF   ARG Javier López
5 MF   VEN Bladimir Morales
6 DF   ARG Marcelo Maidana
7 MF   VEN Gianfranco Di Julio
8 MF   VEN Alain Giroletti
9 FW   VEN Richard Blanco
10 MF   VEN Gabriel Urdaneta
11 MF   VEN Evelio Hernández
12 GK   VEN Ricardo Mammarella
13 MF   VEN Walter Turli
14 MF   VEN Leopoldo Jiménez
16 FW   ARG Emerson Panigutti
17 FW   VEN Félix Casseres
18 DF   VEN Juan Pablo Villarroel
19 DF   VEN Rafael Lobo
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF   VEN Diomaf Díaz
23 FW   VEN Cristian Cásseres
25 FW   COL Amir Buelvas
GK   VEN Ciro Zamora
DF   VEN Ricardo Andreutti
DF   VEN Norberto Riascos
DF   VEN Andrés Sánchez
DF   VEN Yoger Coello
MF   VEN John Aznar
MF   VEN Alejandro Valldeperas
MF   VEN Jesus Duque
MF   VEN Yhonny Salcedo
MF   VEN Timshel Tabárez
FW   VEN Franco Árevalo
FW   VEN Gerardo Hernández
GK   VEN Geancarlos Martínez
GK   VEN Alan Liebeskind

Former players

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References

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  • Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Spanish-language wikipedia article (retrieved May 31, 2007).
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Category:Association football clubs established in 1948 Category:Football clubs in Venezuela