Once Caldas

Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoria Primera A. They play their home games at the Palogrande stadium.

They were the surprise winners of the Copa Libertadores in 2004, mainly due to the performances of Juan Carlos Henao and Jhon Viafara. The club was founded in 1961 after the merger of Deportes Caldas and Deportivo Manizales (also known as Once Deportivo).

History

In 1950, Deportes Caldas won the Campeonato Profesional, as the Colombian professional football league was named at the time.

Once Caldas was founded in 1959 after the fusion of Once Deportivo and Deportes Caldas. Once Deportivo was founded in 1930 while Deportes Caldas was founded at the end of the 1940s. However, both teams, for various reasons, went defunct. Carlos Gomez Escobar was in favor of reviving Deportes Caldas, but Eduardo Gomez Arrubla's idea was to bring back Once Deportivo. Thanks to the mediation of Dr. Herman Bueno Ramirez, the three co-founders arrived at the compromise to fuse the existing teams into an entirely new entity, Once Caldas.

In 1961, the merged club debuted in the Campeonato Profesional. The club finished in the 7th position of the competition.

In 1998, Once Caldas was the first division's runner-up. Deportivo Cali defeated the club in the final. In the first leg, in Cali, the home team won 4–0. The second leg, in Manizales, ended in a 0–0 draw. That year the club also disputed its first international competition, the Copa CONMEBOL. Once Caldas was eliminated in the first round by Santos, of Brazil. In the first leg, in Santos, Santos won 2–1. In the second leg, in Manizales, Once Caldas won 2–1, but was defeated 3–2 in the penalty shootout.

In 1999, the club participated in the Copa Libertadores de America for the first time. Once Caldas was in the same group as Deportivo Cali and two Argentine clubs, Velez Sarsfield and River Plate. The side finished in the last