Junior

Full name	Club Deportivo Popular Junior Fútbol Club S.A.
Nickname(s)	Los Tiburones (The Sharks) El Equipo Tiburón (The Shark Team) Los Rojiblancos (The Red-and-Whites) Los Quilleros (The Quilleros) Los Reyes de la Costa (The Kings of the Coast) Los Curramberos (The Curramberos)
Founded	7 August 1924 (1924-08-07) as Juventud Infantil
Ground	Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez
Capacity	46,692
Owner	Fuad Char
President	Alejandro Char
Manager	Arturo Reyes
League	Categoría Primera A
2023	Primera A, 6th of 20 (Finalización champions)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A.^[1] (Latin American Spanish: [ˈʝunjoɾ]), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior, commonly as Junior FC, or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Junior is the main Caribbean team in the top flight of Colombian football. In present day they are sitting in the 25th place in best South American team as of 2022.

The club was founded on August 7, 1924. Known as Los Tiburones (The Sharks), or El Equipo Tiburón (The Shark Team). Junior have won the Colombian professional football championship ten times (1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004 Finalización, 2010 Apertura, 2011 Finalización, 2018 Finalización, 2019 Apertura, and 2023 Finalización). Some of the most notable players that have played for the club include Heleno de Freitas, Garrincha, Dida, Juan Ramón Verón, Efraín Sánchez, Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama, Iván Valenciano, Teófilo Gutiérrez, Carlos Bacca, Julio César Uribe, Giovanni Hernández, Sebastián Viera and Luis Díaz.

History

In the early 1920s a team named Juventus came into being at the Colegio Salesiano in the San Roque neighborhood of Barranquilla, made up primarily of Italian immigrants. Soon after its launch the name was changed to the Spanish Juventud, though both translate the same in English: youth. In August 1924 some of the younger members of Juventud along with other young men from San Roque created an offshoot of Juventud: Juventud Infantil.

Around the 1940s (and the club's name was shortened to simply Junior) they became known as one of the country's best clubs. In 1945 the players of Junior were selected to represent Colombia at the South American Championship (now known as the Copa América), finishing a respectable fifth (though losing 7–0 to Uruguay and 9–1 to Argentina along the way). In 1949 they were again selected to represent Colombia (finishing last place) but this time their decision to play would have its consequences.

In 1948 Junior were founder members of División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (commonly known as the Dimayor). Their debut match as a professional outfit came at home on August 15, 1948, against Deportivo Cali, which ended in a 2–0 victory for the home side. Early the following year they were again chosen to play as the de facto Colombia national team. Because of ongoing strife between Adefutbol (the original amateur Colombian football association) and the Dimayor, Junior were threatened with expulsion from the Dimayor if they participated. They went ahead and did so and were initially given a two-year suspension from the league. This was later reduced to one year and they returned to the Dimayor for the 1950 season.

This was the golden age of Colombian football commonly referred to as El Dorado, a time when the Dimayor was a "rebel league" unaffiliated with FIFA and many high-profile players from around the world broke their contracts and came to play. Junior were no exception, picking up players from Brazil, Argentina, Hungary and the Czech Republic in these years. But El Dorado eventually came to an end for Colombian football.

A way ahead surfaced in the mid-1960s when a rift had again developed in Colombian football, this time between Adefutbol and the newly created Federación Colombiana de Fútbol, an organization devoted to developing professional football in the country. Adefutbol was still the official body in the eyes of FIFA and organized the national team in this period and additionally Colombian clubs did not enter the Copa Libertadores. Peace was finally made and the bulk of the amateur team that had attempted to qualify for the England World Cup signed up for Junior, who returned to the Dimayor in 1966. Junior have remained in the top level ever since.

In 1977 Junior won their first Colombian championship, finishing first place in the Apertura. They won further championships in 1980, 1993, 1995, the 2004-II (Finalización), the 2010-I (Apertura), the 2011-II (Finalizacion), the 2018-II (Finalización) and the 2019-I (Apertura). They also won Copa Colombia in 2015 and 2017. Junior have appeared in the Copa Libertadores seventeen times (reaching the semi-finals in 1994), the Copa Sudamericana 7 times (reaching the final in 2018), and the Copa CONMEBOL 1 time.

Symbols

Flag

Junior's flag is composed of 9 horizontal stripes representing the 9 stars they have now, 5 red and 4 white ones which alternate, the superior and the inferior ones are red. Overlapped on top of the strips there is a blue triangle. This triangle occupies all the wide of the flag on its vertical side. The white stars are superimposed on the triangle.

Flag of Atlético Junior

Honours

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

• Copa Libertadores: 17 appearances

1971: Group stage

1978: Group stage

1981: Group stage

1984: Group stage

1994: Semifinals

1996: Quarterfinals

2000: Round of 16

2001: Round of 16

2005: Round of 16

2010: Preliminary round

2011: Round of 16

2012: Group stage

2017: Third stage

2018: Group stage

2019: Group stage

2020: Group stage

2021: Group stage

• Copa Sudamericana: 7 appearances

2004: Quarterfinals

2015: Second stage

2016: Quarterfinals

2017: Semi-finals

2018: Runners-up

2020: Quarterfinals

2021: Round of 16

2022: Group stage

2023: First stage

• Copa CONMEBOL: 1 appearance

1992: Quarter-finals

Players

Current squad

As of 9 January 2024^[2][3][4]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  COL Edwin Herrera 5 MF  COL Jhon Vélez 6 MF  COL Didier Moreno (vice-captain) 7 MF  COL Léider Berrío (on loan from Real Santander) 8 FW  COL Yimmi Chará 9 FW  ARG Gonzalo Lencina (on loan from Belgrano) 10 MF  VEN Luis González 11 FW  COL Pablo Rojas (on loan from Jaguares) 12 DF  COL Gabriel Fuentes 14 MF  COL Homer Martínez 15 MF  COL Bryan Castrillón (on loan from Independiente Medellín) 16 MF  COL Vladimir Hernández 17 FW  COL Marco Pérez 18 DF  ARG Emanuel Olivera 19 DF  COL Kevin Padilla 20 FW  COL Déiber Caicedo (on loan from Vancouver Whitecaps) 21 DF  COL Walmer Pacheco

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 GK  COL Sebastián Araujo 23 FW  COL Steven Rodríguez (on loan from Independiente Medellín) 24 MF  COL Víctor Cantillo 25 DF  COL Brayan Ceballos (on loan from Fortaleza) 26 MF  COL Diego Mendoza 28 DF  COL Jermein Peña (on loan from Unión Magdalena) 29 MF  COL Omar Albornoz 30 GK  COL Jefersson Martínez 31 GK  COL Jaime Acosta 33 MF  COL Léider Berdugo 70 FW  COL Carlos Bacca (captain) 77 GK  URU Santiago Mele (on loan from Plaza Colonia) 99 FW  COL José Enamorado (on loan from Real Cartagena) — DF  COL Yeferson Moreno — DF  COL Rafael Pérez — MF  COL Fabián Cantillo (on loan from Unión Magdalena) — MF  COL Roberto Hinojosa (on loan from Unión Magdalena)

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  COL Fabián Ángel (at Deportivo Cali until 31 December 2024) — FW  COL Johan Bocanegra (at Deportivo Pereira until 31 December 2023) — FW  COL Brayan León (at Independiente Medellín until 30 June 2024)

Personnel

Technical staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Arturo Reyes
Assistant manager	Luis Grau[5]
Assistant manager	José María Pazo[6]
Fitness coach	César Gaitán[7]

Source:

Notable players

Most appearances

Rank	Player	Appearances
1.	Sebastián Viera	627
2.	Dulio Miranda	445
3.	Hayder Palacio	432
4.	Alexis Mendoza	417
5.	José María Pazo	392
6.	Gabriel Berdugo	379
7.	Víctor Pacheco	367
8.	Jesús Rubio	363
9.	Luis Grau	341
10.	Othon Dacunha	333

Most goals

Rank	Player	Goals
1.	Ivan Valenciano	180
2.	Carlos Bacca	103
3.	Teófilo Gutiérrez	94
4.	Víctor Ephanor	86
5.	Nelson Silva Pacheco	81
6.	Víctor Pacheco	78
7.	Martín Arzuaga	70
8.	Vladimir Hernández	65
9.	Orlando Ballesteros	56
10.	Marcos Cardoso	55

Historic players

International players

The following players, despite not having been able to establish themselves as idols, had a stage as internationals with their national teams.

Managers

Notable fans

• Freddy Cricien, hardcore punk singer; Madball lead singer
• Diomedes Díaz, vallenato singer
• Martín Elías, vallenato singer
• Gabriel García Márquez, novelist, journalist and short-story writer; 1982 Nobel Prize Literature
• Melissa Martínez Artuz, journalist
• Ernesto McCausland,journalist writer and filmmaker
• Rafael Orozco Maestre, vallenato singer
• Edgar Perea, politician and football radio and television commentator
• Shakira, pop singer
• Paulina Vega, TV Host ,model and beauty queen; Miss Universe 2014
• Sofía Vergara, actress

Affiliated clubs

• Barranquilla Currently in the second division

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlético Junior.

• Official website – Club Atlético Junior
• Fuerza Tiburona Supporter's team website (archived 9August 2018)