Santa Fe Independent

Club Independiente Santa Fe, also known simply as Santa Fe is a football club founded on February 28, 1941 in the historic center of the city from Bogota, the capital of Colombia. It is one of the soccer clubs with the longest tradition and history in the country, considered one of the largest and most popular, and an important club in South America. It plays its matches at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium and has been identified since its inception with the colors red and white.

He is the first champion of Colombian professional soccer, consecrated in 1948. In addition to this, his female branch was the first to be champion of the Women's Professional League, in 2017, which makes him the only first champion of Colombian professional soccer.

It has participated in the highest category of the Major Division of Colombian Soccer, the First A Category, since its foundation in 1948, being one of the only three teams that has participated in all the tournaments.

The club was founded at the tables of the Café del Rhin, specifically in the Plazoleta del Rosario located in the historic center of the city of Bogotá by several graduates of the Gimnasio Moderno school, some of whom studied at the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario. Thanks to this, it became one of the ten founding teams of the Major Division of Colombian Soccer, contributing to the beginning of Colombian Professional Soccer.

It is the third most successful team in Colombian soccer, with 18 official titles. At the national level, he has won the Primera A nine times, registering two Colombian Cup titles in 1989 and 2009 and four Colombian Super League titles in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2021, making him the most winning tournament.. Likewise, they managed to be crowned as continental champion in the 1970 Simón Bolívar Cup, in the 2015 Copa Sudamericana and as intercontinental champion in the 2016 Suruga Bank Cup, having as a particularity having been the first Colombian team in to be champion in the aforementioned international competitions and the first Colombian team to win an international competition recognized by Conmebol.

It disputes the Clásico from the capital against Millonarios, in addition to having strong rivalries with América de Cali, in the so-called Clásico de rojos, and with Atlético Nacional.

It was the seventh best soccer club in the world in 2015, with 240 points, according to the International Federation of Soccer History and Statistics, the best team in the Americas and, consequently, in Colombia.

History

1939 to 1940-Origins

The people of Santa Fe

Modern Gymnasium Exalms Team that would come to found Independent Santa Fe. From left to right, Ernesto Gamboa, Álvaro Gaviria, Guillermo Escobar, César Payán, Julián de Mendoza, Gonzalo Rueda Caro, César García, Guillermo Lleras, Eduardo Lleras, Joaquín Prieto and Tulio Gutiérrez.

In 1939, to celebrate the silver anniversary of the Modern Gymnasium in Bogotá, a soccer match was held between the school team and that of the former students recently graduated from the same institution, who wore at that time a white shirt with a blue stripe and was made up of several young people who would later promote the creation of Independiente Santa Fe.

They did not have in mind to play as a profession or for money, they faced other teams from the capital coming from schools and colleges. Most of the team's players studied at the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, a reason that led them to take the center of the city as a meeting place after school. There were no rigid training sessions, they simply met at the Café del Rhin, in the Santa Fe passageway, from where they jogged, turned towards the seventh on Avenida Jiménez, where the facilities of the newspaper El Tiempo were located, passed through the boards of El Spectator to turn onto 14th Street and close in front of the Universidad del Rosario.

Centro de Bogotá in the 1940s, El Pasaje Santa Fe.

Developing this activity in the center of Bogotá was not very convenient, they ran into journalists, well-known politicians and a large number of people. They decided then, looking for more tranquility for their "training", to move to the lithographic fields. By then, they were already popularly known in the center of the capital as "Los Santafereños", a name that had arisen from the daily meeting point, the Santa Fe passage.

As practices progressed, some began to think of team building in a narrower sense. Ernesto Gamboa Álvarez and Gonzalo Rueda Caro, who often spent their spare time at the Café del Rhin, were the most animated on the subject. Given the circumstances, the team decided to enroll in the amateur tournament of the Bogotá Sports Association, at the beginning of 1941, a key moment that would lead to the founding of the club.

1941 to 1947-Foundation and first successes in the amateur era

Birth

Independiente Santa Fe was founded on February 28, 1941, as an amateur sports club. It was the initiative of several graduates of the Gimnasio Moderno school, of a high social level, some of them students of the Universidad del Rosario, located on 14th street, between the corner of the now-defunct Santa Fe passage and 6th race. The foundation occurred in the Rhine café, which, in the early years, was "the official center of operations". ª and that went from 14th street to Avenida Jiménez (15th street). It was in front of the still existing Café Pasaje, in the historic heart of the Colombian capital, which at the time was also the intellectual heart of the city, for which reason Rosarista students and professors frequented that and other cafes, as they still do with the that currently exist.

The founding document reads:

“In Bogotá, February 28, 1941, the Escobar U. Guillermo, Gamboa A. Ernesto, Alfonso Diaz, Gutiérrez L. Tulio, Haim Roberto, Lleras Ll met. Eduardo, Martín Alfonso, Martín Álvaro, Mendoza C. Eusebio, Mendoza C. Julián, Mora L. Hernán, Payán C. César, Reyes N. Luis Carlos, Robledo R. Luis, Rueda C. Gonzalo, Urdaneta H. Rafael and Valenzuela V. Pablo, and resolved to create a Sports Club of Foot-Ball Association that will be named “Club Independiente Santa Fe”. The club will have a purely sporting character, not pursuing profits of any kind. His address will be in this city, and until the issuance of his statutes will be led by the following directive: President - Gonzalo Rueda Caro, Vice President and First DT - Luis Robledo R., Secretary-Tesorero - Ernesto Gamboa Álvarez, Captain of the Foot-Ball team - Luis Carlos Reyes Nieto".

First squad and runner-up of the Bogotá Sports Association

At first, the founders of Santa Fe thought of composing the club only with alumni of the Modern Gymnasium; however, later they reinforced it with players from other schools. It was formed with the aim of participating in the Bogotá Sports Association (ADB) championship, in which Santa Fe participated in the second category. A sign of the functioning of sports and informal entities, perhaps good-natured, which facilitated the participation of enthusiastic sportsmen, the draw for the matches of that championship was held on February 27, the eve of the formal foundation of Santa Fe, which which did not prevent him from being accepted and participating in the tournament; On the same day, the inauguration of the championship was announced for March 2 at Club Deportivo Bavaria, from that brewery, and it was played until September 7, there and on the fields of the Lithographic and Ferrovarios clubs.

Santa Fe played the first official game in its history on Sunday, March 23, 1941 at 9:40 a.m., at the Lithographic Club, against the Red Taxis Military Sports Legion team (representative of that transport company, whose drivers wore military-style uniforms). It is striking how it aroused great interest from before its first official presentation: "Today the Independiente Santa Fe team makes its official debut,[sic] one of the best teams that the Sports Association of Bogota. According to what Rojas Guapacho said, Independiente Santa Fe [sic] will be the second Salle of the A.D.B. He has not played the first official match for any entity and the teams in his group are already beginning to worry. All in all, the Santa Fe [sic] which is made up of elements of social and sporting excellence, is a bit pessimistic and declares that there is no reason for that alarm without having debuted.& #34; Reference was made to Silvano Rojas Guapacho, founder of the Municipal Sports Federation, in 1938, and of the Bogotá Sports Association, in 1941, and to the Instituto de La Salle, of the Christian Brothers, which in Bogotá soccer dominated that time, after the disappearance of Bartolinos, from the Colegio de San Bartolomé. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Rafael Urdaneta; Pablo Valenzuela and Alfonso Martín; Álvaro Martín, Luis Robledo and Ernesto Gamboa; Eduardo Lleras, Octavio Hernández, Gonzalo Rueda, Luis E. Arreaza and Roberto Haim.

• Red Taxis: Espinosa; Pinzón and M. Cortés; Antonio Cortés, A. Rodríguez and Montoya; Juan Herrera, Gómez, Rivera, Camargo and Alberto Cortés.

The score was 3-3. The goals all occurred in the first half: by Santa Fe, two by Arreaza and an own goal by an opposing striker; for the Red Taxis, Juan Herrera (2) and Alberto Cortés. And the praise continued: "Of the matches played yesterday, the best was Santa Fe [sic] and Taxis Rojos... magnificent match... From the boys from Santa Faith [sic], the A.D.B. is going to take two for the team that this entity will form in a few days... it is one of the best among the second category". And he ended the chronicle with what seems, after the fact, to be prophetic: "Their technique, impeccable presentation and morale make this group a team with a great future". Paradoxes of history, the two teams finished in the first positions of the championship.

After a hiatus, apparently for a season of professional soccer, Santa Fe drew 0-0 with Universal on Sunday, May 4. On May 11, they played again and Santa Fe defeated Universal for 2-1. The chronicler highlighted that match and the one won by the Red Taxis team. "Independiente Santa Fe demonstrated, once again, their abilities, their technique and most of all their fair play", and ratified the initial forecast: "The Military Legion, the same as Santa Fe, is [sic] classifying as very possible winners of the tournament". On Sunday, May 18, Santa Fe faced to Telegrafos and defeated it 1-0.

At the end of the first round, Santa Fe was second, with 12 points, one less than the Red Taxis team, and it was those two teams that started the second round on Sunday, June 15, " ...in the field of Colombian Lithography..."; they tied with goals from Rueda, for Santa Fe, and Pedro Rodríguez. Then came a friendly match at El Campín with the Telégrafos team, which invited Santa Fe to celebrate its second anniversary, and was attended by " high personalities"; after trailing the first half 0-2, "...Robledo, Santa Fe's number one player, strives to get more out of his midfield teammates...", and scored Santa Fe at 10' and 15' to end the game tied. On Sunday, July 6, those two teams faced each other again and tied again, but without goals.

Also in July, Santa Fe played a game in El Campín with a team from the Shell oil company, for the benefit of the British Red Cross, an entity that must have required a lot of help because of the war. This game was notoriously displayed in the sports pages, at least in the press sympathetic to the Allies, and reduced prices (20 and 40 cents). The result was favorable to the oil tankers 2-1, two goals from Emilio Castañeda, and Luis Robledo for Santa Fe. The same day, but in the La Salle field, in the first category of the Bogotá Sports Association championship, Deportivo Español defeated Córdoba 5-0; He played with the Spanish Alberto García del Diestro, who in 1942 had a brilliant but brief stint in Santa Fe and, very surely, had his part in the result, but the chronicle does not specify it.

Then came a peculiar event as only happened at that time: to close an amateur sports festival, Santa Fe played a cup, donated by the Automobile Club, against La Salle's first division team. For that match, Santa Fe invited the Argentine players Óscar Ruso Sabransky (later a short-lived coach of Santa Fe), Gerardo Lezcano and Antenor Rodríguez, who had graduated from Club Deportivo Independiente, already known for his nickname of the Millionaires, after that club (Independiente I, in which the professionals played, while in Independiente II, or Milos chiquitos only Colombian fans played) was suspended from the Liga de Cundinamarca Soccer for hiring foreign professional players without having the pass, in what they call brown soccer, antecedent of what the same club later led in El Dorado. For this maneuver, he had the complicity of some members of the league and the National Football Association, for three years, since the arrival of these professionals. The teams lined up as follows:

• Independent Santa Fe: Rafael Urdaneta; Martín y Antenor Rodríguez; Luis Robledo, Óscar Sabransky and Ernesto Gamboa; Reyes, Gerardo Lezcano, Eusebio de Mendoza, Roberto Haim and Escobar.

• La Salle: Duarte; Charry and Guevara; Charry, Fajardo and C. Chávez; Celso Montaña, Corradine, Marco Nieto, Segura and Izquierdo.

Two thirty-minute periods were played. Nieto and Corradine scored, and Sabransky wasted a penalty for Santa Fe. As a consequence, although the suspension decreed was for the club that had hired them without having the transfers, the League suspended the three players for a year.

Continuing the championship, on Sunday, August 24, Santa Fe faced Litográfico, which gave them "...one of the best matches...", against point that "...with only a quarter of an hour left to finish... he scored his two goals..."; final score: 2-0. Finally, Santa Fe was runner-up with 20 points, despite having finished undefeated in the tournament; the champion was the Red Taxis team.

In those heroic times of amateur soccer players, what sometimes happens in games between friends happened to the newborn Santa Fe: on December 1 “…he had to play with only nine players, for not breaking the commitment to the A. D. B. The players who appeared were the following: Urdaneta, Camargo, Martínez, Jorge Méndez, Ernesto Gamboa, Rueda Gonzalo, Ferro, Robledo and Mendoza. However, Santa Fe played as in its best days and played better against Quesada, champion of the intermediate category of the Municipal Sports Federation, until it managed to beat it by four goals against two”. Perhaps for that reason reason there are photos in the press of the time with only nine players.

Cundinamarca runner-up in the first amateur category

In 1942, Santa Fe played a brilliant campaign in the intermediate category of the Bogotá Sports Association (ADB) championship. On February 22, for example, they managed to beat Atlético Talleres 8-1. Santa Fe lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Rafael Urdaneta; Alfonso Martín, Guillermo Lara; Ernesto Gamboa, Luis Robledo, Jorge Méndez; Roberto Haim, Hernando Mariño, Eusebio de Mendoza, Enrique Lara and Daniel Ferro.

Guillermo Escobar, Eduardo Lleras, Nicolás Camargo, Manuel Vásquez, Julio Barberi and César Payán were also part of the team.

Valid of the runner-up of the previous year, Santa Fe requested promotion to the first category. It caused a stir that “an unknown team, according to the leaders of some sports entities, had the audacity to ask for his promotion…”. After “…a meeting of the senior leaders of the municipal sports federation…” [sic], they invited Santa Fe to face “…anyone of the first category…" of that organization, and Santa Fe accepted the challenge. He had the laudatory support of the press, who stated that "...in less than a year, Independiente Santa Fe has managed to establish itself in our soccer environment to a very prominent position. Indeed, of all the teams that currently play in Bogotá soccer, and in saying this we include the first-class teams of the Cundinamarca League and the Municipal Sports Federation [at the time these three organizations coexisted], Independiente Santa Fe is the only one that plays soccer of any quality. América, Texas, Deportivo Olaya, etc., are teams of alarming technical poverty... The opposite occurs with Independiente Santa Fe, which modestly started in the third category, currently has no major enemy in our first division... dominated the contender at will... standing out Eusebio Mendoza,[sic] Hernando Mariño and Enrique Lara. We suggest to the governing bodies of local soccer that Independiente Santa Fe be promoted to the first category, since it has sufficient merits to face the best Bogota teams in that division" On March 11, the league announced to Santa Faith that promoted him to the first category of Bogotá soccer because, according to the chronicler, "...the campaign carried out by them in recent months amply justified that measure".

In those days of amateur soccer, the organization was in its infancy and the name “club” was perhaps too much for the reality of many teams that were little more than groups of friends, as in the case of Santa Fe, in the that "...almost all of its members..." were students from private universities in Bogotá. Perhaps because they came from families with a high social level, they were true fans who played for pleasure and not they had an economic interest, as they had proclaimed when the club was founded, unlike its future "eternal rival", officially called Club Deportivo Independiente but already known by its nickname Los Millonarios, which became the official name, a club that since 1938 hired professionals foreigners, and who was expelled from the Cundinamarca league in 1941 for playing commercial matches with teams from leagues from other departments, in clear violation of the regulations of the time. Thus, it is not uncommon for the Cundinamarca Soccer League proclaimed on April 6, 1942 the opening of registrations for that year's championship, along with the announcement that it was disaffiliating fourteen teams, for being in arrears with the treasury, among which was Santa Fe. Although the 24th appeared again among those accepted in the first category, and praise continued for the "...most prestigious local team of the first category...", the day before the second date of the tournament was still in the group of delinquent.

On May 17, Santa Fe faced the National University team at the Alfonso López Stadium of the university students, in a match that was considered of great importance to define the title: “The matches that the winner can to sustain later against Albion, Texas, San Lorenzo and América will never offer the difficulties of today's”. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe (red and white): Rafael Urdaneta; Guillermo Lara and Alfonso Martín; Ernesto Gamboa, Luis Robledo and Eusebio de Mendoza; Guillermo Escobar, Hernando Mariño, Alberto García del Diestro, Enrique Lara and Daniel Ferro.

• Universidad Nacional (blanco): H. Moreno; José M. García and Rodrigo Tristancho; R. Ortega, Alfonso Vargas and P. Quintana; Édgar Burbano, O. Pinilla, P. Forero, J. Barberi and G. Gaitán.

Santa Fe defeated Universidad 7-4. Mariño (1-0, 7'), Lara (2-0), García del Diestro (3-0) scored “...preceded by a series of short passes between Lara, Ferro and García del Diestro, which excite the respectable...", and discounted Burbano (3-1). In the second half, the University got two goals from Pinilla, Santa Fe one from Lara and three more from García del Diestro (7-3) and finally Burbano closed the score (7-4). That is to say, the Spanish refugee lawyer Alberto García del Diestro achieved the first quadruple in the history of Santa Fe and, perhaps, of Colombian soccer, and is officially considered the first foreign player in the history of Santa Fe, taking into account that A year earlier, the Argentines Sabransky, Rodríguez and Lezcano were suspended due to organization regulations and could only play in one match with Santa Fe.

On June 21, Santa Fe lost 2-4 to Juventud Albión. Thus, based on the results of the other competitors, in August América F. B. C. led the tournament “...with seven points and still missing for playing against Independiente Santa Fe...". América was "...the oldest club in Bogotá among football clubs [sic]; founded on June 28, 1927...”, different from América de Cali, from the department of Valle del Cauca, which could not play a tournament in Cundinamarca, especially at a time when they were Interdepartmental meetings are prohibited, except with special authorization.

On Sunday, August 30, the only ones who could aspire to dispute the title against América faced each other: Santa Fe and San Lorenzo played on the field of Quinta Mutis, then the headquarters of the Nuestra Señora del Rosario Residence Hall and since 2009 headquarters of the homonymous university [In the photo that appears on the page of the reference university, when consulted, you can see the dome of the El Campín Covered Coliseum, a neighbor of the stadium located to its left (South), behind the central tree. ]. It was announced in the lineup to:

• Independent Santa Fe: César Payán; Martín y Alberto Holguín; Ernesto Gamboa, Luis Robledo y Guillermo Lara; Daniel Ferro, Enrique Lara, Alberto García del Diestro, Eusebio de Mendoza y Guillermo Escobar.

Santa Fe's dominance, after a goal disallowed for offside, came to fruition when Enrique Lara opened the scoring. At 35', Robledo collected a free kick “...from long distance...” that García del Diestro managed to convert. In the second half, San Lorenzo entered overwhelmingly, but could not materialize. Towards the end of the game, there was a penalty in favor of Santa Fe, converted by Lara, to close the score (3-0) [it does not specify which of the two Laras].

Following that game, on Sunday, September 6, it was announced that Santa Fe had signed Englishman Jack Greenwell; “...as the official coach of their teams. Jack Greenwell will start his work at the new club today at nine in the morning on the fields of Quinta Mutis ". This Englishman had been a player in England and then in Spain, where he spent eight years in the F.C. Barcelona. Later, he was the coach of Barcelona itself for six years, with which he won six Catalan Championships and the Copa del Rey in 1920 and 1922; he won the Valencia Championship with Castellón and with Español, with whom he also won the 1929 Copa del Rey in the same year; he also won another Valencia Championship with Valencia. He then traveled to Peru where he won the 1939 Peruvian Soccer Championship with the Universitario de Lima; with the Peruvian team, he was champion of the 1938 Bolivarian Games and the 1939 South American Games. Greenwell arrived in Colombia in 1940, hired to lead the national team that was to participate in the Fifth Central American and Caribbean Games, which were to be held in Barranquilla in 1942, but which were suspended due to World War II. Greenwell then worked for Juventud Junior de Barranquilla.

The English coach began work on Wednesday, September 9, and opened with a 5-2 victory in a friendly against the Faculty of Medicine. Santa Fe reached the semifinal of the 1942 Cundinamarca championship, which it won by the thunderous score of 10-3, against Texas, on Sunday, October 4. Unfortunately for Greenwell and his team, he was unable to continue his work as he passed away on Wednesday the 7th from a "stroke". In the final, Santa Fe faced América FBC. The praises of the press for Santa Fe were repeated, and those that had been done to Greenwell were remembered, but the favoritism was for "...the dean of Bogota clubs... a bone too hard of gnaw". The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Payán; Martín y Madariaga; Gamboa, Robledo y Mendoza; Guillermo Lara, Manuel Pardo, Alberto García del Diestro, Enrique Lara and Daniel Ferro.

• America FBC: Contreras; Rodríguez y Cañón; Castro, Castillo y Soto; José Talero, Miguel Talero, Humberto Talero, Calderón and Fagua.

As an anecdotal fact, the player Miguel Talero of the América FBC, who later played with the Millonarios, was later part of the historic roster of Santa Fe that won the first professional championship of Colombia in 1948. Starting the game, a pass de Castillo (7') fell “...exactly on the line of the gate and when Payán tried to clear it, he slipped, lost his balance, and the ball entered his goal... ” (full rainy season). America “...grows in the countryside...”, Santa Fe “...shows signs of demoralization...” and “...Payán shows signs of insecurity and nervousness...”. Halfway through the first half, a header from García del Diestro hit the crossbar. Beginning the second half, in a gush before the Santa Fe goal and "...after a series of failures by Payán...", Calderón made it 0-2 (2'). The América “...dominates widely...”, the middle line of Santa Fe “...is crumbling and shows signs of visible exhaustion...” Thus, América won the game and the 1942 Cundinamarca departmental championship. It is very likely that the psychological impact of the sudden death of their famous coach, who had aroused so much enthusiasm, had been decisive in young amateur players. only 18 days before, his absence during the preparation and in the leadership of the party and, perhaps, what was "the official center of operations of Independiente Santa Fe, the famous Café del Rhin...": Santa Fe "...was not even the shadow of the good team on other occasions". América finished undefeated with four wins and one draw, for nine points (at the time the victory attributed two points), while Santa Fe and San Lorenzo equaled six points, with three victories and two defeats; a tiebreaker was announced but apparently never played.

Under these circumstances, it was not surprising that the custom of the time was followed and there was a rematch. The Cundinamarca Soccer League organized it and it was played at the La Salle Stadium, “...graciously donated by the Brothers of the Christian Schools...” and, paradoxically, due to the course of the facts, "...for the benefit of the players injured during the season...". Santa Fe won 3-2, a score that "...does not include fully mastering the actions of the victors...”; the first half “...would be enough to record a difference of more than three goals...”. “...head, spectacularly and unexpectedly...”, García del Diestro opened the scoring after half a minute; A minute later, Talero tied, which must be another world record in the history of Santa Fe. The attacks continued with Enrique Lara and Daniel Ferro, who crashed a shot into the post. At 15', García del Diestro dribbled and passed to Luis Robledo, who scored (2-1). At 40', García del Diestro entered and "...was violently attacked by Contreras, an American goalkeeper..." who, in "...a brutal play....”, caused him a leg fracture that, in the end, ended the footballing activity of the brilliant striker; Holguín came in to replace him. In the second half, Guillermo Lara increased to 3-1 (20'); at 35' de Mendoza committed a foul sanctioned with a penalty, missed by Calderón, but at 40' Soto converted a free kick (3-2), and closed the scoring. América, “...with a lineup suspiciously reinforced with some of our professionals, could not cope with the substance, with the heart and with the beautiful game of Santa Fe... [] The brutal and unreasonable game that almost all the members of América demonstrated throughout the entire game is not justified for any reason...[]...they had the result...[]...two players from Santa Fe seriously injured...”.

A chronicle of the Bogotá soccer season summed up the brilliant story of Santa Fe that “…began playing in the third category…” and went on to play for the title of the second category in its first year of life, achieved promotion to the first division the following year, and played in the final, lost in the reported circumstances, for which reason "...it is emerging as the most powerful Bogota soccer team...". The enthusiasm aroused by such performance motivated that many "...outstanding elements of our sports and social world have communicated to the secretariat their desire to appear on the list of partners...", and the board of directors began to study land to acquire a seat. Mr. Daniel Mallarino offered to be the new coach, and his offer was accepted. caleños and foreigners…”, with which he won the 1935 departmental championship, and of which he was one of the idols.

Among the players from Santa Fe, the review highlighted Luis Robledo (founder, first coach of the club and captain on many occasions), “…excellent midfielder and later forward driver…”, “…the best soccer player of the year…” [sic]. “With Robledo all the laws of soccer are broken. The Santa Fe, lined up without him, is not even the shadow of him; in that middle line would be missing... Santa Fe itself without Robledo". Comparable players have played in Santa Fe at other times, in other clubs, and even in Colombian national teams and other countries.

Tetrachampion of the Sports Association of Bogotá

In 1943, there was the tie with the highest number of goals in the history of Santa Fe, confused eras of amateur and professional soccer: on Sunday, July 4, they tied with a score of 6-6 with América, the same as he had won the title from him the previous year. After finishing the first half 0-4, Santa Fe already showed signs of being a seasoned team at that time, and "...according to its tradition of "second-half team"...[] achieved a draw which was almost a win... if the match lasted three more minutes". Soto, Castro (2), Talero and Castillo (2) scored for América; by Santa Fe, Lara (2), Ferro, Velásquez (2) and Martínez.

That year, Santa Fe managed to win the championships organized by the Bogotá Sports Association (A.D.B.) in the first and second categories. The president of the club was Enrique París.

In 1944, Santa Fe won the championship organized by the Bogotá Sports Association (ADB) in the first category, and was runner-up in the second category. Also, Santa Fe was runner-up in the Bogota championship organized by the League Soccer of Cundinamarca. In this same year, the creation of the lower divisions of Santa Fe, directed by Jorge Peñaranda, a man from Santa Fe specialized in football in England, was also highlighted.

In 1945, in the process of being formalized, Santa Fe, "represented by Mr. Holguín Pardo", obtained its legal status. Also, following his spirit of promoting amateur sports, once again Santa Fe participated in the championships of the Bogotá Sports Association, «the strongest organization in the capital of the republic» (referring to the Cundinamarca League and the Municipal Sports Federation), in the first, intermediate, second, third and children's categories. Santa Fe won the first category championship.

First win in an international match

On February 24, 1946, Santa Fe won its first win over a foreign team, defeating Panama Sporting Guayaquil 1-0 at El Campín. On March 31, 1946, Santa Fe defeated Panama 3-2 Orión, who arrived as runner-up in 1945 in Costa Rica, a country that had a great advantage over Colombia, since there had been a national championship since 1921, the campaign with foreigners was prodigal for the fans of Santa Fe and for national soccer.

In 1947 there was a small crisis after the death of the club's president, Carlos J. Frank, who with a disinterested attitude fought for the continuous improvement of the cardinal team since 1945. But the crisis was overcome thanks to the enthusiasm of the fans and the the collaboration of the members of the squad, and after continuing to compete in the Cundinamarca League, Santa Fe ranked second in a tournament that was suspended for unknown reasons.

1948 - First national champion

Start of Colombian professional soccer

On May 21, 1948, various soccer leaders, among them the founders of Santa Fe, gave rise to the Major Division of Colombian Soccer (Dimayor), which served as the basis for the consolidation and organization of Colombian professional soccer. On June 26, representatives of the professional teams agreed to support the creation of the Dimayor. It was agreed to hold the first professional championship for the second semester of the same year.

The first star

Santa Fe began the year 1948 with good results, by achieving the first victory over a prestigious Argentine club: on January 18, they beat Vélez Sarsfield 1-0 in a friendly game, 8th in the Argentine championship that had ended two months before. In a first half in which “the locals exercised visible and absolute control”, Roberto Canoíta Prieto scored the goal; in the second half, the visitors rebounded but failed to score. Santa Fe "at the end of the match received a tremendous ovation", which is explained by the fact that it was the victory of a truly inexperienced team against one with decades of history, and a high-level championship with seventeen years of existence, to the point that the news appeared on the front page, something unusual until then, and that was slow to be repeated.

That year, Santa Fe was coached by the Peruvian Carlos Carrillo Nalda, who had been a defender for the Lima clubs: Sport Progreso, Ciclista Lima and Sport Boys.

• Nomina campeona of 1948: Julio Gaviria, Julio Zamudio, Óscar Bernau, Alberto Guardiola, Hernando Moyano, José Kaor Dokú, Carlos Castro, Luis Vásquez, Luis E. Contreras, Simón Ferro, Darío Forero, Jesús Fiscó, Lorenzo Delli, Gabriel Pineda, Carlos Chávez, Carlos Osorio, Arturo Ucrós, Antonio Julio de la Horío DT: Carlos Carrillo Nalda.

On Sunday, August 15, 1948, the first official edition of the Colombian Championship began, with just 10 teams in total, including Independiente Santa Fe. The club began its campaign at the Palogrande Stadium in Manizales, against Eleven Deportivo. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Julio Gaviria, Alberto Guardiola and Luis E. Contreras; Antonio Julio de la Hoz, Jesús Fiscó and Lorenzo Delli; Gabriel Pineda, Roberto Gámez, Jesús María Lires López, Germán Antón and Roberto Prieto.

• Eleven Deportivo: Andrés Acosta; Alberto Kersul and Rodolfo Sarria; Alberto Saldías, Mario Garrido and Colada; Héctor Hoyos, Luis Alberto da Silva, Jaime Cardona, Carlos Arango and Roberto Martino.

In the first half, the locals dominated, but the score was opened by an own goal by local defender Sarria (the first own goal in the history of Colombian professional soccer). In the second half, Santa Fe always dominated, but the local center forward Cardona tied the game and, shortly after, the referee canceled another Caldas goal for offside (the first goal canceled in the history of Colombian professional soccer); Later, Gallego Jesús María Lires López sent a penalty kick over the crossbar, the first missed penalty in the history of Santa Fe and Colombian professional soccer. The press highlighted Chonto Gaviria, Contreras, Delli, Antón and López in Santa Fe, despite their mistake; for Deportivo, to Acosta, Sarria, Garrido, Cardona and Martino.

Although they did not give it as a favourite, Santa Fe later won a series of wins: against Atlético Municipal, 5-2 in Bogotá, and took the lead in the tournament; against Junior, 2-4 in Barranquilla; against América de Cali, 5-1 in Bogotá; Once Deportivo, 2-5 in Manizales, with a penalty save by Julio Chonto Gaviria, a match in which the referee disallowed four goals against Santa Fe, which must be another historical record worldwide.

Then came the first clásico against Millonarios, on September 19. That match was also historic because it had aroused great expectations, not only locally but nationally, and even internationally, according to the press at the time, to the point that, since there was no television in Colombia (it arrived in 1954), the newspaper El Tiempo sent eight photographers! The Campín was filled to the brim, with 25,000 people, and between 10,000 and 25,000 more were left out, out of a population of about 500,000 inhabitants. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Julio Gaviria, Óscar Bernau and Alberto Guardiola; Lorenzo Delli, Antonio Julio de la Hoz y Jesús Fiscó; Gabriel Pineda, Roberto Gámez, Jesús María Lires López, Germán Antón and Roberto Prieto.

• Millonarios: Gutiérrez; Ángel Inzagaray and Tomás Aves; Alfonso Piedrahita, Orozco and Policarpo Pérez; Alfonso Rodríguez, Víctor Manuel Fandiño, Alfredo Castillo, Pedro Cabillón and Alcides Aguilera.

Santa Fe won that first classic against Millonarios 5-3. In minute 5, Antón opened the scoring, to revalidate his nickname of Cabecita de Oro; tied Pipiolo Rodríguez; Aves committed a handball near the area, the Perro Gámez collected, a great stretch by Gutiérrez, but released the ball and Canoíta Prieto put Santa Fe ahead. In the second half, Vargas launched a great shot to the right angle, which Chonto could not save (2-2). Shortly after, Castillo put the Millonarios ahead (2-3), but Lires López tied (3-3). Fandiño's hand at more than 30 m; once again the Gallego took “a real cannon shot”, according to the press at the time, and put Santa Fe ahead (4-3), and seven minutes later, Lires López himself put the final 5-3. Julio Chonto Gaviria had such an outstanding performance that he left the field like the triumphant bullfighters: on his shoulders. The chronicle of the time noted that it was a game where the nerves of the players prevailed, without much technique, but where a characteristic that Santa Fe had already shown since the amateur days was confirmed, and that has accompanied it, although with ups and downs: “ The match was won by the middle line and the defenders from Santa Fe, based on "kidneys"". With this result, the advantage over the defeated team, which was second (at the time victory gave two points). On September 26, Santa Fe thrashed Universidad 6-3. At that time he reached a total of 6 games won, 1 draw and no defeat, 31 goals for and 14 against, and 13 points, five behind Millonarios.

The match that was to take place on Sunday, October 3, was frustrated, since the Police prevented the Santa Fe delegation from even getting off the bus, at the gates of the stadium, by order of the governor of Antioquia, Dionisio Arango Ferrer, a kind of mayoralty to support the intervention of the Antioquia Football Federation, which wanted the teams of its department to remain under its jurisdiction and demanded money from the Antioquia clubs; the same governor had appointed the leaders of that federation, in an irregular act. Independiente Medellín was in solidarity with Santa Fe and Dimayor. This unique fact was a prelude to the subsequent series of disputes between soccer leaders in Colombia.

On October 10, there was a 3-3 tie with Deportivo Cali in Bogotá, and Santa Fe retained the lead in the championship, with 14 points and one game less, After an agreement between Dimayor and the Antioquia leaders, the On October 17, the game suspended by the governor was played, a fact that ended up benefiting Medellín, because the new Costa Rican reinforcements, Esquivel and Chano Campos, were able to play. Medellín won 2-0, but Santa Fe retained the lead. On October 24, Santa Fe drew 2-2 with Deportes Caldas at El Campín, but continued to be first, with 15 points, always followed by Junior, who had two fewer. Later, Municipal won 2-1.

On November 7, he faced Junior, his closest rival in the fight for the championship, and who had gotten closer after the last results of the Bogota team. The stands of the Alfonso López Stadium in Ciudad Universitaria were filled to celebrate Santa Fe's overwhelming 4-1 victory, which already saw the title close. The following matches were won against América, Once Deportivo and Millonarios 2-1. On December 19, against all odds, they beat Medellín 6-0.

Independiente Santa Fe began as a simple host of the tournament but in the end it was crowned the first Colombian soccer champion. It was the team with the highest number of goals scored, with 57 goals and, in addition, had the least beaten fence, with only 29 goals against. That year, Julio Chonto Gaviria established what must be a historic world record and very difficult to break: stopping six of the seven penalty kicks that corresponded to him (85.7%).

1949 to 1953 - El Dorado Era

For 1949, Santa Fe hired the Spanish José Castillo as coach, until then in charge of Red Star in Saint-Ouen, a suburb of Paris. Castillo had been Barcelona's starting midfielder (1926-1932), with the who won the Copa del Rey in 1928, curiously the last year in which it was the most important tournament in Spain, and then won the first League championship, in 1928/29. He then played for Atlético de Madrid (1932-1934), at the time called Athletic Club Madrid, Sabadell (1934-1935), Girona (1935-1936), and Red Star 1936-1937, after going to France because of the Spanish Civil War. He played a game with the Spanish team on April 26, 1931.

That year Hernando Tigre Moyano, Luis Vásquez and Jesús Fiscó left, and initially the Argentine who had played for Millonarios, Adolfo Cusmai, also arrived, the Ecuadorian Jorge Chompi Henriques, and Federico Fico Pantoja. In that championship, El Dorado of Colombian soccer began. Santa Fe signed several famous Argentine players: René Pontoni, nicknamed the Mago or the Maestro, who Argentine journalists said had been “the best 9 of all los tiempos”, who arrived after a year inactive after serious injuries to his right knee; Héctor Nene Rial, who later became a star for Real Madrid, Ángel Perucca, Luis Flaco López, Heraldo Ferreyro, Jorge Benegas, Mario Fernández, Luis Orlando and José Arnaldo, and another Ecuadorian like Enrique Moscovita Álvarez.

Santa Fe finished third with 39 points, 5 behind the leaders and 7 behind the fourth (Deportes Caldas with 32). There were 17 games won, 5 tied and 4 lost, 101 goals scored (three more than the first during the round-robin tournament), and 50 against. In 1949, a goal (1-0) and two points were credited to Santa Fe and other teams, for the games that Deportivo Barranquilla did not play, which withdrew from the championship; This is where the “102 goals” that appear in many publications come from. That year, Santa Fe obtained the highest goal average in the history of Colombia: 3.88, having scored 101 goals in 26 games.

In 1950, the arrival of the British Cornelius Neil Franklin (1950-1951, 7 games, one goal) and George Mountford (1950-1951, 24 games, 9 goals) stood out. of Stoke City, and Charles Mitten of Manchester United (1950-1951, 34 games, 8 goals); also, Mario Fernández's five goals against Universidad in a friendly (score 7-2). In the same way, the Copa Colombia began in its first edition that would end in 1951 and where Santa Fe would have a good participation.

Runner-up of the Colombian Cup and the international tour

In 1951, the 21 goals scored by René Pontoni and the runner-up in the 1950-51 Colombian Cup in its first edition stand out, where they played the final in February against Boca Juniors from Cali with a final aggregate score of 7-6 against Also, Santa Fe made his first tour abroad, invited to play with the most victorious clubs of the La Paz Football Association during the amateur era, and one of them professional champion in 1950 and future runner-up in 1951. The invitation It was surely due to the prestige of the Argentine stars from Santa Fe, although at that time it was in crisis: despite the big names, it was ranked 11th, with four wins, seven draws and six losses, due to a problem that afflicted the club at various times: the evident deficiency of the defense; with 37 goals for and 42 against, he had managed just seven goals less than the leader Millonarios (44 and 13). On Sunday, July 8, he faced The Strongest, before 15,000 spectators. The first half ended 2-1 in favor of Santa Fe (goal against due to a penalty called "for an alleged foul" by Perucca); in the second, "los santafereños imposed their class, while the local team defected before the superiority of the adversary", and they managed to score another four goals, for a final score of 6- 1. The chronicle did not mention the authors of the goals but highlighted the goalkeeper Chamorro, and Rial, Perucca, Pontoni and Benegas. A week later, Santa Fe faced Bolívar; in the first half they scored for Santa Fe Moyano (two) and Mario Fernández; in the second, Bolívar improved and "the goal... [] Greco did it" [sic] (probably Antonio Grecco, who played for the Bolivian team in the 1950 World Cup), and Luis Flaco López scored for Santa Fe. "At the end of the game, the audience gave the Colombian team a standing ovation". The players on the roster were: Chamorro, Miotti and Martínez; Benegas, Perucca, and Arnaldo; Contreras, Rial, Pontoni, Fernández and Moyano.

After the championship concluded, in December there was an international soccer season in Bogotá, with various clubs touring Colombia. On the 16th, Santa Fe faced San Lorenzo from Argentina. That day great football was played in which, unlike what was normal at that time when the players moved little from their area and preciousness was privileged, «usual in Millionaires… [ ] …or in Racing or River”, both teams showed what was later called “modern football”, with a style that could be considered the antecedent of the Dutch school of “Totaalvoetbal”, famous after the 1974 World Cup.; the chronicler described it thus:

«Every day more and more fans ask for that football they have learned to like through four years of counting within the clubs of Colombian professionalism the most outstanding continental figures in the “esthetic” sport. Today it no longer counts only the emotion of triumph but requires quality. But what has not been established is if only one can have for such a school that provides the maximum of filigree, assembly and collaboration between the eleven components of the picture or if it also deserves the title of optimal show that is based on other systems perhaps more effective, but with less filigree... [ ] In the paintings that confronted yesterday, more field is left to the individual initiative, and before returning the spherical of the wings to the center, delaying, so that it is for this terrain where it comes to the completion of the play, it is sought that it be precisely the aleros who obey as spearheads and even become goalkeepers...».

The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Eusebio Chamorro, Roberto Martínez and Atilio Miotti; José Kaor Dokú, Ángel Perucca and Jorge Benegas; Óscar Contreras, Héctor Rial, René Pontoni, Mario Fernández and Ramón Moyano.
• San Lorenzo de Almagro: Mierko Blazina, José Glini y Óscar Basso; Ángel Zubieta, Doroteo Cívico and Francisco Berterame; Eduardo Reggi, José Cristóbal Maravilla, Juan Benavídez, Armando Farro y Óscar Silva (Ernesto Picot, Roberto Resquin and Adolfo Seoane).

Benavídez (7’) opened the scoring served by Maravilla. Pass from Rial to Pontoni, this one to Contreras who "sends a shot that becomes the tie" (11'). Farro missed “a magnificent opportunity…[ ]… only three meters from Chamorro…”. In an advance by Moyano there was a hand from Glini in the area, a penalty taken by Moyano (2-1). In the second half, “San Lorenzo enters disorganized” and “Santa Fe coordinates better”. Santa Fe forward “with a change from left to right, Fernández, in an intelligent play, lets the pass follow… [ ]… disconcerting the defense” and Contreras sends another “ low shot that Blazina doesn't see” (3-1). Then, a shot from Pontoni on the crossbar. “San Lorenzo continues to change players every two minutes, reducing the stability of the team and compenetration” (friendly match). Thirty minutes later there was one of the best goals in the entire history of Santa Fe and El Campín: a double lob by Óscar Contreras, “…whoever receives from Rial, deepens, Berterame comes out to meet him, pumps the ball over him, then Blazina gets in the way and also pumps the ball gently, so it becomes the fourth goal”. Fernández, through a pass from Rial and then Benavídez lost their respective great opportunities. Finally, Resquin "found a lost ball two meters from Chamorro" and closed the score (40', 4-2). A jet-powered forward”) and defenseman Roberto Martínez.

On the 19th, Santa Fe faced the Catholic University of Santiago de Chile in El Campín. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Eusebio Chamorro, Roberto Martínez and Atilio Miotti; José Arnaldo, Ángel Perucca and Jorge Benegas; Óscar Contreras, Luis López (Germán Antón), René Pontoni, Mario Fernández and Ramón Moyano.
• Catholic University: Sergio Livingstone, Federico Monestés and Manuel Álvarez; Jara, Raúl Andere and Hernán Carvallo; Francisco Molina, Félix Díaz, Cisterna, Andrés Prieto and Carrasco (Atilio Tettamenti and Fernando Roldán).

Livingstone, Roldán, Carvallo and Prieto were part of the 1950 Chilean national team; Molina was later. Félix Díaz had been a scorer in the 1950 Chilean championship.

After twenty minutes of dominance from Santa Fe that did not materialize, the Chilean strikers began to be more active. However, there was a masterful lob by Pontoni when «at 32 minutes, Contreras [lo] enables him in a great way… [ ] …manages to “sneak in” between the two defenders… [ ] …he passes the ball over Livingstone's head” and finishes off “almost over the line”. After "two or three quality plays" by Luis Flaco López, but failed in the shot, Carvallo "hit a shot from 30 meters that surprised Chamorro ” (1-1). In the second half, Contreras scored by finishing off a pass from Flaco (6', 2-1). The visitors were not intimidated and Prieto managed to score (9', 2-2). Bad luck befell Álvarez in the form of an own goal when he missed a clearance (17', 3-2), which Benegas increased with a shot from twenty meters (20', 4-2). The Chileans reacted, Díaz crossed Carrasco, who outwitted Miotti and scored (30', 4-3). Then, “Molina in a play full of class”, passed three people from Santa Fe and tied (35', 4-4). Santa Fe gave “a greater push to the game”, and a pass from Pontoni to Contreras ended in a goal (5-4). According to the chronicler, “Santa Fe dominated its adversary based on quality” and “Universidad counteracted this superiority based on drive and claw”; He highlighted Chamorro, Martínez, Benegas and Pontoni, and Prieto and Carvallo, and opined that the Chileans needed the " famous Argentine star José Moreno ", the Charro, who later played for Independiente Medellin.

On the 23rd, Santa Fe played with Cúcuta at the General Santander Stadium in Cúcuta. “In the face of the least crowd ever seen” there, Santa Fe “had a great day” with “extraordinary coupling… [ ] … outstanding René Pontoni and Óscar Contreras”. In the first stage Ramón Moyano, Antón and Pontoni scored; Bibiano Zapirain discounted, with a goal in each stage. Final score: 3-2.

On the 28th, it was the revenge game against Universidad Católica, also in El Campín. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Eusebio Chamorro, Roberto Martínez and Atilio Miotti; Jorge Benegas, Ángel Perucca and Candall; Óscar Contreras (Lires López), Héctor Rial (Germán Antón), René Pontoni, Mario Fernández and Ramón Moyano.
• Catholic University: Sergio Livingstone, Federico Monestés and Manuel Álvarez; Jara, Raúl Andere and Hernán Carvallo; Molina, Félix Díaz, Cisternas (Atilio Tettamanti), Andrés Prieto and Carrasco (Fernando Roldán).

That afternoon, “the two paintings did not faint for a minute”. After a minute, the center forward Cisternas, “by surprising the defense out of position and ahead of it”, opened the scoring. Immediately, “Rial loses a beautiful opportunity” after a cross from Moyano, but at 9' he received a pass from Pontoni and managed to score (1-1). “Perucca is strong in the game and the public protests”. At 30', «Jorge “Gentil” Benegas gets the second». At 35', «a hand of eagerness is produced by Martínez inside the area. Félix Díaz wins and draws” (2-2). In the second half, Moyano lost an opportunity “only before Fernández's goal” (3'). At 9', Mario Fernández, “breaking three opponents” scored another goal (3-2). Then Perucca crashed a shot into the horizontal. At 18', «”Gentil” Benegas scores another goal, after a stupendous combination», with a run by Moyano, long cross to Contreras, pass to Pontoni, this one to Benegas, who scored (4 -2). Antón closed the account, «with a well-placed and smooth shot». “Santa Fe played a great game” and won “based on speed and good understanding”; “the Chileans… [ ] …excelled in courage, although not in team technique”.

To close a bittersweet year and with that infernal rhythm, two days later, Santa Fe played another match for which they announced their seven-round undefeated match, a game “dedicated to the great José K. Dokú, the first player to travels to Korea”, since he enlisted among the volunteers for the war in that country. This match followed the custom of the time and was a true revenge for San Lorenzo. The preliminary was played by Santa Fe, the 1951 amateur champion, and the Codazzi Battalion. The professionals lined up as follows:

• Independent Santa Fe: Eusebio Chamorro (Julio Zamudio), Roberto Martínez and Atilio Miotti; José Arnaldo, Ángel Perucca and Jorge Benegas; Óscar Contreras, Luis López (Germán Antón), René Pontoni, Mario Fernández and Ramón Moyano.
• San Lorenzo de Almagro: Mierko Blazina, José Glini and Óscar Basso; Roberto Resquin, Doroteo Cívico and Francisco Berterame; Eduardo Reggi, Ernesto Picot, Juan Benavídez, Armando Farro and Adolfo Seoane.

Santa Fe began “playing very well, but… [ ] …Benavídez misses a sure chance to score”. Moyano enabled Pontoni who opened the scoring "in magnificent form" (5'). Then, Seoane received a pass from Cívico and equalized (11') when "Chamorro went off ahead of time... [ ]...and the ball entered from far and slowly". Then it was Resquin «from 35 meters away» (1-2) and «after half a minute» Fernández equalized (2-2). At 30', after a pass from Rial, Contreras put Santa Fe ahead (3-2), but Cívico "sent a pumped shot that Chamorro childishly did not intercept" (3-3). In the second part, "Santa Fe is finished". Moyano took a corner kick and Contreras headed the crossbar. At 8', pass from Picot to Benavídez and goal (3-4); then Reggi (14', 3-5); at 20', Reggi again, annulled for being out of place «that it was not. Total control of San Lorenzo». Benegas avoided "a safe goal from Farro, two meters from Zamudio". «All local rejections are weak and to the contrary». At 39', another goal from Reggi (3-6). Immediately after, goal by Contreras (4-6). Benavídez, “alone, taking the local defense off guard and ahead”, scored (43', 4-7) and, again, with a goal from a “perfect Chilean kick” before a center by Silva (44', 4-8), which ended the Santa Fe disaster. If the striker “began playing brilliantly… [ ] …at the back there was no support in Chamorro…”; the average, «always with the habit of withdrawing too much…[ ] …an incorrigible manner, which Pontoni wanted to correct, sometimes to no avail… [ ] …he acted appropriately in the first period. But in the second game it was the “debacle”… [ ] …disruptive in the rejection… [which] …forced the attackers to support the defense ». So, «San Lorenzo worked like it had not been seen before in Bogotá». It turned out to be a "deserved victory, that of San Lorenzo, but the fall not of Santa Fe but of its middle line was inexplicable". In addition, "”marino” Dokú played as left defender, in a position that is not his and naturally released the dangerous Reggi». And the chronicler concluded about the "tactical errors ... [ ] Or was it the lack of physical condition? ". In summary, that day ended a hectic year, with an exhausting December season, with a trip to Cúcuta included, during the festive season, with more than half Santa Fe with players who played for San Lorenzo until the strike of Argentine soccer players or shortly before (Perucca, Benegas, Arnaldo, Fernández, Rial, Pontoni), and the midfielder in non-ideal conditions: that was the last professional match of that great glory that was Black Ángel Perucca. On other occasions, later, similar situations would arise with emblematic players of the club.

In 1952, the 16 goals scored by Germán Antón stand out. In addition, the 3-2 victory over Boca Juniors on December 28. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Efraín Sánchez; Juan Carlos Pellegrino, Alberto Kersul; Evar Cativiela, Guillermo Faín, Antonio Bernasconi; Carlos Arango, Norberto Pairoux, Juan Carlos Toja, Rubén Deibe, Roberto Ortega. Then came Hernando Moyano into the defense and Rubén Padín in the attack.

• Boca Juniors: Walter Ormeño; Juan Carlos Colman, Héctor Raúl Otero; Benicio José Acosta, Felipe Antonio Magnelli, Juan Alberto Bendazzi; Herminio Antonio González, Juan José Ferraro, José Borello, Elio Rubén Montaño and Jorge Victoriano Sánchez García. Then Gil, Navarro, Alberto Etcheverry and Rolando came in.

Juan José Ferraro himself, brilliant player and historical idol of Boca Juniors, arrived in Santa Fe in 1958. With his 32 goals in 19 games, he was a fundamental piece in obtaining the second Santa Fe championship, with which he closed with a bang. gold his playing career. In 1959, he served as Santa Fe's coach, albeit with less success as the club finished eighth out of twelve entrants.

For the 1953 championship, goalkeeper Efraín Caimán Sánchez and Argentine striker Rubén Padín arrived, who was second goalscorer that year, with 19 goals, one less than Mario Juan Garelli of Deportes Quindío As part of the preseason, on Sunday March 8, Santa Fe defeated Independiente de Avellaneda 3-2 at El Campín, third in Argentina in 1952, which had one of the best payrolls in its history, and which in December crushed 6-0 to Real Madrid by Di Stéfano and Gento in Chamartín. Independiente included goalkeeper Elías Emilio Abraham, who years later arrived in Santa Fe, and his lead was Argentina's that year. For Santa Fe, Carlos Arango (1-0) and Padín (2-0) scored; for Independiente, Antonio Amaya (2-1) and Carlos Lacasia (2-2); closed the score Arango (3-2).

On Sunday, April 12, Santa Fe defeated the Peruvian club Alianza Lima 3-1, in a match “...that was not to be remembered...”, for “excess of short walks” and “passes in delay” of the Santa Fe forward, and because the Alianza team is “improvised, patched up, with several units from the Sport Boys that replaced those that remained in Lima for the South American championship”. In reality, that tournament took place in Lima, between February 22 and April 1, 1953. The goals were the work of Padín (11'), Alegría (1-1), Agurto (own goal) and Bumen Mora (3-1).

Curious case was that of the game that was to be played against Deportes Quindío: the delegates from Santa Fe argued that they did not have the players' cards and that they authorized it to be played as a friendly. The game was not played and the points were given to Quindío. Santa Fe scored 57 goals, six more than the champion, and finally ranked 4th, with 29 points, six behind the champion, and four behind the runner-up, Quindío; that is to say, if they had won that game, Santa Fe would have shared the runner-up with Boca Juniors.

The 7-0 win against Unión Magdalena, on the penultimate date, October 11 at El Campín, went down in history; as an exceptional fact that translated such an overwhelming defeat, the chronicler wrote: “In truth, the score did not even indicate the net superiority of the local squad... And there were so many goals that it is not worth going into detail...”.

After the championship, on December 8 Santa Fe played a friendly with Degerfors from that Swedish city, and they finished 3rd in the 1953/1954 Swedish championship. The result was a draw, with goals from the youthful right winger Åke Klintberg (17 years old) and the inside left Rubén Padín, and two shots at the posts by the center forward Juan Carlos Toja.

During El Dorado the following results were recorded in international matches against foreign teams:

1954 to 1959 - Decline and rebirth of Colombian soccer

In 1954 the Pact of Lima became effective, for which the great figures left Colombia, and attendance at stadiums fell dramatically. Bucaramanga, Cúcuta, Junior, Pereira and Sporting disappeared. Santa Fe and the other survivors suffered great hardship. Many games were not played, of which Santa Fe did not play 3. It was the darkest year in the club's history, which finished last, with a win, 3 draws and 11 losses, only 16 goals for and 51 against, for only 5 points.

In 1955 Santa Fe finished ninth with only 23 points. It should be added that Manuel Guillermo Pacheco Martínez, known as Manolín Pacheco, arrived that year, who over time became one of the great figures of Santa Fe, played in two periods (1955-1961 and 1966-1969), and was champion in 1958, 1960 and 1966.

In 1956 the cardinal team finished penultimate in a tournament that had thirteen teams. Defender Carlos Rodríguez rose from the lower divisions, who also became one of the historical figures of Santa Fe, and became the second player with the most games played (359). He was champion in 1958, 1960 and 1966.

In 1957, a hexagonal was played with the best eight teams, where Santa Fe finished third in group B. One of the two ties with the highest number of goals in the history of Santa Fe occurred: 5-5 with América, in Cali. Carlos Arango and Carlos Alberto Bolla arrived, later champions the following year.

Tocker's first stage and the second star

For the second star, Santa Fe had to wait until the 1958 championship, played by just 10 teams: Santa Fe, Millonarios, Bucaramanga, Pereira, Atlético Nacional, Tolima, Cúcuta, Deportes Quindío, Deportivo Manizales and América. This was a well-organized championship, in which all the dates and all the matches were met, unlike the recent past.

The Argentinian coach Julio Tocker, called the “Philosopher”, and posh players such as Juan José Ferraro, who had been at Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires but, above all, an emblematic player for Vélez Sarsfield (303 games, 157 goals), and that he had scored the first goal when Santa Fe defeated them in 1952; Also, José Vicente Grecco, scorer in 1957 with Medellín (disappeared in 1958, along with Atlético Nacional). They formed a great team, along with other Argentines, Bogotanos and other Colombians.

• Nomina campeona in 1958: Manuel Pacheco, Fernando Fernández, Carlos Rodríguez, Carlos Arango, Carlos Alberto Bolla, César Álvarez, Eugenio Castillo, Carlos Aponte, Juan Carlos Pellegrino, Hernando Tovar, Héctor Lombana, Edilberto González, Mario Bustamante, Nicolás Giannattasio, Jaime Silva, Miguel Vega, Norberto Hernández, Solomon Casallasol

The road to victory began on May 11 with Cúcuta Deportivo, in a memorable match for various reasons. Santa Fe scored all the goals: Ferraro began his great year with Santa Fe opening the scoring (15'), Álvarez tied with his own goal (25'), and Gallito Hernández made it 2- 1 (73'). But the Santa Fe delegate “...excitedly shouted the goal, and this was the reason for the Cúcuta Deportivo Galeano player [Alberto, Uruguayan] to leave the field of play, and went to where Dr. Cuervo Cañón was, to attack him in an unprecedented manner”. The public invaded the field, the referee suspended the match for twenty minutes “...since the Cúcuta players did not want to let the attacking player leave...” and, when he thought to restart it, “...there was no longer visibility...”, so it was terminated. The balance included Freckles Vega wounded by a bottle hit to the head.

Santa Fe led the championship by itself from the eighth date (June 15), with an advantage that reached five points at one point. However, due to some draws and losses (including own goals), in the 35th. date (December 14), Millonarios reached Santa Fe by defeating Tolima. That was a dramatic afternoon for Santa Fe in Medellín, very much in his style: in an “intense and tangled” game, Atlético Nacional managed to score when Panesso finished off a ball that slipped past Manolín Pacheco (42& #39;). The excitement increased when, midway through the second half, Santa Fe lost a penalty at the feet of Juan José Ferraro, much feared by goalkeepers (before that day he had 17 goals in 30 games); however, Ferraro himself claimed vindication with “a bland goal” (31'). Thus, Santa Fe and Millonarios reached 46 points.

The last game was presented as a whole final. Santa Fe had been waiting for the opportunity for ten years, since he won the first championship; he had overcome the years of poor results that followed the completion of El Dorado; he had dominated the championship, but his rival from Bogotá had reached it a week before; In addition, the rival had the advantage of playing when the Santa Fe match had already ended: Millonarios had to go face Cúcuta Deportivo, which came in 7th place, 14 points behind the leaders, while Santa Fe received in El Campín, at 11:30 in the morning, against Deportivo Manizales, 9th to 20 points. The teams lined up like this:

• Independent Santa Fe: Pacheco (Fernández, 20' of the second time); Bolla and Álvarez; Gallito Hernández, Pellegrino and Tovar; Bustamante, González, Ferraro, Grecco and Bedialle (Hernández, second time).

• Deportivo Manizales: Gaviria; Arboleda and Bellini; Escobar; Pacheco and Solórzano; Ramos, Sotelo, A. Escobar, Valencia and Hernández.

However, “...the performance of the squad from the capital left much to be desired...”, because “...it limited itself to complying, against a contender that in at no time did it offer danger...”. In a first half in which the visitor “...did nothing but defend themselves from the constant attacks of the forwards and midfielders...” from Santa Fe, Grecco opened the scoring by finishing off a shot collection from the corner of Bedialle (30'). Midway through the second half, Gallito Hernández replaced Bedialle, and Fernández replaced Manolín Pacheco, who were injured. Later, Ferraro received a pass from Bustamante, made it 2-0 (31'), and secured the victory, “...which he achieved without having starred in a match worthy of a tournament final...".

The Millonarios match had aroused great enthusiasm and expectation in Cúcuta, packed with Venezuelan tourists. In a packed General Santander Stadium, there was a slight visitor dominance, but the Motilones players, “...aware of their responsibility to the fans...”, they managed to finish the first half in zero. Then, what must have been a distressing afternoon for Santa Fe leaders, players and fans must have exacerbated: Millonarios started the second half with slight dominance and Masucho scored with a header (12') and Acevedo increased the score (19';). Wounded in their pride, the players from Cucuta began to dominate the game. After 14 minutes, endless for the people of Santa Fe, José Hilario López discounted for Cúcuta (33'). “This score brought the fans to their feet...”; the locals continued to dominate, Felipe Marino equalized (36'), "...the stands exploded with joy..." and also the people of Santa Fe. The Millonarios players looked for the winning goal, but it was "...impossible given the enthusiasm and effectiveness of the locals".

Santa Fe thus achieved its second title, without needing an extra series with Millonarios. There were 17 games won, 14 tied and only 5 lost; he scored 78 goals and conceded 51, and finally got 48 points. The leaders Gonzalo Rueda Caro and Jorge Ferro Mancera, the great coach Julio Tocker and, logically, the 17 players who fought game after game had a lot to do with the title. The hiring was a success on the part of the directives; Juan José Ferraro, a stellar Argentine player, a figure in Boca Juniors and Vélez Sarsfield, who was considered one of the best players to have put on the Independiente Santa Fe shirt; José Vicente Grecco, who had just been a scorer the previous season with Independiente Medellín, and ratified it by becoming the white-and-red top scorer with 26 goals; and safety in goal with Manolín Pacheco.

Totogol and Panzutto

In 1959 and after obtaining his second star, Julio Tocker left the club with resounding success in his first stage as coach from Santa Fe, in his replacement the board of directors decided to leave Juan José Ferraro, a figure of the team in the previous championship. For that year Santa Fe contracted players like Totogol Perazzo and Osvaldo Panzutto, both arrived without many scrolls in their careers in Argentine soccer, but despite this they managed to carve out a place in that 1959 team, both finished the tournament as figures, Panzutto scored 30 goals, finishing second in the championship, and Perazzo was recognized for his excellent football in a squad that included Zipa González, Miguel Reznik, among others.

Santa Fe finished the championship in 8th place after winning 14 games, drawing 12 and losing 16 times, 76 goals for and 68 goals against. At the end of the campaign, the until then coach Juan José Ferraro, left the club without being able to match his good stage as a cardinal player.

1960 to 1969 - Decade of successes

Return of Tocker and the third star

The 1960 tournament was played with twelve teams. This year was one of the best for Independiente Santa Fe. Julio Tocker was called back to the position of technical director and made up one of the best rosters in the club's history. Among its members were Leonardo Bevilacqua, Guillermo Milne, Juan Montero, Ricardo Campana, Alberto Perazzo and Osvaldo Panzutto. During the first games he maintained an undefeated 9 dates; in the following two games they were defeated by América de Cali and Medellín respectively. After these two consecutive defeats, Santa Fe returned to victory with another undefeated nine rounds and another two defeats this time against América de Cali and Tolima. The cardinal team consolidated itself as a strong team in the last part of the championship, and fell just once against Unión Magdalena.

With these results, Independiente Santa Fe obtained its third title as the only leader in the table with 22 wins, 17 draws and only five losses; the team scored 95 goals, conceded 61 and earned 61 points. Osvaldo Panzutto scored 26 goals and Alberto Perazzo scored 19 goals, both were the team's top scorer and second scorer respectively. The following year the club represented Colombia in the second Copa Libertadores de América in history.

Nomina campeona 1960: Leonardo Bevilacqua, Guillermo Milne, Carlos Rodríguez, Carlos Aponte, Juan Montero, Jaime Silva, Hernando Tovar, Ricardo Campana, Miguel Reznik, Osvaldo Panzutto, Alberto Perazzo, Héctor González, Manuel Pacheco, Mario Bustamante, Norberto Hernández, Juan Carlos Pellegrino, Jairo Arias, and Víctor García. DT: Julio Tocker.

First participation in the Copa Libertadores and first semifinal

In 1961, the second edition of the Copa Libertadores de América organized by Conmebol was held. Santa Fe participated as the Colombian representative after winning the 1960 Colombian championship. In that edition, the tournament was played with only 9 champion teams from each South American federation, among the most important were; Independiente from Argentina, Palmeiras from Brazil, Peñarol from Uruguay (champion of the first edition a year earlier), and Olimpia from Paraguay, runner-up the year before.

The cardinal arrived as a rookie team, and despite that, they were considered a strong enough team to surprise, and they did. Santa Fe started in a previous round trip phase facing Barcelona from Ecuador. The first leg was played at El Campín in front of 25,000 spectators, the Santa Fe team prevailed 3:0 over the Ecuadorians, with two goals from Osvaldo Panzutto and one from Alberto Perazzo. In the return match, Santa Fe tied two goals with Barcelona at the Modelo Stadium in Guayaquil, for Santa Fe they converted Panzutto and Perazzo, and for the locals Horacio Romero discounted twice. The match ended 5:2 on aggregate in favor of Santa Fe, who qualified for the quarterfinals. Being in the next phase, Santa Fe faced Jorge Wilstermann from Bolivia. In the first game, the Bolivians won 3-2 against a Santa Fe team that fought but failed to tie. The most outstanding player in the cardinal defeat was once again Panzutto, who scored the first of the two Santa Fe goals. In the second leg, an own goal by Claure, Jorge Wilstermann's player, would leave the aggregate tied at three goals, but the tiebreaker draw would give Santa Fe the winner. Santa Fe achieved a historic qualification to the semifinals in its first participation, already in this phase it faced Palmeiras who had left Independiente on the road, in the Brazilian squad there were figures such as Djalma Santos, Julinho, Nilton Santos, among others.

Santa Fe was eliminated in the semifinals with a 6:3 aggregate score by Palmeiras, who was runner-up in the end. Osvaldo Panzutto was the top scorer in the tournament with 4 goals, one more than his teammate Alberto Perazzo, not only did they stand out in that Copa Libertadores campaign, Zipa González, Hernando Tovar and Carlos Aponte were also protagonists, who would be called up for one year then to the 1962 Soccer World Cup in Chile.

Alternatively, Santa Fe played in the 1961 Colombian Championship where they finished third with 71 points and with Totogol Perazzo as the top scorer of the tournament with 32 goals.

Colombian soccer runner-up

In 1962 Gonzalo Rueda Caro, one of its founders, returned to the presidency of the club. The cardinals finished the Colombian tournament in 9th place with 54 points and with Perazzo the team's top scorer with 18 goals. The result was not the most expected for both fans and managers, taking into account the good campaign carried out a year earlier at the national and international level.

In 1963, Olten Ayres de Abreu, a Brazilian coach, was hired and suggested the hiring of the players from São Paulo: José Pepillo Marín, Paulo Pisaneschi, Wilson Pimentel, Casimiro Marín and Roberto Mainente. With this group of Brazilians, Santa Fe faced the 1963 season, in which they finished runner-up with 61 points and being the team that scored the most with 112 conquests, and just two points behind the champion. Pepillo Marín was the great figure of Santa Fe and scorer with 26 goals that year, and the Argentine Reznik also contributed with 19 goals. The first Santa Fe who played to the rhythm of samba and thus achieved the first runner-up in the Colombian league.

In 1964 without Osvaldo Panzutto or Alberto Perazzo, Santa Fe was again the team that scored the most, this time with 89 conquests. But he finished seventh with 48 points and with Pepillo Marín again the team's top scorer with 27 goals in the championship. It should be added that this year they debuted with Santa Fe; Alfonso Cañón (considered the greatest idol in the club's history) and Alonso Cachaco Rodríguez, both came from the minor divisions and coincided in the league titles in 1966 and 1975, Cañón also won the 1970 Simón Bolívar Cup and another title with the cardinal league in 1971.

In 1965, Santa Fe would be the team with the most goals scored in the Colombian championship for the third consecutive year (99 goals). Omar Devanni scored 26 goals in his first season with the cardinal, after his previous stint at Atlético Bucaramanga and Unión Magdalena, at the same time the young Cañón also stood out with 21 goals and a man like Claudionor Cardozo in defense. Santa Fe finished the championship fifth with 56 points, 22 wins, 12 draws and 14 losses, but with a good base for what would come in the 1966 championship.

The fourth star

The 1966 tournament had the participation of 14 teams: little by little, the Colombian tournament had increased the number of teams that participated, and had acquired greater importance in the context of national soccer. For this championship, Santa Fe had the coach Gabriel Ochoa Uribe who formed a team with very talented players. Among its main figures were Delio Maravilla Gamboa, Alfonso Cañón, Omar Devanni and Pablo Centurión. Santa Fe reached its fourth star, after a difficult match where referee decisions were decisive. Santa Fe faced Atlético Bucaramanga, and 4 minutes into the second half, referee Edgar Baraona called a penalty in favor of Santa Fe, after the ball crossed the end line after being deflected by a player from the leopard team. Initially, a corner kick was whistled, but later a penalty kick was awarded. While the Santa Fe players were looking for the ball to collect the penalty, the Bucaramanga men settled in for the corner kick. By order of the Bucaramanga coach, the club's players were located inside the goal, preventing the penalty kick from being taken, but the judge maintained his position. Finally, Barahona declared the game over and Dimayor declared Independiente Santa Fe the winner of the match by a score of 1-0. The Argentine Omar Devanni finished as the tournament's top scorer with 31 conquests. El Expreso Rojo scored 102 goals throughout the tournament, being the second highest scoring team in the tournament, conceding 76 goals; they won 25 games, drew 16 games and lost 11.

• Nómina campeona 1966: Osvaldo Ayala, Carlos Antionetta, Claudionor Cardozo, Carlos Rodríguez, Carlos Aponte, Waltinho, Delio Gamboa, Omar Devanni, Alfonso Cañón, Pedro Díaz, Luis Carlos Franca, Ignacio Pérez, Pablo Centurión, Manuel Pacheco, Efraín Castillo, Ary Goncálvez, Alonso Rodríguez, Gilberto Carrión DT: Gabriel Ochoa Uribe.

1970 - Simón Bolívar Cup Champion

In 1970, as part of the preseason, Santa Fe played two friendlies with Yugoslav teams, and introduced its new Yugoslav players: goalkeeper Janko Sanković and striker Stojović. The first game was on January 8 against Hajduk from Split, which had five members of the then powerful Yugoslav team. Hajduk won 1-0 with a goal (77') by Jurica Jerković that culminated in a great play from the laboratory. On January 15, Santa Fe played with Dynamo Zagreb, runner-up in his country, and which had eight members of the Yugoslav team. The game ended 1-1, with a Yugoslav own goal (17') before a shot from Walter Sossa to a pass from Šekularac; Pilas tied for the Yugoslavs of Palomita (77'). Then, on January 18, Santa Fe thrashed Once Caldas 4-1 in Manizales; goals from Salcedo (3'), Espitia del Caldas (39'), Sossa, Rubio and Stojović (84'). On January 28, he played with Górnik de Zabrze, runner-up in Poland, who in April was runner-up in the 1970 European Cup Winners' Cup, and has traditionally played the largest number of Polish titles with Ruch Chorzów. The match ended 1-1 with both goals from Alfonso Cañón: own goal (36') when a shot from Jan Banaś bounced off him, and a tie (79') when finishing off after Sossa recovered the ball that goalkeeper Jan released Gomola, who was also a member of the Polish team. It was the only point that the Polish team gave up on that tour in Colombia.

In the same year, Independiente Santa Fe was the champion of the first edition of the Simón Bolívar Cup. This international tournament was official —although it would not later be made official by Conmebol—, between 1970 and 1976, for invited clubs from countries liberated by Simón Bolívar to participate. A home run was played, with round-trip matches, between two clubs from Venezuela, Deportivo Galicia and Unión Deportiva Canarias, and two from Colombia, Santa Fe and Junior, so it had three venues: Caracas, Bogotá and Barranquilla. It was played between October 22 and December 8 of that year.

• Nomina Copa Simón Bolívar 1970: Manuel Estanislao Ovejero, Leonidas Aguirre, Jaime Flaco Rodríguez, Manuel Maracana Manjarrés, Miguel Ángel Basílico, Jaime Puno González, Domingo Tumaco González, Alfonso Maestrico Cañón, Luis Alberto Montaño, Janko Sanković, Luis Augusto Chiqui García, Pedro Alzate, Víctor Campaz, Dragoslav Šekularac, Wálter Sossa, Juan Antonio Martínez, César Freddy Arce, Campo Elías Espitia, Carlos Julio Diablito Morales, Mario Moreno, Miguel Muñoz, Luis Carlos Paz, Jorge Pocho Ramírez, Vicente Revellón, Alberto Sánchez, Juan Martínez and Slobodan Stojović.

1971 to 1979 - Fifth and Sixth Stars

In 1971, the championship was closely contested from the start, especially by four teams. During the Millonarios finalization tournament it was first, Santa Fe second, Atlético Nacional third and Deportivo Cali fourth; thus achieving his classification for the final home run. Santa Fe had to change coaches during the final phase of the tournament; Toza Veselinovic came out called to the pre-Olympic team and Vladimir Popovic arrived in search of the title dispute. After the final home run was played, there was a technical equality in all the tiebreaker criteria between Santa Fe and Atlético Nacional. For this reason, a final had to be played in round-trip matches, resulting in a pale 0-0 score in both Bogotá and Medellín, leaving as a consequence, the dispute of a third match on a neutral field, for which it was designated. the city of Cali. It was barely five minutes into the game and Miguel Ángel Arce was already celebrating the first goal for Santa Fe. The second goal of the match for the reds came a minute and a half into the second half, again executed by Miguel Ángel Arce. These two goals almost left the title ready for Santa Fe, but the Antioqueños reacted and through Jorge Hugo Fernández at minute 18 and Javier Zambrano at minute 26 leveled the scores at two goals. The title was defined in the last seven minutes of the match when Pedro Álzate (who had just entered the field) scored the 1971 title goal. That year Santa Fe had the best forward with 103 goals for and the second best defense with 48 goals against.

• Nomina campeona 1971: Manuel Estanislao Ovejero, Jaime Flaco Rodríguez, Leonidas Aguirre, Walter Moraes Waltinho, Domingo Tumaco González, Miguel Ángel Basílico, Alfonso Maestrico Cañón, Ernesto Teto Díaz Pedro Alzate, Luis Alberto Montaño, Víctor Campaz, Walter Sossa, Bernardo Chía, Luis Augusto Chiqui García, Heliodoro Vásquez, Miguel Maracana Manjarrés, Janko Sanković, Miguel Muñoz, Federico Obyrne, Pedro Nel Ospina, Vicente Revellón, Carlos Octavio Rodríguez, José de los Santos Romero and Saúl Suárez. DT: Vladimir Popović (yugoslavo).

For the 1975 championship, the season was divided into two tournaments, Apertura and Finalización. In the first half of the year, Santa Fe was third, but for the second half of the year, it consolidated itself as the first in Group A. The final hexagonal of the year featured Santa Fe, its classic rival Millonarios, Atlético Bucaramanga, Junior from Barranquilla, Independiente Medellín and Deportivo Cali.

Finally with an early date, Santa Fe was crowned Colombian champion for the sixth time, leaving Millonarios in second place and thus qualifying for the 1976 Copa Libertadores. At that time Guillermo Chiva Cortés was the president of the club and the coach was the Chilean Francisco Hormázabal.

• Nomina campeona 1975: Luis Gerónimo López, Moisés Pachón, Óscar Bolaño, Alonso Cachaco Rodríguez, Teófilo García, Ramiro Bimbo Viáfara, Leonardo Recúpero, Héctor Javier Céspedes, Juan Carlos Nene Sarnari, Alfonso Maestrico Cañón, Ernesto Teto Díaz, Carlos Alberto Pandolfi, José Antonio Caneca Tébez, Bernardo Chía, Hernando Piñeros, Rafael Pacheco, Óscar Daddy Mejía, James Mina Camacho, Germán Basílico González, Luis Alberto Montaño, Janio Cabezas, Darío López, Luis Fernando López, Augusto Rangel, José de los Santos Romero and Heliodoro Vásquez. DT: Francisco Pancho Hormazábal (chileno).

In 1976, Santa Fe finished fifth in the Apertura and fifth in their group in the Finalización. In the reclassification, Santa Fe was sixth with 48 points, three more than Quindío, but this had been first in group B of the Finalization, so the eighth of the reclassification went to the final hexagonal, and not the sixth.

As a curiosity of that year, the Argentinian Juan Carlos Lapalma arrived in Santa Fe for Finalization. In the first game of the tournament, on Sunday, August 8, Santa Fe faced Deportes Tolima in El Campín. Center forward Carlos Alberto Pandolfi spent “one of his darkest afternoons” that afternoon, “missing several clear scoring opportunities.” However, Lapalma, with the number 10, had a dream first game: after a first half without goals or notable actions, with a patent "lack of better physical condition" of the teams, at two Minutes into the second half, he had an anthology performance when he received the ball on the edge of the area, with his back to the goal, lowered it with his chest and scored it as a Chilean, a goal! Four minutes later, a free kick, Lapalma's flip to the post in the goalkeeper's left hand, a goal! In minute 31, Gutiérrez discounted for Tolima and, in minute 33, Lapalma's shot and third. Great praise in the press for the player, great illusions for the people of Santa Fe because another rookie, the left winger Garello had played even better, but... Lapalma did not score a single goal again!, except for two penalties, against Atlético Quindío (Santa Fe 2 - Quidío 0), and Cúcuta Deportivo (Santa Fe 2- Cúcuta 0).

1980 to 1989 - Colombian Cup Champion

After becoming champion for the sixth time, in 1975, the campaigns of the Albirrojo team became irregular. In 1983, he qualified for the final octagonal and finished in sixth position. The remembered goalscorer Hugo Ernesto Gottardi, José Luis Carpene, Diego Edison Umaña, Sergio Daniel Odine, Walter Perazzo, William Palmero Morales, Gabriel Martínez, Raúl Humberto Mora, Osvaldo Redondo, Juan Moreno, James Mina Camacho, Radamel García, played in that team. Orlando Batato Castro, Eusebio Vera Lima, Heriberto Niño, Osvaldo Santos, Víctor Curramba Palacios, Miguel Alonso Pacheco and Hernando Cuero. 4 years passed and the club failed to rank among the best until 1987, when it achieved third place, behind Millonarios and América, and fourth place in 1988, behind Nacional, Millonarios and América. At this time, and under the technical direction of Jorge Luis Pinto and Diego Edison Umaña respectively, the team stood out with Freddy Rincón, Eduardo Niño, Wilmer Cabrera, Germán Morales, Hernando Cuero, Jorge Alberto Taverna, Osvaldo Coloccini, José Romeiro Hurtado, Astolfo Romero, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Hamir Carabalí, Manuel Acisclo Córdoba, Víctor Lugo, Edison Álvarez, Juan Carlos Cabanillas, Óscar Alfredo Rifourcat, Álvaro Silva, William Palmero Morales, Mario Jiménez, Jorge Police Ramírez, Sergio Checho Angulo and Armando Pollo Díaz.

It was then in 1989, under the technical direction of Diego Edison Umaña when the Colombia Cup was played as part of that year's championship, after not being played since 1981, and after the murder of the Bolivarian judge Álvaro Ortega, who forced to the imminent cancellation of the Colombian championship of that year. In terms of sports, Santa Fe prevailed over Unión Magdalena in the final of the 1989 edition of the Copa Colombia; obtained a valuable 0-0 draw in the first leg in Santa Marta, and finally prevailed in Bogotá by a score of 2-1, which gave him his first title in this competition, and ended a 14-year sporting drought for the club.

• Nomina campeona de la Copa Colombia 1989: José Fernando Hernández, Wilmer Cabrera, Hernando Cuero, Manuel Rincón, Miller Cuesta, William Palmero Morales, Tulio Hernán Guerrero, José Romeiro Hurtado, John Edison Álvarez, Manuel Acisclo Córdoba, Héctor Ramón Rambo Sossa, Armando Chicken Díaz, Germán Morales, Adolfo Tren Valencia, Freddy Rincón, Luis Alfonso Cheo Romero, Eduardo Niño, Víctor Manuel Rozo, Roberto Alfonso Cañón, Carlos Alberto Baquero, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Adolfo Holguín, José Freddy Hurtado, Dorian Zuluaga, Fabián Martínez, Rubén Darío Ramírez, Fernando Vásquez and Alfredo Hurtado. DT: Diego Edison Umaña.

1990 to 1999 - Time of ups and downs

In the 1990 and 1991 championships he reached the final home run, but in both tournaments he finished last in that phase. In 1992 the championship began with a 7-3 win against Millonarios; on this occasion they qualified for the semifinal home runs, but finished third, behind América de Cali and Atlético Nacional. In 1993 and 1994 he was close to relegation after completing two terrible seasons, and finishing in 14th position in both championships.

For the 1995 championship, the team improved what it had done in previous years and placed fifth, but for the 1995/96 campaign it had one of its worst campaigns, finishing in position 15. In the leveling tournament of the season 1996/97 Colombian Championship 1996/97 finished 11th, far from the final home run, and in the adequacy tournament it did not go beyond position 12.

Finally, in 1998 he qualified for the semifinal home runs, although he was last in his home run. In 1999 he returned to complete another terrible campaign, finishing in 13th position, thus closing a bad decade in the national championship.

Runner-up of the Conmebol Cup 1996

In the 1995/1996 season, Dimayor decided to play a home run with the teams that had been placed between ninth and twelfth, to define Colombia's qualifier for the 1996 Conmebol Cup, the second most important international tournament in South America at that time. so. The teams that were part of said home run were Santa Fe, Independiente Medellín, Atlético Huila and Cortuluá; Finally, the Red Express managed to prevail over its opponents, by obtaining the quota to participate in the Conmebol Cup.

The first rival in this tournament was Deportivo Táchira from Venezuela, with whom they drew 2-2 on the road and beat them 3-0 in the second leg in Bogotá. His next rival was Bragantino from Brazil, whom he defeated 1-0 at home and drew a goalless draw at the Marcelo Stéfani Stadium in Brazil. In the semifinals it was their turn to face Vasco da Gama, with whom they fell 2-1 as a visitor at the Maracana Stadium, but finally prevailed in the second leg 1-0, and equalized the overall score, forcing to the definition from the 12 steps, in which he emerged victorious by a score of 6-5. In the other bracket, Lanús from Argentina won, after beating Rosario Central with a 6-1 aggregate. The first match of the final was played in Buenos Aires, where the locals won 2-0. While the second leg was played at the El Campín Stadium, where Santa Fe could barely win 1-0, which left the overall score at 2-1 in favor of Lanús and handed the runner-up to the Bogotá team.

• Nomina De La Final Copa Conmebol 1996: Rafael Dudamel, Nelson Rolo Flórez, Wilson Gutiérrez, Orlando Garza Garcés, Óscar Upegui, Roberto Vidales, Jorge Salcedo, Robert Villamizar, Francisco Pacho Wittingham, Silverio Ramón Penayo, Gustavo Díaz. Supplements: Agustín Julio, Alejandro Zea, Grigori Méndez, Jhon Pérez and Farley Hoyos Technical Directorate: Pablo Centrone.

Runner-up of the Merconorte Cup 1999

3 years passed for Santa Fe to appear again on the international scene, this time in the 1999 Merconorte Cup, thanks to an invitation from Conmebol, and where he participated together with Millonarios and América de Cali, as Colombian representatives.

Santa Fe began its only participation in this tournament in group C together with Caracas from Venezuela, Emelec from Ecuador and Sporting Cristal from Peru. At the end of this phase, they qualified for the semifinals as first in their group with 13 points, one more than Caracas, which was the second best ranked in the tournament, which allowed them to face "Expreso Rojo" again in the penultimate phase. of the cup. There the two teams tied 1-1 both in Caracas and in Bogotá, which led to a dispute from the penalty spot in order to know who would face América de Cali in the final. In this instance, it was Santa Fe who took the victory by scoring the last penalty through Wilson Cano, and leaving the series 4-2 from 12 steps.

The first leg of the final was played on December 15, 1999 at the Pascual Guerrero Stadium in Cali; Santa Fe went down on the scoreboard in the 12th minute of play, after Nilson Pérez providentially spliced a dropped ball in the area, but finally the capital's reds turned the score around when the game barely had 13 minutes left to go. its conclusion: at minute 77 it was David Hernández who tied the game for those from Bogotá, and six minutes later Luis Alberto Moreno gave Santa Fe the final victory, and made both fans and players dream of the team's first international consecration after the runner-up in the Conmebol Cup. It was then on the 22nd of the same month at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium where the second leg of the final was played, a close match and without much clarity on the part of the two teams; so much so that it was only in the 59th minute of the second half that the scoring was opened by the “scarlet” striker Jairo Catillo. With this, he achieved a tie in the series 2-2 for América and finally forced a definition by penalties, which the “Red Devils” took with a final 5-3, leaving Santa Fe again empty-handed.

• Nomine de la final Copa Merconorte 1999: Agustín Julio; Iván López, Adelmo Vallecilla, Hilario Cuenú, Edison González, Luis García, Emir González, Luis Moreno, Aldo Leão Ramírez, Wilson Cano, Jeffrey Díaz. Changes: (Iván Velásquez, 72') by Luis García, and (David Hernández, 46') by Aldo Ramírez. Technical Directorate: Fernando Pecoso Castro.^{[chuckles]required]}

2000 to 2001

In 2000 Santa Fe ranked second in the regular phase with 74 points, 12 less than the leader and later champion América de Cali, finally in the final home run the team would be last, with a total of 7 points.

In 2001 he ranked seventh in home runs; In his group he wins one game and draws five, having chances to qualify for the final until the last date. Finally, he finished third with nine points, two behind América de Cali.

2002 to 2011 - Short tournaments, runner-up in the League and Cup winner

2002 to 2004

From the year 2002 the Dimayor decides to implement the modality of short tournaments, with which it is played to date. It was precisely in the first championship played under this modality, more precisely in the 2002 Apertura where Santa Fe ranked second behind Deportivo Cali in the round-robin series. Finally, in home run B they would face Envigado, América and Bucaramanga, occupying second place with 11 points, 1 behind classified América de Cali, which caused their elimination on this occasion. In Finalization he was in the top eight until the last date, when he lost 0-2 as a visitor to Once Caldas, for which he was ninth with 32 points, the same as Atlético Nacional, but with less goal difference, leaving outside the home runs of that tournament.

In 2003 he had a bad campaign. In the 2003 Opening Tournament he finished in 16th place, while in the 2003 Finalization Tournament he is only 13th, closing the year in 15th position in the reclassification with 42 points.

In 2004 he barely managed to improve on what was done in 2003. In the 2004 Opening Tournament he finished 13th, and in the 2004 Finalization Tournament he finished 10th, with chances of qualifying for home runs until the last date.

2005 - Runner-up of the Opening Tournament

It was then in the 2005 Apertura, after qualifying for the semifinal home runs, (where he had been absent since the 2002 Apertura Tournament) as second in the general table of the Apertura Tournament, when Santa Fe played the place in the final against Envigado F.C., Atlético Huila and Once Caldas in home run B. After beating Huila at home and Caldas as a visitor, Santa Fe played the qualification for the final in Bogotá facing Envigado, in a clash that lost 2:0. During his visit to the Antioquia team he managed to recover and with a goal from Luis Yanes he beat them 1-0 in the last minutes of the game. Despite losing on the last date against Atlético Huila, Santa Fe reached the final.

In the first leg, in Bogotá, Santa Fe drew 0-0 with Atlético Nacional, while in Medellín they lost 2-0, after Luis Yanes wasted a clear counterattack that he had together with Juan Carlos Toja. In this way, the Antioquia team obtained the title of champion.

At the end of the season, after reaching the semifinal home run again of the 2005 Completion Tournament with 29 points in eighth place, Santa Fe failed to qualify for the final as had happened in the Apertura Tournament; At the end of this phase he was third in home run B with 8 points. However, the team obtained second place in the reclassification of the year, which granted it a place to play the first phase of the Copa Libertadores the following year, a tournament to which it had not qualified since 1980.

• Nómina subcampeona Torneo Opening 2005: Luis Neco Martínez, Nelson Rolo Flórez, Nelson Olveira, Francisco Nájera, Francisco Pacho Delgado, Juan Carlos Ramírez, Carlos Ganiza Ortiz, Aldo Leao Ramírez, Mario Gómez, Luis Yanes, Víctor Cortés. Suplentes: Fabián Carabalí, John Freddy Tierradentro, Pablo César Pachón, Jairo Suárez, Juan Carlos Toja, Daniel Gamarra, Léider Preciado. D.T.: Germán Basilico González.^{[chuckles]required]}

2006 to 2009

Santa Fe began the 2006 season by qualifying for the group stage of the 2006 Copa Libertadores, after drawing their two games against Defensor Sporting from Uruguay, but thanks to their away goals in the 2-2 draw in Montevideo, and the 0-0 parity in Bogotá, the Bogotá team managed to place itself in group 2 of the cup.

In the contest, Santa Fe was the best Colombian club. David Montoya was shown as his maximum figure. In group 2 Santa Fe was first over Estudiantes de La Plata, Sporting Cristal and Bolívar. In the round of 16, Santa Fe was eliminated at the hands of Chivas de Guadalajara, after they lost 3-0 in the first leg and in the second leg in Bogotá they won 3-1, being eliminated with an aggregate score of 4 -3. A determining factor in this defeat was the unfortunate deterioration of the grass of the Estadio Nemesio Camacho El Campín.

In the 2006 Apertura Tournament, Santa Fe was eliminated, in 14th place, mainly due to participation in the Copa Libertadores. The coach Germán Basílico González leaves his position and the Argentine Ricardo Gareca takes possession of it.

For the 2006 Completion Tournament, Ricardo Gareca resigned from his position on the eighth matchday after the defeat suffered by Santa Fe 1-4 against Deportivo Pereira at the El Campín Stadium. The club assigns the position of coach Pedro Sarmiento, however he could not classify it, being eliminated in 12th place.

In the 2007 Apertura Tournament, Santa Fe had a good campaign, qualifying seventh in the semifinal home runs. In that phase, the club 'Cardenal' it was last in Group A, being surpassed by Atlético Nacional, Deportivo Cali and Boyacá Chicó.

In the 2007 Completion Tournament, Pedro Sarmiento is discharged from the position on the ninth date, after four games without victories. Arturo Leyva led the team from the match against Real Cartagena until the last date, finishing last in the championship with just 13 points, the same as the Cartagena club that was relegated to Primera B. This being the worst campaign in the history of the cardinal club.

For the 2008 Apertura Tournament Fernando Pecoso Castro arrives to lead the team with the aim of leading it to the title. Things were going well, since Santa Fe qualified third with 31 points to the semifinal home runs, a phase in which he was eliminated by placing third again in group A with just 7 points. Due to this fact and a controversy between the coach and the journalist Carlos Antonio Vélez over the possible arrival of Hernán Darío Gómez to lead Santa Fe, the coach Pecoso left his position at the end of the tournament.

Precisely, for the 2008 Finalization Tournament, Hernán Darío Bolillo Gómez was named coach of Santa Fe. He could not qualify for the semifinal home runs and the team finished in 11th place with 26 points.

For the 2009 Apertura Tournament, Gómez continued in office, but after Santa Fe's 2-3 defeat against Deportes Quindío at the El Campín Stadium, he decided to resign his position, but he retracted three days later, after to chat with players and managers. On May 3, after the 1-1 draw against Atlético Nacional, Bolillo resigned again, but this time the Santa Fe managers accepted his resignation. Heriberto Niño was in charge of the technical direction for the last three dates, and Santa Fe finished in 14th place with 21 points.

Colombian Cup Champion 2009

For Completion 2009 Germán 'Basílico' González who was runner-up in the 2005 Apertura Tournament. In this new cycle, Basílico gave the team a new air, managing to win the 2009 Colombia Cup against Deportivo Pasto at the El Campín Stadium in a penalty shootout with a 5-4 win., after presenting a 2-2 draw on aggregate, thereby ensuring participation in the 2010 Copa Sudamericana. Ending in the second instance with a streak of 20 years without titles and 3 without international competition.

During the contest, Santa Fe faced the teams Millonarios, La Equidad, Academia, Centauros Villavicencio and Bogotá F.C. in Group D. The Cardenal team ranked second in their group with 18 points, one less than their backyard rival Millonarios, in the second phase beat Cúcuta Deportivo 5-4 on penalties after being tied with an aggregate score of 5-5,^{[citation required]} after This the "Bogota red" faces Deportivo Pasto in the third round, falling at the end of this phase with a score of 4-3 on aggregate, however, thanks to the classification system of that time, it manages to advance to the semifinals as the lucky loser.^{[citation required]} Already in the semifinals, Santa Fe faced Atlético Nacional; the two teams would tie at the end of the 180 minutes with an overall score of 4-4, thus forcing a definition from the white point of the penalty, which would end up classifying the people of Bogotá to the final of the tournament with a total of 4 -2.^{[citation required]}

On that occasion, González also qualified for the final home runs of the Finalization Tournament, after finishing second with 30 points, 8 less than the leader and later champion, Independiente Medellín, finally occupying third position in group B with 7 points.

• Nomina campeona in Copa Colombia 2009: Agustín Julio, Sergio Otálvaro, Andrés Felipe González, Carlos Enrique Valdés, Ricardo Villarraga, Maximiliano Flotta, Yulián Anchico, Juan Carlos Quintero, Luis Manuel Seijas, Julio Gutiérrez, Cristian Nazarit, Camilo Vargas, Osiro Suárez, Omar Sebastián Pérez Bern, Mario Efrain Gómez, Mario Alejandro Torres, Daniel Vélez D.T.: Germán Basilico González.

2010 - Third place and participation in the Copa Sudamericana

During the 2010 Apertura Tournament, after leaving the team in sixth position with 30 points and without the possibility of qualifying for the semifinals of the championship, which at that time had undergone a restructuring in the classification format, due to the dispute in the month of June of the Soccer World Cup of that year. Professor Germán Basílico González resigns at the end of the season with a degree to his credit.

Néstor Otero arrives to the technical direction of Santa Fe for the 2010 Completion Tournament. With the arrival of the Valle del Cauca player, the red from the capital dominated during almost the entire tournament, obtaining an undefeated record in 6 dates at the beginning of the championship, thus qualifying to the semifinal home runs as third in the standings with 35 points, one less than the leaders and subsequent finalists Once Caldas and Deportes Tolima. Already in home run A, Santa Fe had to face Deportes Tolima, Atlético Huila and La Equidad respectively, losing at the end of this phase the option to play a new final in Colombian football, after losing 1-0 at home in the last match against Deportes Tolima, (later runner-up in the 2010 Completion Tournament), leaving the Bogota club second in their group with 10 points, one less than Ibagué's. However, due to the good performance of the team during almost the entire season, it managed to reach the third position in the reclassification at the end of it, ensuring participation in the Copa Sudamericana for the second consecutive year. Competition in which he was eliminated at the same time after losing in its 2010 edition, in the round of 16 against Atlético Mineiro from Brazil by a global score of 1-2. In the previous rounds, Santa Fe had beaten the Venezuelan teams ACD Lara (4-2) and Caracas FC (2-1) respectively in the cup.

2011 - Semifinalist

In the 2011 Apertura Tournament, Santa Fe began its participation in the league diminished by economic difficulties due to the lack of sponsorship, but integrating a roster with renowned reinforcements in Colombian soccer such as Ariel Carreño, Gerardo Bedoya and Sergio Galván. However, this was not reflected throughout the tournament, which led to the resignation of coach Néstor Otero after losing as a visitor 2-0 against América de Cali on date 7. He took control of the team for the last 11 dates an old acquaintance from the lower divisions, Arturo Boyacá. He finished in 14th position with 21 points. For the second half of the year, Arturo Boyacá was ratified on the Santa Fe bench. He played in the 2011 Copa Sudamericana after the team finished third in the 2010 reclassification, in addition to facing the 2011 Finalization Tournament and the final phase of the 2011 Colombia Cup, as a result of his good tournament finish with 4 consecutive victories in the final dates of the group stage, although he was later eliminated in the round of 16, at the hands of Boyacá Chicó with an overall score of 3 -1.

On September 19, 2011, coach Arturo Boyacá was dismissed from his position, according to the cardinal leadership due to the poor results obtained in recent times and the mismanagement that he was giving the team.^{[citation required]} However, many others alleged that Boyacá's dismissal was the result of the bad relationship he had with management in recent weeks.^{[citation required]} The former cardinal coach finished his second cycle with the capital team with 50% performance, obtaining 11 wins, 7 draws and 9 losses in 6 months in charge, and being in sixth position in the Tournament Finishing 2011 with 8 points, two from first place. Wilson Gutiérrez, Boyacá's former assistant coach, was left in charge of the team as its own coach. With Gutiérrez in charge, the team began a new stage, Santa Fe achieved an outstanding performance in the 2011 South American Cup by reaching the quarterfinals, where they finally fell against Vélez Sarfield of Argentina by an aggregate score of 4-3. In this edition, Santa Fe managed to overcome César Vallejo de Trujillo in Peru in the previous rounds, by an overall score of 3-1; in the second round they beat Deportivo Cali from Colombia (6-5) on penalties, after drawing 2-2 in the 180 regulatory minutes; finally, in the round of 16 they beat Botafogo from Brazil by a score of 5-2.^{[citation required]}

After the elimination in the South American Cup, Santa Fe focused all its attention on the local tournament, and managed to qualify for the final phase in recent dates, after beating Millonarios 1-0 in the Bogota classic on the penultimate date, with a goal by goalkeeper Camilo Vargas at the last minute of the game, after a corner kick taken by Omar Pérez. They finally secured their place among the eight best in the championship by beating Real Cartagena 2-1 as a visitor on the last day,^{[citation required]} and thus positioning themselves as fifth in the general table.

In the quarterfinals, Santa Fe faced Itagüí, surpassing it with an aggregate score of 4-3, and qualified in this way to the semifinals of the 2011 Finalization Tournament in which they faced Once Caldas de Manizales. In this round, the team from the capital managed to get an important 1-1 draw as a visitor at the Palogrande Stadium, which allowed them to close the key at home in El Campín. However, Santa Fe fell at home by a score of 2-1, in a game that had to be postponed due to the weather conditions that were experienced in the city at that time; lost, among other things, the possibility of qualifying for the third consecutive year in the Copa Sudamericana.

2012 - Seventh Star

With the consolidation of Wilson Gutiérrez as coach, the team faces a new season, forgetting the elimination in the semifinals by Once Caldas and focusing on achieving the maximum objective: achieving the star and ending almost 4 decades without achieving titles within the Colombian league. Then the Apertura 2012 begins with the representative classic from the capital, which would end in a draw after the 1-1 draw between Santa Fe and Millonarios, curiously, with goals from Nelson Ramos, from Millonarios; and Omar Pérez from Santa Fe, both from the penalty spot.

After this, Santa Fe would receive its first defeat of the season as a visitor, against what would ultimately be the tournament leader in its round-robin phase, Deportes Tolima; by score of 2-1. Then he obtained his first victory of the year, against what would be the bottom of the table at the end, Cúcuta Deportivo. As of that date, a "sports scourge" would come to Santa Fe, considered by many fans as "empathitis"; which is defined with a series of consecutive games without losing but also without winning. Such results generated some disgust on the part of some fans about the management and continuity of DT Wilson Gutiérrez, who asked that he be licensed by the club. However, President César Pastrana ratifies the continuity of the process led by DT, with the iron commitment to seek the greatest number of victories possible.

Interestingly, the winning streak of the 'Cardenal' would arrive in the second classic of the year in the dispute of the ninth date of the tournament, where Santa Fe, playing as a visitor in the Campín, would defeat Millonarios 3-4, in a match where at the beginning the red team of the capital, achieving a comfortable, comfortable and wide victory. However, the team began to relax for the second part, giving rise to the rival's comeback; after defensive errors against what in the future would be the second scorer of the Tournament, that is, Humberto Osorio Botello, which would give tension to the game, however the team knew how to endure the result, thus ending the abstinence of victories that it had until then From that date, Santa Fe would achieve a winning streak of 4 dates, until the subsequent draw against Atlético Nacional and Once Caldas; which would compensate with a serious and convincing 5-0 win against Real Cartagena.

In the final phase of the All Against All, Santa Fe would classify in second place, with 29 points; achieving throughout his campaign 7 victories, 8 draws and only 3 defeats; which has been classified as one of the best seasons for the cardinals, and which would lead, thanks to the continuity of the process in 2011, to being classified as the best team in Colombia by the IFFHS. It should be noted, the consolidation as Diego Aroldo Cabrera's cardinal goalscorer, without forgetting the forcefulness and importance of a key player in the team, both in scoring plays and scoring vital goals for the team, such as Omar Sebastián Pérez; in addition to the occasional contributions to the goal by Jonathan Copete and Edwin Cardona.

For the semifinal home runs, Santa Fe as group leader, was placed in group 'B', facing Boyacá Chicó, La Equidad and Itagüí Ditaires.

From the beginning, Santa Fe took the lead in the group after its 1-0 victory at home against Boyacá Chicó. Later on the second date of the home run, and after an intense match against La Equidad at the de Techo the team manages to get an important point, after drawing 2-2 as a visitor. For the third date, Santa Fe visits Ditaires in search of victory, achieving said feat after beating Itagüí as a visitor by 0-1; team that he would beat again, but this time at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium by a score of 2-1. Already on the penultimate date and with all his favor, Santa Fe decided his early classification against La Equidad, a team he beat with some difficulty by a score of 2-1, which placed him first in group B with 13 points in the table with a date in advance; already on the last date the capital team visited Boyacá Chicó with substitute players, throwing as a final result a 2-2 that already little decided in the general classification of the group. In the final Santa Fe would face the winner of Group 'A', that is, Deportivo Pasto, a team that also qualified in advance for this final instance.

It was then that on Wednesday, July 11, the first leg was played at the Estadio Departamental Libertad, where the first 90 minutes of the series ended, resulting in a 1-1 final that left everything open for the second leg. Already in the process of the match, the locals went ahead at minute 25 of the game after a goal from a free kick executed by the youthful Kévin Rendón, however, with two minutes left to finish the first stage and after a corner kick, it was Julián Quiñones, also a youth, was in charge of putting the tables on the scoreboard while waiting for what could happen in the second leg.

On Sunday, July 15, the final match of the 2012 Apertura Grand Final was played at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium. The two teams arrived with chances of being champions after the first leg draw. However, Santa Fe asserted its local status and in front of 37,000 spectators, was in charge of putting clear figures on the scoreboard through one of the most outstanding players during the campaign, striker Jonathan Copete, who at 71 minutes into In the game, he received a header from a free kick taken by the Argentine Omar Sebastián Pérez, thus giving the cardinal team the advantage in the global series with which, in the end, was the goal that ended a 36-year title drought. 6 months and 24 days in the First Category A for the capital team. Thus, the seventh star was achieved. Santa Fe finished the season undefeated at home, winning 9 games and drawing 4; He scored 25 goals and conceded just 8. The title allowed him to participate for the seventh time in his history in the 2013 Copa Libertadores de América, where he led the group and then qualified for the semifinals.

In the 2012 Completion Tournament, he was unable to defend his title, as he did not qualify for the home runs, finishing 10th with 23 points.

• Nómina campeona Torneo Opening 2012: Camilo Vargas, Sergio Otálvaro, Julián Quiñones, Francisco Meza, Luis Carlos Arias, Yulián Anchico, Daniel Torres, Juan Daniel Roa, Omar Pérez, Jonathan Copete, Diego Cabrera, Juan Manuel Leyton, Germán Centurión, Héctor Urrego, Hugo Alejandro Acosta, Gerardo Bedoya, Mateo Cardona, Mario Gómez D.T.: Wilson Gutiérrez.

2013 - Super League Champion, League Runner-up and Copa Libertadores Semifinalist

On January 27, 2013, the Independiente Santa Fe team from the capital would be crowned champions of the 2013 Colombian Super League for the first time in its history, when they faced their eternal rival Millonarios in the Capitalino Classic. The first leg held on January 24, 2013 would end in favor of the cardinal team 2-1; In the second leg, the Reds would win 1-0 on January 27, 2013, with an aggregate score of 3-1, crowning themselves champion of the 2013 Colombian Super League before their fans. Santa Fe started the 2013 Apertura Tournament (Colombia) on the right foot, facing two tournaments, the 2013 Copa Libertadores and the Postobón League, would obtain a pass to the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores against Olimpia from Paraguay, losing the series 2-1 against the Paraguayans, but even so, he would hold a great tournament. Already qualified early for the final home runs of the Colombian tournament and first place with a total of 33 points, thus obtaining the invisible point and sharing a group with Millonarios, Deportivo Cali and Once Caldas, he achieved 3 wins, 2 draws and one loss, this would give him the direct pass to the final that would be played against Atlético Nacional, in the first leg in Medellín Santa Fe achieved a valuable 0-0 draw against the Paisa club, but in the second leg in Bogotá it surprisingly fell 0-2, repeating the history of the 2005 Apertura only this time the purslane turned around in El Campín. In the 2013 Completion Tournament he barely managed to qualify for the home runs, finishing third in his group.

Superlight Champion Team.

• Nomina campeona de la Superliga de Colombia 2013: Camilo Vargas, Juan Daniel Roa, Carlos Valdés, Francisco Meza, Yulian Anchico, Luis Carlos Arias, Daniel Torres, Jhon Valencia, Omar Pérez, Wilder Medina, Cristian Martínez Borja. Supplements: Juan Manuel Leyton, Julián Quiñones, Humberto Mendoza, Jorge Emanuel Molina, Jefferson Cuero, Fernando Cárdenas D.T.: Wilson Gutiérrez.^{[chuckles]required]}

2014 - Eighth Star and runner-up in the Colombian Cup

In the Copa Libertadores they managed to qualify for the second phase after eliminating Monarcas Morelia, but they were eliminated in the group phase after losing the last match against Nacional from Paraguay. In the Apertura Tournament they reached the semifinal, but fell to Atlético Nacional.

As an anecdotal fact, against the Deportivo Pasto team, Santa Fe played its 3000th game in the history of the first division of Colombian professional soccer, the match ended 2-1 in favor of the cardinal team. This match was valid for date 14 of the 2014 Completion Tournament.

Under the responsibility of Gustavo Costas, in the second semester, the capital team had to play the Colombia Cup and the league. ^{[citation required]}

During a regular phase of the league, the capital team manages to finish first in the group phase, which allowed them to play the semifinal home run phase with the advantage of the invisible point. What began as an excellent phase by winning their first two games, became worrying after two consecutive draws against Atlético Huila, which allowed the 4 teams in the group to be left alive; while in Group B, the independent team Medellín comfortably qualified for the end of the year.^{[citation required]}

At the same time, the best campaign in the history of the Colombia Cup, allowed the cardinal team to reach the final with an almost perfect campaign with only one loss in the entire competition. Unfortunately, the team from the capital would lose the first leg of the Colombian Cup final against Tolima 2-0, which despite winning the second leg, would not reach it and would have to settle for a cup runner-up.^{[citation required]}

With two games left to qualify for the league final, the team from the capital loses at home against Once Caldas, which would force them to postpone their classification in the last date of the home runs. Breaking the statistics against them, the team beat Atlético Nacional in Medellín and qualified for the league final despite the fact that they equaled in points with Atlético Huila, but the people of Bogotá owned the so-called invisible point, an advantage that left them finalists in your group.^{[citation needed]}

In the league final, the first leg for the first 45 minutes was dominated by Independiente Medellín in its first half, winning 1 – 0, the outlook for Santa Fe was dark because, additionally, Omar Pérez, the 10 cardinal, was forced to leave the field for the second half due to an injury to his left heel. But the annotations of Francisco Meza and Wilson Morelo, managed to make history again in Medellín by leaving a 2 to 1 result in favor of the lions. On December 21, the second leg was played. With its fans and under a goal from Luis Carlos Arias from mid-distance and despite the visiting team having tied at the end of the game, Santa Fe won its 8th league title.^{[citation required ]}

• Nómina campeona del Torneo Finalización 2014: Camilo Vargas, Yulian Anchico, Yerry Mina, Francisco Javier Meza, Dairon Mosquera, Luis Carlos Arias, Daniel Torres, Juan Daniel Roa, Omar Pérez, Wilson Morelo, Jefferson Cuero, Róbinson Rufay Zapata, Yair Arrechea, Armando Vargas, Ricardo Villarraga, Luis Manuel Seijas, Michael Rangel, José Juar D.T.: Gustavo Costas.

2015 - Champion of the Super League and Copa Sudamericana, and runner-up in the Copa Colombia

On January 24, 2015, Atlético Nacional, champion of the Apertura 2014, and Independiente Santa Fe, champion of Finalización 2014, met at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellín. The locals opened the scoring with a goal from Jonathan Copete (12'39;), Wilson Morelo tied for Santa Fe (43'); in the 58th minute, Harold Cummings committed a handball in the area, a yellow card and a penalty kick, which was converted by Luis Carlos Ruiz.

The second leg was played on the 28th at the El Campín Stadium in Bogotá. Ómar Pérez took a free kick (33') and “placed it on Yerry Mina's head. The defender, as if touched by Pérez's magic wand, hit a header, and the feat meant that goalkeeper Armani made a save and rebounded. There Mina, in 33 minutes, inspired by her forward costume, and by the way of crack, invented a cue to tame the ball; he finished hard, high. Great goal”. Luis Páez made it 2-0 (59') that sealed the victory of Santa Fe in the match and in the tournament: Santa Fe was crowned champion with an overall result of 3-2.

• Nomina campeona de la Superliga de Colombia 2015: Róbinson Rufay Zapata, Juan Daniel Roa, Yerry Mina, Francisco Meza, Dairon Mosquera, Luis Carlos Arias, Daniel Torres, Yulián Anchico, Omar Pérez, Wilson Morelo, Luis Páez. Alternates: Leandro Castellanos, Yair Arrechea, Ricardo Villarraga, Armando Vargas, Luis Manuel Seijas, Luis Quiñones D.T.: Gustavo Costas.^{[chuckles]required]}

In the Apertura, he did not have a good performance, and was eliminated by Millonarios on the last date. In the Finalization, they qualified eighth in the final qualifiers, in which they lost to Junior, by an aggregate score of 3-2. He was runner-up in the Colombia Cup; again Junior crossed his path, and lost the final with a global score of 2-1.

2015 South American Cup Champion

In the second half of the year, Santa Fe played the 2015 Copa Sudamericana, under difficult conditions, as several of the main players suffered significant injuries: the captain, Omar Pérez on one knee, Sergio Otálvaro on a clavicle, and the more serious Dairon Mosquera, Achilles tendon rupture; In addition, during the tournament, Luis Quiñones was discharged for indiscipline. In the first phase of the northern zone, on Wednesday, August 12, at the Reina del Cisne Stadium, in the city of Loja, Ecuador, Santa Fe faced Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Loja, with a 0-0 result. In the return game, on Thursday, August 20, at El Campín in Bogotá, Santa Fe won 3-0 and went on to the second phase: Juan Espinosa's foul on Wilson Morelo inside the area, a penalty taken by the affected player and a goal (33'); repeated Morelo "...in a great individual play in which he left the defense and goalkeeper Danny Cabezas alone..." (61'); then, Kener Arce Caicedo committed a violation against Juan Daniel Roa inside the area, which Morelo charged again and set the final score (71'). On Thursday, August 27, at the Gran Parque Central Stadium, Santa Fe defeated 2-0 against Nacional de Montevideo, Uruguay, with two goals in the second half, by Wilson Morelo (18') and Luis Manuel Seijas (29'). September at El Campín, Santa Fe lost 0-1 (goal by Santiago Romero at 23' of the second half), but went to the next phase by the aggregate score of 2-1, also with two away goals. On Wednesday, September 23, at the Jocay Stadium, in Manta, Ecuador, Santa Fe lost to Emelec from Guayaquil. Wilson Morelo wasted a penalty kick (8'), ruled for a foul inside the area committed by Gabriel Achilier. The cardinal team opened the scoring with a goal from Juan Daniel Roa (45' from the first half), who finished off a cross from Sergio Otálvaro, and "... deservedly beat Ecuadorian Emelec and did not pass bigger scares, but a bad delivery by Yeison Gordillo allowed the locals to put together an attack that ended with the equalizing goal..." by Miler Bolaños. Seijas did not make a pass from Luis Quiñones. "After a throw-in that favored Santa Fe, but which the judge sanctioned to the contrary, Bolaños entered the area and finished off, the ball hit Yerry Mina's shoulder and Marqués awarded a penalty", which Bolaños scored for the final 2-1. On Thursday, September 29, at El Campín, Santa Fe defeated Emelec 1-0 with a header from Wilson Morelo (46').

In the quarterfinals, Santa Fe faced the Argentine club Independiente, from Avellaneda, in Greater Buenos Aires. On Wednesday, October 22, Santa Fe defeated Independiente at the Libertadores de América Stadium, with a goal by Leyvin Balanta (65'). The second leg was played at El Campín; "...much of the homework had been done..." by defeating "...the so-called King of Cups...", although he was "...far from being the one who in the seventies and eighty won four Copa Libertadores de América and two intercontinental (1973 and 1984)". In a corner kick, Francisco Meza scored a header (30'); in the second half, the referee annulled a goal by Morelo; Later, Róbinson Zapata could not control a shot that bounced off his body and became an own goal (91 & # 39;).

Santa Fe faced its third continental final against Huracán from Argentina. The atmosphere at the club was not the best because Wilson Morelo was going through a scoring drought; the midfield benchmark, Omar Pérez, had not been able to fully recover from a knee injury; and the team had lost the final of the Colombia Cup against Junior de Barranquilla. Despite the inconveniences, the team traveled to Buenos Aires to play the first leg of the final at the Tomas A. Ducó Stadium on December 2, 2015. In a very close game, Santa Fe got a valuable 0-0 draw against Huracán. In that game, "...Yerry Mina, the giant, excelled, winning the melee against Ramón Ábila, the corpulent scorer of the Argentines...", and "...Hurricane hardly worried goalkeeper Róbinson Zapata..." because "...Yerry Mina and Francisco Meza returned almost everything..."; "Seijas... the clearest footballer... prevailed on the left... he turned in the middle and created an imbalance with his passes..", and confirmed the outstanding level that led him to be chosen later as part of the Ideal Team of America 2015.

On December 9, 2015, in front of 38,000 spectators, the second leg was played at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium, where the same result of the first leg was repeated, this time after "...120 minutes of boring football and a lot of nervousness...", "...and the hero of the night was Róbinson Zapata, the same one who committed in the first minute an error and made the 35,000 fans who filled El Campín suffer." field to one of the referents of Huracán. At the end of the 120 goalless minutes, Santa Fe returned to play a final from 12 steps. The last time this happened in a national final, Santa Fe won the 2009 Copa Colombia against Deportivo Pasto. In an international final, they lost to América de Cali in the 1999 Merconorte Cup; As a curious fact, Rufay Zapata defended the colors of América that day and, in this 2015 final, he was in charge of stopping the charges of the Huracán players. The first to collect was Mauro Bogado, and Rufay Zapata stopped the charge and gave Santa Fe the advantage; Omar Pérez charged to the right of Marcos Guillermo Díaz, the ball slipped under the goalkeeper, and Santa Fe put the series 1-0 in their favor. Martín Nervo crashed the second charge against the horizontal; Luis Manuel Seijas was the second collector for Santa Fe and, taking a great risk, put the ball into the center of the goal: 2-0 in favor of Santa Fe. For the third round, Mancinelli and Balanta scored their respective executions. With the series 3-1, Huracán had to score a goal to stay alive, and the manager was Patricio Toranzo; however, the midfielder crashed his ball into the horizontal, and sentenced the series in favor of Santa Fe who, to the joy of their fans, were crowned champions of the 2015 Copa Sudamericana. It was their second official international trophy and made it the first Colombian team to win this title. In addition, with this trophy, the players Yulián Anchico and Omar Pérez became the most successful in the history of Santa Fe, with six titles, the same six for both; Apart from those mentioned in connection with these games in the final, "...all-rounder Juan Daniel Roa...", Yeison Gordillo, and "...Morelo, divorced with the net in recent games,... with five goals he finished as the championship scorer". That night was also the last game he played with Santa Fe Francisco Meza, another of the players that emerged from the litter that formed the most successful Independiente Santa Fe in its history, being one of those who won five titles, and who from the first game "... he earned a place in the starting lineup, on April 16, 2011 in Techo against Cúcuta", and achieved an outstanding achievement in the club's history: 253 games, five titles, 11 goals and a single expulsion, being defense.

• Nomina campeona de la Copa Sudamericana 2015: Róbinson Rufay Zapata, Yulián Anchico, Yerry Mina, Francisco Meza, Leyvin Balanta, Baldomero Perlaza, Yeison Gordillo, Juan Daniel Roa, Luis Manuel Seijas, Wilson Morelo, Daniel Angulo, Leandro Castellanos, Harold Cummings, Sergio Otálvaro, Sebastián Salazar D.T.: Gerardo Pelusso.

2016 - Ninth Star, Suruga Bank Champion and runner-up in the Recopa Sudamericana

Florida Cup

Santa Fe began the year by participating in the Florida Cup, in Orlando, United States. In the first game, on January 10, they lost 0-1 against Bayer Leverkusen from the German city of the same name; in the 86th minute, striker Stefan Kießling scored, who was part of the German team at the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, and was the top scorer in the German league in 2012-13 with 25 goals in 34 games. Bayer Leverkusen was in fifth place in the German first division championship at that time. For the second date, Santa Fe faced the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on January 17 at the FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, and won by a score of 2- 1 with goals from Róbinson Zapata from a penalty (3'), and from Leyvin Balanta (33'); at 79' the opposing team discounted through Víctor Pagliari. With this match, Santa Fe ended its 2016 preseason.

Opening 2016

On March 20, manager Gerardo Pelusso resigned after differences with Argentine player Omar Pérez. In his replacement, Santa Fe hired coach Alexis García; in his debut, he won 3-2 against Junior.

During the 2016 Apertura Tournament, Santa Fe achieved the fastest comeback in its history and perhaps in Colombian soccer: four goals in 11'; 43". On April 10, Santa Fe lost 0-2 to Deportivo Cali in the 47th minute, at the Palmaseca Stadium, after scores by César Amaya and Andrés Pérez. However, Jaine Barreiro discounted (47:38); then Luis Manuel Seijas tied (49:11); Carlos Ibargüen put Santa Fe ahead (54:38), and Antony Otero increased it (58:21); Fabián Sambueza from Cali closed the score for the final 4-3. Santa Fe finished fourth in the 2016 Apertura Tournament, qualifying for the quarterfinals against Cortuluá. In that series, they ended up losing 2 - 3 on aggregate.

On May 28, player Juan David Valencia set what must be a world record for the earliest booking in a match: he came on as a replacement (81' 35') and received a yellow card the 32 seconds of being on the field, practically in his first play (82' 07').

In the Copa Libertadores, Santa Fe was eliminated in the group stage after finishing third, after losing against Cerro Porteño, with a score of 0 - 1, a match in which two were expelled from the capital team. In the Euro-American Super Cup, Santa Fe lost to Sevilla with a result of 1 - 2, with goals from Konoplayanka (20') and Gameiro, and a discount from José Moya (61'). After this game, Alexis García resigned from the technical direction of Santa Fe, and Gustavo Costas returned, who had already been league champion with Santa Fe in 2014.

Suruga Bank 2016 Champion

For having won the South American Cup, Independiente Santa Fe played in 2016 the ninth edition of the South American-Japanese Tournament, or Suruga Bank Cup. This is an official international soccer tournament, organized by Conmebol and the Japan Soccer Association, and each year confronts the champions of the Copa Sudamericana and the Japanese League Cup of the previous year. It is played in a single match, in Japanese territory, in the stadium of the local league champion club. It is sponsored by Banco Suruga, which delivers two hundred thousand dollars to the winner and sixty thousand to the other club.

On the night of Wednesday, August 10, Japan time, Santa Fe played the Kashima Antlers at the Kashima Stadium in Ibaraki. The teams lined up like this:

• Santa Fe: Róbinson Zapata, Carlos Mario Arboleda, Javier López, Horacio Salaberry, Dairon Mosquera, Juan Daniel Roa, Yeison Gordillo, Omar Pérez (Anderson Plata, 77’), Jonathan Gómez (Leyvin Balanta, 88’), Juan Falcón (Baldomero Perlaza, 63’) and Humberto Osorio Botello (Yulián Anchico, 92’). D. T.: Gustavo Costas.

• Kashima Antlers: Hitoshi Sogahata, Daigo Nishi, Seok-Ho Hwang, Shuto Yamamoto, Gen Shōji, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Mū Kanazaki, Atsutaka Nakamura, Gaku Shibasaki, Shuhei Akasaki, Yuma Suzuki; Alternate: Shoma Doi, Manumoto dos Santos D.T.: Masatada Ishii.

• Amonestados: Seok-Ho Hwang (Kashima), Juan Daniel Roa, Yeison Gordillo, Javier López and Baldomero Perlaza (Santa Fe); and was expelled Yeison Gordillo de Santa Fe at minute 90.

The game was of a regular level; Kashima were somewhat superior in attack, but failed to make any progress, to the point that the standout player was Santa Fe goalkeeper Róbinson Rufay Zapata. An advance by Yamamoto, who shot when he reached the corner of the penalty area (the goalkeeper's right hand), led to a great save by Zapata on the ground (9'); of two Kanazaki shots, one bounced off the vertical (18') and another brushed past him (69'). A foul against Perlaza, who was advancing to his right, caused a free kick, taken by Gómez; It was the only cross from Santa Fe that arrived well positioned and had a correct shot: Osorio Botello headed it to the ground, it was a goal (78'). Shortly after, the referee whistled a free kick in the Santa Fe area in favor of Nakamura, and cautioned Perlaza; The Argentine announcer for the Fox Sports television station (Latin America) opined that the Japanese “felt the contact [of Perlaza] on his back […] and jumped” (83' 53”). Kanazaki took the penalty in the center of the sector on Zapata's right hand, but Zapata excelled again by saving it. Then there was a corner kick for Kashima (93'), and Zapata deflected Seok-Ho Hwang's header to his left, which was going to enter just below the crossbar, rejected a new header from another attacker, and a third shot bounced off Salaberry's thigh and finally came out. Thus, Zapata became the figure of his team and of the party. Thus, Independiente Santa Fe was crowned champion of the Suruga Bank Cup, and also became the first Colombian team to win an intercontinental tournament.

• Nómina campeona Copa Suruga Bank 2016: Róbinson Zapata, Carlos Mario Arboleda, Javier López, Horacio Salaberry, Dairon Mosquera, Juan Daniel Roa, Yeison Gordillo, Jonathan Gómez, Omar Pérez, Juan Falcón, Humberto Osorio Botello, Leandro Castellanos, Héctor Antonio Urrego, Yulián Anchico, Leyvin Balanta, Sebastián Salazar D.T.: Gustavo Costas.

In the Copa Sudamericana, they were again eliminated against Cerro Porteño with a 4-3 aggregate.

Ninth Star

On July 3, Santa Fe made its League debut against Boyacá Chicó. Santa Fe won 1-0, with a goal by Yulián Anchico (93') in a great play that saved three points.

On July 20, technical director Alexis García resigned after a series of poor results. In his replacement, the Argentine coach Gustavo Costas returned, who had already led the first team in 2014-2015.

Santa Fe achieved this title after placing fourth in the round-robin phase that pits the 18 Colombian soccer teams against each other. This position allowed it to be seeded against Independiente Medellín with whom it faced in the semifinal draw eliminating it with an aggregate of 4 – 1.

In the semifinal phase, León Bogotano faced Atlético Nacional, in a two-way game, the global score ended 5 – 1 in favor of the red from Bogotá, with which they got the pass to the final instance.

In the grand final of Colombian professional soccer, Santa Fe faced Deportes Tolima, the first leg in the city of Ibagué ended in a tie, so the final match was played on December 18, 2016 at the Nemesio Camacho stadium. Campín, where the First Champion of Colombia defeated his rival with a header from Héctor Urrego.

With this Independiente title, Santa Fe adds its second conquest of the year 2016, and thus closes a new year of glory, predicting a great 2017 full of national commitments, and also returning to the elite of South American soccer on behalf of Colombia.

• Nomina campeona Tournament Finalization 2016: Leandro Castellanos, William Tesillo, José Moya, Héctor Antonio Urrego, Leyvin Balanta, Yeison Gordillo, Juan Daniel Roa, Sebastián Salazar, Jonathan Gómez, Anderson Plata, Humberto Osorio Botello, Róbinson Zapata, Carlos Mario Arboleda, Cristian Fred Cuesta, Dairon Mosquera, Yulián Anchico D.T.: Gustavo Costas.

2017 - Super League Champion

On January 21, 2017, at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellín, Medellín, champion of the Apertura 2016, and Club Cardenal, champion of Finalización 2016, met at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellín. the series would be defined for the second leg in the city of Bogotá.

The second leg was played on the 29th at the El Campín Stadium in Bogotá. Ómar Pérez took a free kick at minute (79') the ball took direction and the defender Andrés Mosquera of the Medellín team would score an own goal. With that goal, Santa Fe's victory was sealed in the game and in the tournament: Santa Fe was crowned champion with an overall result of 1-0.

• Nomina campeona de la Superliga de Colombia 2017: Leandro Castellanos, José Moya, William Tesillo, Héctor Urrego, Leyvin Balanta, Juan Daniel Roa, Yeison Gordillo, Sebastián Salazar, Jonathan Gómez, Anderson Plata, Denis Stracqualursi. Alternates: Robinson Zapata, Javier López, Carlos Mario Arboleda, Daniel Buitrago, Baldomero Perlaza, Omar Pérez, José Adolfo Valencia D.T.: Gustavo Costas.^{[chuckles]required]}

2017 to 2019 - Irregularities and Crisis

After winning the 2017 Super League, Santa Fe would have a bitter Apertura 2017, where it would be eliminated from the quarterfinals on the last date by drawing with Alianza Petrolera, for the Finalization Tournament, Santa Fe would have its best campaign of all against Todos at that time, with 39 points, after that, they would go on to beat Jaguares de Córdoba and Deportes Tolima to play the grand final against Millonarios, the first capital classic that would define a league in the history of short tournaments, losing in the first leg 1-0, and draw in the second leg 2-2, Santa Fe was runner-up.

The 2018 Season would have mixed but missing results, eliminated from the 2018 Apertura without pain or glory, except for the luxury of eliminating Millonarios on the last date, thanks to obtaining third place in their group in the 2018 Copa Libertadores they would qualify to the 2018 South American Cup, where he would get good results until being eliminated in the Semifinals, by Junior from Barranquilla, later runner-up in the Cup, once any international participation ended and they were eliminated from the 2018 Colombia Cup in the quarterfinals, Santa Fe He would dedicate all his efforts to qualify for the 2018 Completion playoffs, which he would achieve by winning Millonarios 3-0, although the happiness would not last long, as he would lose in a penalty shootout against Deportes Tolima, culminating a mixed campaign, with a environment similar to those that were played in the early 2000s, throughout the season, Santa Fe would change coach 3 times in the middle of the season, a sign of things to come.

Santa Fe would begin the year 2019 playing the Fox Sports 2019 Tournament, of a friendly nature, being runner-up, after the tournament, Santa Fe would bring reinforcements such as the historic Omar Pérez, or the youth squad player Jhon Velásquez, but at the same time losing figures from the previous year, such as Wilson Morelo or Diego Guastavino, but mainly, with the retirement of César Pastrana from the presidency, the new president Juan Andrés Carreño took command of the highest position.

The Apertura 2019 would begin with a 1-1 draw against Deportivo Pasto at the El Campin Stadium, something common with the cardinal team, which hasn't won its first game since Finalization 2017, on the following date, concerns would begin, because they would lose 1-2 again at home, this time against Cúcuta Deportivo, a result that would endanger the position of coach of Guillermo Sanguinetti, who would finally be relegated from his position and replaced, first as Internal Manager and then ratified, by Gerardo Bedoya, during the entire season, one of the worst in the history of Independiente Santa Fe, as it would finish last with 14 points, just one victory in the entire championship in the form of a 3-0 against Atlético Huila in the Guillermo Plazas Alcid Stadium, and with a general performance of 23%, this period was characterized by the misfortunes suffered by the team that added to its lousy results, starting in 2018 with the injury of Leandro Castellanos, going through the injury of Luis Manuel Seijas and Omar Pérez, plus the episodes of indiscipline carried out by Johan Arango, which earned him his dismissal in June 2019, plus a growing financial debt that earned him being "reorganized" by the Superintendency of Companies at the end of 2019.

2019 to 2020 - n#34;We left this together#34; and a new ending

With the intention of reforming the roster at a high level, reinforcements from other FPC teams would be brought in, such as Maicol Balanta, from Deportes Tolima, Nicolás Hernández, from Atlético Nacional, Fabián Sambueza, from Atlético Junior and as reinforcement at the last minute, Jefferson Duque, from Atlas de México, which would prove to be essential for the campaign that would be played starting in the middle of the year.

The Finalization 2019 began with Patricio Camps on the bench, who came with the reputation of being José Pekerman's Technical Assistant during his time with the Colombian National Team, and the expectations were relatively high, since another selected like Jorge Luis Pinto had led Millionaires to their best campaign in short tournaments the previous semester, but the results would be something of horror, the tournament started exactly the same as the last, a draw and a defeat, but this time things looked even darker, because what accompanied was a 1-0 local defeat against Alianza Petrolera, which was a factor in the subsequent resignation of Juan Carreño from the presidency and subsequent election of Eduardo Méndez, president during the period 2003-2007 and a brutal 4-0 win against Deportes Tolima as a visitor, which would be more than enough to make Patricio Camps fired, but not before starring in a small incident, where he preferred not to appear at the press conference after the defeat against Tolima, making him still new president Méndez had to give the press conference instead,

It was decided to stop experimenting, and bring in Harold Rivera, who had finished a good season with Unión Magdalena last semester, leaving him in the semifinal home runs. Rivera would debut with a tie against Patriotas Boyacá, but he would not be able to reverse it. the results immediately, since they would have a string of defeats against Junior, América de Cali and Águilas Doradas, which put Santa Fe last with just 2 points in 9 games, an anti-record that left them in boxes close to relegation for the first time since 1994, speculation began about what results would suit Santa Fe to avoid relegation, and what this had to do to face the 2020 Season, but something unthinkable would happen at that time, for Date 9, Santa Fe would face Deportivo Independiente Medellín in El Campin, the day before the game, August 31, 2019, the Santafereña fans would gather at the hotel where the team was staying, preparing a "great flag" in support of the team, which would last from afternoon until night, all with the slogan "We come out of this together"

The "push" would translate into a string of victories starting from Date 9 and ending on Date 16, to culminate in a 2-0 victory against Unión Magdalena, a 4-2 victory against Los Millonarios and a 0-0 draw against Atlético Nacional, results which left him in fifth place in the table, and which put Leandro Castellanos, goalkeeper and captain, as the second with the longest time without conceding a goal, behind Otoniel Quintana and as the most undefeated in the history of the tournaments short, in addition to starting an unbeaten streak at home in El Campin, with 10 dates in 2019, and 12 in 2020, one of the longest in the club's history, after the All Against All, Santa Fe would be placed in Quadrangular B, along with América de Cali, Deportivo Cali and Alianza Petrolera, finishing third in the group with 8 points after the 2-0 defeat against América on the last date, later champion against Junior de Barranquilla.

With a stable roster, and with high spirits, Santa Fe would begin the 2020 Season with a couple of ups and downs, the scorers Jefferson Duque and Maicol Balanta, the defender Nicolás Hernández and the midfielders Juan Daniel Roa and Sebastián Salazar would come out, the scorers Diego Valdes and Patricio Cucchi would enter, the defenders Jeison Palacios and Dairon Mosquera, the midfielders Kelvin Osorio and Mauricio Gómez, with this new but familiar roster, Santa Fe would start the 2020 Colombian Championship as always, by drawing the first match against Once Caldas, after an air of nervousness when drawing against Envigado and, ironically, losing against Águilas Doradas, Santa Fe would achieve victories against Junior de Barranquilla and América de Cali, plus some valuable draws against Los Millonarios and Atlético Nacional, which allowed to culminate the normal campaign in 3.er Placed during Date 8, before the suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which would last from March 10 to September 18, 2020, the date on which the championship would be played again, now with a new format, at halftime, Santa Fe would have discharged Jorge Luis Ramos, José Moya and Jonathan Herrera.

After the resumption of Colombian soccer, Santa Fe would show a great level, managing to break records that it had been carrying for several years, overcoming its 12-year drought without beating Atlético Bucaramanga as a visitor, its 4-year drought without winning to La Equidad in El Campin, their 2-year drought without beating Deportes Tolima, in addition to completing their best campaign in the history of short tournaments, by scoring 40 points, ensuring a return to international tournaments for 2021, placing in the first box. Santa Fe would face Deportivo Pasto in the quarterfinals, starting as a visitor for the first leg, which they would lose 1-0 with a goal at minute 18 by Jeison Medina which left a result that could not be reversed in the match. In the second leg, Santa Fe would ratify its unbeaten record at home, reversing the result by beating Deportivo Pasto 2-0, with a double by John Velásquez, the first at minute 12, the second at minute 34, with a global score of 2- 1, Santa Fe qualified for the semifinals, and ensured its passage to the Copa Libertadores 2021, at least from the previous phase.

Once in the semifinals, Santa Fe would face the tournament's revelation team, La Equidad, which had just beaten Deportivo Cali at the Deportivo Cali Stadium, something it hadn't done since its first season in Category A, in 2007 -II, for the first leg at the Estadio de Techo, Santa Fe would manage to take the lead in minute 3, again the work of John Velásquez, at the zenith of his game, Santa Fe would waste several goal opportunities, which would maintain the result to a goal despite the expulsion of Fabián Sambueza, cardinal figure, until minute 89, where the video arbitration would confirm that Pablo Sabbag's shot put the tie in favor of La Equidad, culminating a match full of controversies, for the match back, the expelled Sambueza would be replaced by Luis Manuel Seijas, who had recovered from an injury, the first minutes would be relaxed, with Santa Fe putting the pressure to open the scoring, which he would achieve in minute 25, with a goal from striker Jorge Luis Ramos, in his second spell at Santa Fe, after that, there would be other attempts to seal the match, but the happiness would sour in the 68th minute, as Kevin Salazar, former player of the club, would score the equalizing goal, putting the 2-2 aggregate, with which La Equidad felt calm and ready for the penalty shootout, to the point of making a controversial action by exchanging one of its forwards for a defender, which would prove to be unsuccessful in the 85th minute. when Harold Rivera decided to make an essential change for the game, placing Patricio Cucchi and Mauricio Gómez on the field, who would provide the goal that ensured Santa Fe's classification to a league final after 3 years, permanently burying those bitter memories of 2018 and 2019.

2021 - 4th Super League Champion

Symbols

Club shields

First foundational shield of Independent Santa Fe

The lion is an identity symbol of the team.

Shield

Santa Fe's first shield was designed by Ernesto Gamboa and team president Gonzalo Rueda Caro with a clear English influence. Highlighting the colors of the Bogota flag, red and yellow, combined to form the Santa Cruz, symbol of Faith, alluding to the name of the club.

The shield has a fleur-de-lis cross, that is, its arms end in fleur-de-lys.

The biggest bar of the team currently: The South Albi-Red Guard, took this shield, replacing the yellow color with white and the letters CISF with LGARS to use it as the bar's shield.

Years later it was modified in order to give the club a new air, thus acquiring the traditional colors of red and white, with the name SANTA FE written in white letters on a red background and a red dot in the lower right part, thus the shield currently remains.

Anthem

To conclude the 1948 championship, the club's anthem was premiered, whose lyrics were written by Ignacio Cuervo Cañón and the music by Gabriel Cárdenas. The first stanza of the anthem is:

Santa Fe of soccer the colossus

And first National Champion,

Your courage in the fight is great

And your morale is strong and feverish.

Flag

It brings together the two traditional colors of the capital city. Red and white are distributed horizontally, the first at the top and the second at the bottom.

Pet

It is said that the idea of adopting a pet came from Guillermo "La chiva" Cortés, the president of the club and a team made up of journalists, publicists and fans who initially suggested animals such as homing pigeons. However, they did not have enough strength to represent the power of a soccer team. Therefore the best candidate would become the unbeatable King of the jungle; a lion named Monaguillo would from that moment be an insignia for Santa Fe. The cub was brought from Pereira and ate 35 pounds of meat weekly. He jumped onto the field on August 24, 1975 and was applauded by 30,000 fans, making this new member of the red team the first lion in the world to be crowned champion of a soccer tournament. Due to his size and age, Altar Boy was taken to the Santa Cruz Zoo, where he died years later.

Clothing

There are many versions about where the white-and-red uniform came from. The only certain thing is that for the first presentation in the Campín against Telégrafos, the blue uniform used by the players and founders of Santa Fe had faded. The followers of that time made them a green shirt which also faded, plus one of the founders, and director of Independiente Santa Fe, a fan of Arsenal (England) gives the team the color that since mid-1941 became Santa's insignia Fe, red and white. As of June 2021, the Santa Fe uniforms will be made by the Italian multinational Kappa.

Classical

(See evolution)

Kappa 2023

Infrastructure

Stadium

West coast of El Campín Stadium.

El Nemesio Camacho, also known as “El Campín”, was inaugurated on August 10, 1938 at Calle 57 with 30, its construction having begun in 1935 and at the initiative of the then mayor of Bogotá, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán.

The structure was carried out by the engineer Federico Leder Müller. The stadium was designed to accommodate 10 thousand spectators.

The opening match was carried out by the Colombian soccer team and the Ecuadorian soccer team, with a 2:1 victory for the Ecuadorians. In 1951, the year in which Santa Fe began to use it for its home matches, the first modification was made by expanding the capacity to 36,000 spectators; previously the team played its home games at the Alfonso López Pumarejo Stadium of the National University.

The second extension of the Campín took place in 1952 with a drastic transformation. The total capacity reached 62,500 spectators, but is limited to 48,000 for security reasons. The last major modification would take place for the South American qualifiers for the 2010 Soccer World Cup held in South Africa.

Match between Santa Fe and Atlético Mineiro, for the Copa Libertadores 2014, played in El Campín.

After the reform so that the stadium can host the 2011 U-20 Soccer World Cup, the stadium had a capacity for 36,343 spectators. The venue is owned by the Capital District and is named in honor of Nemesio Camacho, who ceded the land to the district for the construction of the stadium.

Other venues used by Santa Fe for their home matches for the Colombia Cup have been the Estadio Metropolitano de Techo, the Estadio Municipal Los Zipas in Zipaquirá and the Estadio Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento in Soacha.

Due to provisions of the Bogotá Mayor's Office, Santa Fe had to play 2021 matches, for the League and Copa Libertadores, at the Centenario Stadium in Armenia (Quindío).

Own stadium project

At the Independiente Santa Fe shareholders' meeting in April 2016, the club's president, César Pastrana, presented the 2015 financial statement; He revealed that for the third consecutive year the team produced profits, which allowed the start of construction of its sports headquarters in the municipality of Tenjo and, in the long term, the development of its own stadium in the north of Bogotá. Regarding the construction of its own sports arena, the manager indicated that it is a long-term project that would be around $40,000 million; It will have capacity for 40,000 people and its location has already been defined.

However, due to a problem with the land use of the property, located in the north of Bogotá, it would be necessary to modify the Territorial Planning Plan that allows the construction of the stage. Currently, only the construction of the headquarters has been carried out sport and the stadium is a project for the future.

Facilities

• Administrative Headquarters:

The administrative headquarters of Independiente Santa Fe is located in the west of the city of Bogotá, near the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium. In the administrative headquarters, there are the offices of the club, such as the presidency, the management, the communications department, the treasury, and also the Casa Cardenal; the official store of the team, which has its main warehouse at the team headquarters.

• Tenjo Sports Headquarters:

Los Rojos sports venue is located in the municipality of Tenjo, department of Cundinamarca, northwest of the city of Bogotá. This headquarters has 2 professional soccer fields, as well as a small field, dressing rooms, gym, and parking lot. There, the professional team trains, and the women's team played their matches in the National Women's Club Championship of the Amateur Soccer Division Colombian (Difutbol).

• Social and Sports Headquarters of Tenjo:

After having bought the land where the professional team currently trains, and where it has done so for some years, in one of the assemblies of the society in the first half of 2016, the club's budget was agreed to build a sports venue with a gym, swimming pool, press auditorium, and hotel to concentrate the professional team. “We plan to start works in 90 or a maximum of 120 days, hoping that we have all the permits, the documents landed, and that they are legally correct to be able to build the housing complex without any setbacks,” explained the president of Santa Fe, César Pastrana. The investment will be around 2000 million pesos, resources that the club already has and that are destined to make this impressive sports venue. "We want it to be a macro work, that at the end of a year it is ready to be occupied and in view of all the fans who want to see it," said Pastrana.

The venue is ahead; In fact, the sports part already has five fanegadas, two soccer fields, a battery of dressing rooms, hydraulic networks, wells, and an irrigation system.

Santa Fe's desire to finally have their own home will be a reality.

Santa Fe Independent Tenjo headquarters plans

• Cardinal:

La Casa Cardenal is the official store of Independiente Santa Fe. In the stores, you can find all the official team products, from the professional team clothing to small accessories. Headquarters It is located in the team's administrative headquarters in western Bogotá. In addition, there are 2 other venues, which are located in the Galerías neighborhood, also to the west of the city, and on the western side of the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium. Also, Santa Fe fans can buy team products online at the shop page.

• Concentration:

Before playing a game, the professional team gathered at the Dann Carlton Hotel in the north of the city of Bogotá, until August 2019. From the hotel, they headed to the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium.

Rivalries

Santa Fe vs. Millionaires

The swollen Santa Fe, located on the south side of El Campín Stadium.

Santa Fe's classic Bogota rival is Millonarios. These teams have starred in its history, the only regional classic that has been played in all seasons of first division soccer in Colombia. The Bogotá Clásico is one of the three great clásicos of Colombian Professional Soccer. the history of the classic, when he beat his eternal rival 7-3 on February 23, 1992, and also has the top scorer in the history of the classic: Léider Preciado with 15 annotations.

Bogotan Classic on July 27, 2013.

During the rise of professional soccer in Colombia, both teams were recognized as the two most important clubs in Bogotá; At that time there was also the University, which participated from the first tournament based in Pereira, and in Bogotá between 1949 and 1952. The first edition of the capital classic took place in 1942, with a score favorable to Millonarios of 4:1. However, the first official classic was played on September 19, 1948 with a 5:3 victory for Santa Fe.

Two finals have been played between these teams: the 2013 Colombian Super League and the 2017 Finalization Tournament, with the cardinal team of the super league and the ambassador team of the only final in the capital played by Category First A being the winners.

Santa Fe vs. America: classic of reds

Santa Fe stains with the characteristic red, to live another version of the “Classic of Reds” in the El Campin Stadium.

The rivalry has its origins in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when América hired several prominent players from Santa Fe, to the detriment of Santa Fe's sporting performance. The first final played by both teams was the 1999 Merconorte Cup. América, after having lost 2:1 in their own stadium, won in an intense return match at El Campín 1:0; Thus, he forced a definition by kicks from the penalty spot, and the scarlet team obtained the title. Since then, this classic has attracted a large number of fans, while America was in the first division. Between 2000, 2002-I, 2008-I and 2019-II both teams met in semifinal instances.

Both teams met in the final of the 2020 Championship where in the first leg at Pascual Guerrero America was won 3-0, and the second leg was won by Santa Fe 2-0 with the scarlet team being champion, being two-time champion and achieving title 15.

The following year the two teams met again for the definition of the 2021 Colombian Super League. The first match, played on October 5, was played at the Pascual Guerrero in the city of Cali, with a result of in favor of the cardinal squad by 2 to 1. the return, played on October 20 at El Campín in Bogotá, ended with a result 3 to 2 again in favor of the capital team, thus winning its fourth super league and consolidating itself as the top winner of the competition with 4 titles.

This match is considered the most dangerous in Colombian soccer, after a series of episodes occurred that led to the death of 5 fans (3 of them from Santa Fe and 2 from América), as a result of clashes that occurred between the brave bars at the end of the matches.

Santa Fe vs. National Athletic

This is a modern rivalry, better known as the classic rojiverde.^{[citation needed]} These two clubs have met three times in a Colombian professional soccer final, with a victory for the Cardenales in 1971 and two for the Verdolagas: Torneo Apertura 2005 and Torneo Apertura 2013, they also met in the 2015 Superliga, winning Santa Fe. Both clubs have been among the world elite, Santa Fe being Champion of the Copa Sudamericana 2015 and Copa Nacional from Copa Libertadores 2016 a semester later, and not only that, the two teams in the last 7 years have been even in titles, so notable is the side by side that Atlético Nacional has won: 6 leagues, 2 super leagues, 1 libertadores, 1 Recopa Sudamericana and 3 cups Colombia and Santa Fe have won: 3 leagues, 3 super leagues, 1 Copa Sudamericana and 1 Copa Suruga Bank; having the cardinal team a disadvantage of 5 titles against purslane. Both teams being among the top ten clubs in the world in the same period of time, as recorded by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), both teams being protagonists both nationally and internationally.

Club details

Unique General Club Facts and Achievements

• Primicias de Independiente Santa Fe
  • First Colombian champion: 1948.
  • First team to score 10 goals in a professional match: 10-2 against Hurricane on July 31, 1949.
  • First team to score 100 goals in a championship: 101 in 1949. Gol 102 did not exist: a goal was credited to all teams who did not play their respective games when the Barranquilla was retired; that year, Millonarios achieved 99 goals during the championship, and only with the two games of the play with the Deportivo Cali came to 103.
  • First team to benefit from a self-governance: at the inaugural match of Santa Fe in the 1948 championship, on Sunday August 15, against Eleven Deportivo, at the Palogrande de Manizales Stadium, the autogol of the local defense Sarria, which opened the marker.
  • First goal against annullation: in the inaugural match of Santa Fe in the 1948 championship, on Sunday August 15, against the Eleven Sports, in the Palogrande Stadium of Manizales.
  • First team to waste a criminal: in the inaugural match of Santa Fe in the 1948 championship, on Sunday August 15, against Eleven Deportivo, at the Palogrande de Manizales Stadium, Jesús María Lires López sent over the crossing a criminal charge.
  • First team whose archer scored head goal: Camilo Vargas to Millonarios in the classic 265, on November 23, 2011, after collecting corner shot at the 90th minute of the game.
  • First Colombian club to win the South American Cup by winning it in the 2015 edition.
  • America's Best Club in the World Club Classification according to IFFHS and the World's Seventh Best Club in the General Register of 2015.
  • First Colombian club to win an intercontinental title and to do it outside the American continent, when it won the Copa Suruga Bank 2016.
• Exclusivity of Independent Santa Fe: Only team to score 10 goals at El Campín Stadium, and did it twice: 31 July and 2 October 1949.

Historical data

• Scale by titles: 3°
• Historical position: 4.o
• Seasons in 1.a: All (95), since the beginning of professionalism in 1948.
• Best position in the league: 1.o, 10 times: 1948, 1958, 1960, 1966, 1971, 1975, 2012-I, 2014-II, 2016-II, 2020.
• Worse position in the league: last (10th in 1954, 18.th in the Finalization 2007 and 20th in the Opening 2019).

Ratings

International

• 7.o mejor equipo del mundo entre el 1 de enero de 2015 y el 31 de diciembre de 2015, con 240,00 puntos, según la Federación Internacional de Historia yística de Fútbol; en su vez, fue el mejor equipo no europea.

• 8.o mejor equipo del mundo entre el 1 de marzo de 2013 y el 28 de febrero de 2014, con 234,00 puntos, según la Federación Internacional de Historia yística de Fútbol; en su vez, fue el equipo colombiano mejor sort.

• 8.o mejor equipo de la Conmebol between 2011 and 2020, with 1.575,00 points, according to the International Federation of History and Statistics of Football; in turn, he was the second best classified Colombian team.

• 12.o mejor equipo en la tabla Histórico de la Copa Conmebol; a su vez, fue el segundo mejor equipo colombiano en ese extinto tournament.

• 14.o mejor equipo del mundo entre el 1 de enero de 2013 y el 31 de diciembre de 2013, con 214,00 puntos, según la Federación Internacional de Historia yística de Fútbol; en su vez, fue el mejor equipo colombiano y el segundo en América.

• 20.o mejor equipo en el Ranking de la Conmebol 2019.

• 21.o mejor equipo en el Ranking de la Conmebol 2021.

• 27.o mejor equipo en el Ranking de la Conmebol 2022.

• 30.° best equipment in the world and 7.° South America in 2015, with 8032 points, according to the portal Football Club World Ranking.

• 34.o mejor equipo en el Ranking de la Conmebol 2023.

• 36.o mejor equipo del mundo entre 2011 y 2020, con 1.575,00 puntos, según la Federación Internacional de Historia yística de Fútbol; en su vez, fue eleighth equipo de la Conmebol y segundo equipo colombiano mejor sort.

National

• 4.o mejor equipo en la tabla Histórico del Football Colombiano.

International participations (24)

Note: In bold editions where the team was crowned champion.

Players

Template 2023-I

Players			Technical equipment
N.o Nac. Pos. Name Age Ult team. Eq. training Porteros 1 Colombia! 0BY José Silva 28 years Bogotá F. C. Deportivo Cali 12 Colombia! 0BY Juan Espitia 23 years Inferiors Santa Fe 33 Colombia! 0BY Omar Rodríguez 26 years Valledupar F. C. Santa Fe Defence 2 Colombia! 1DEF Marlon Torres 26 years America de Cali National athletic 3 Uruguay! 1DEF José Aja 29 years River Plate National 4 Colombia! 1DEF David Ramírez 21 years Valledupar F. C. Santa Fe 6 Colombia! 1DEF Carlos Moreno 30 years Petrolera Alliance Deportivo Azogues 21 Colombia! 1DEF Fabio Delgado 23 years Cortulua Cortulua 27 Colombia! 1DEF Fabian Viafara 31 years Junior Golden Eagles 28 Colombia! 1DEF Kevin Mantilla 19 years Inferiors Santa Fe 29 Colombia! 1DEF Julian Millan 25 years Cortulua Patriots Boyacá 30 Colombia! 1DEF Dairon Mosquera 31 years Independent Medellín Atlético Bucaramanga Halffield 5 Colombia! 2MED Ivan Rojas 25 years Envigado F. C. Envigado F. C. 7 Colombia! 2MED Neyder Moreno 26 years National athletic Envigado F. C. 8 Uruguay! 2MED Jonathan Barboza 32 years Troops Liverpool 13 Colombia! 2MED Kelvin Osorio 29 years Cuiabá E. C. Deportivo Cali 17 Colombia! 2MED Juan Daniel Roa 31 years Petrolera Alliance Santa Fe 20 Colombia! 2MED Harold Rivera 30 years Atletico Huila Santa Fe 23 Argentina! 2MED Fabian Sambueza 34 years Junior Independent of Neuquén 26 Colombia! 2MED Dylan Prieto 20 years Inferiors Santa Fe 31 Colombia! 2MED Jhojan Torres 18 years Inferiors Santa Fe 80 Colombia! 2MED Christian Marrugo 37 years Independent Medellín National athletic Delanteros 9 Colombia! 3OF THE Wilfrido de La Rosa 29 years Pereira Sports Tolima 10 Colombia! 3OF THE José Enamorado 24 years Real Cartagena Orsomarso 11 Colombia! 3OF THE Hugo Rodallega 37 years E. C. Bahia Quindío 15 Colombia! 3OF THE Chiefrson Rivas 25 years Leones Tigers 16 Colombia! 3OF THE Duban Palace 26 years Pereira Jaguares de Córdoba 18 Colombia! 3OF THE Juan Aristizabal 21 years Inferiors Santa Fe 19 Colombia! 3OF THE Wilson Morelo or 35 years Columbus Bajo Cauca 24 Colombia! 3OF THE Jersson González 21 years Inferiors Santa Fe 25 Colombia! 3OF THE Jehan Arcila 23 years Inferiors Santa Fe			Coach(s) Harold Rivera Assistant coach(s) Gonzalo Martínez Physical Preparer(s) Christian Juliao Camacho Coach(s) of porters Juan Carlos Quintero Doctor(s) Rafael Mountain Other(s) Kinesiologist(s) José Rendón Eduardo Tijaro Andrés Herrera Legend Pos.: Position Nac.: Nationality of sport Captain Mission BY / ARQ: Guardameta DEF: Defense MED / VOL: Camper OF THE: Delantero Updated 23 December 2022 Official web template

Ups and downs 2023-I

Players in national teams

Note: in bold players part of the last call in their respective teams.

Country	Category	Player(s)
Colombia	Absolute	Dairon Mosquera, Christian Marrugo, Hugo Rodallega, Juan Daniel Roa
	Sub-20	Kevin Mantilla, Jhojan Torres

Loan Players

Players that are owned by the team and are borrowed to act with another set, some with purchase option.

Cedidos en otro club
Player	Position	Lost since	Till
Jonathan Herrera		Atletico Huila	31 December 2023
Santiago Tamayo		Orsomarso	31 December 2023
Alexander Porras		Real Cartagena	30 June 2023
Alejandro Moralez		Fortress CEIF	31 December 2023
Sebastián Pedroza		Al-Batin	30 June 2023
Yilmar Velásquez		Pereira	30 June 2023
Diego Valdés		Golden Eagles	31 December 2023
Jorge Ramos		Equity	31 December 2023
Daniel Garcia		Atletico Huila	31 December 2023

Players on loan at the club

Players that are owned by another team and are borrowed at the club, some with purchase option.

Cedidos en el disco
Player	Position	Lost since	Till
Fabio Delgado		Cortulua	31 December 2023
Julian Millan		Cortulua	31 December 2023
Neyder Moreno		National athletic	30 June 2023
José Enamorado		Real Cartagena	30 June 2023
Jefferson Rivas		Leones	30 June 2023

Coaches

Current technical management

Technical body and directors of the Independent Santa Fe.

Current technical management
Coach:	Harold Rivera	Technical Assistant:	Gonzalo Martínez Caicedo
Physical preparer:	Christian Juliao Camacho	Porters coach:	Juan Carlos Quintero
Doctor 1:	Rafael Mountain
Kinesiologist 1:	José Rendón	Kinesiologist 2:	Eduardo Tijaro	Kinesiologist 3:	Andrés Herrera
Utilero 1:	William Mora	Utilero 2:	Jhonattan Yela
Sports manager:	Agustín

Presidents

Bloated

Hinchada de Independiente Santa Fe

It is one of the traditional Colombian fans, known for its fidelity, its passion, and for always accompanying its team at all times and situations, in addition to making the largest flag in the world at that time in 2006 called "The Strength of a People".

The Barra 25 was the first organized bar in Colombia, founded in 1970 by Hernando Ramírez and his friends. With the primary intention of unconditionally supporting the red team of the Colombian capital. Barra 25 was also a pioneer in using a compressed air horn that plays a ta-ta-ta (San-ta-fe) to cheer on the players of their team in matches played at the El Campín Stadium, from the eastern stand high. It is part of the Santafereña Community that brings together 20 groups of Santafereña fans who are located in the eastern stand.

The Guardia Albi-Roja Sur (LGARS) is the most numerous and is known as the Santa Fe barra brava and is currently organized as social and sports foundation. It was founded on January 12, 1997; by young people who were part of the Santa Fe de Bogotá bar (Founded in 1991) and known as the Saltarines. In the local games of Santa Fe it is located in the south side stand and in international tournaments, it also uses the south side of the general eastern stand, and the north side stand of El Campín. It is organized in approximately 35 groups or patches distributed throughout the towns of the Capital District, it has members in other cities in Colombia and the world. Known for always accompanying Independiente Santa Fe wherever they play. In recent years it has carried out important social work and has its own Soccer School.

Those from behind come with me (LDAVC), born in 2014, with instruments and social integration work, is located in the eastern gallery and is part of the Santafereña Community, where with the work of these bars a family atmosphere is possible for children, young people, adults and the elderly.

Affiliates of the club

Lower Divisions and Training Schools

Since 1944, Independiente Santa Fe has had lower divisions. Great players have emerged from the Cardinal team's quarry, who have been important both for the club, for Colombian Professional Soccer, and for the Colombian National Team. Here are 2 examples of great Santa Fe players coming out of their lower divisions.

• Alfonso Cañón, tricampion of the Colombian Professional Soccer, was champion in 1966, 1971 and 1975. In addition, it is the maximum historical scorer with 146 goals, and the player with more matches played with 505 matches. It is considered the highest idol of Santa Fe, besides being considered the best bogotano footballer in history, and one of the best in the history of the Colombian Professional Football.

• Ernesto Díaz, champion in 1971 and 1975. Considered one of the best frontiers in the history of the club, and the Colombian Professional Football. He highlighted with the Colombia Team in the 1975 American Cup, in which he was the scorer.

Other notable homegrown players are Adolfo "Tren" Valencia, Agustín Julio, Freddy Rincón, Alonso "Cachaco" Rodríguez, Héctor "Zipa" González, Jaime Silva, Léider Preciado, Francisco Meza, Daniel Torres, Camilo Vargas, Juan Daniel Roa, among many others. To see the history and the great players that have come out of the Santa Fe academy, take a look at the Independiente Santa Fe Minor Divisions article.

In addition to the lower divisions, the club has several training schools distributed in the city of Bogotá, where it has 5 branches, and also in the cities of Cali, Armenia, Sincelejo and Cúcuta. In addition, the club has schools in the municipalities of Cajicá, Funza, Chía and in the Siberia sector in the department of Cundinamarca.

Women's Team

Its women's team plays in the Colombian Professional Women's Soccer League, thus being the only club that has played all the professional editions of Colombian soccer (including all the men's and women's tournaments). In 2017, the lionesses were crowned champions of the first Colombian Professional Women's Soccer League, equaling the recognition obtained by the men's team in 1948. And achieving one of the highest attendances in women's soccer worldwide.

Club Brands

• SFE - official club brand
• Ind. Santa Fe Sports (TV)
• Santa Fe Movíl
• IS-Radio
• Santa Fe Media Digital (Exclusive March)

Honours of Prizes

Official titles

In bold type the current competitions.

National Tournaments (15)

National competition	Titles	Subtitles
Organized by FCF
First category A (9/6)	1948, 1958, 1960, 1966, 1971, 1975, 2012-I, 2014-II, 2016-II.	1963, 1979, 2005-I, 2013-I, 2017-II, 2020.
Colombia Cup (2/3)	1989, 2009.	1950-51, 2014, 2015. (Récord)
Superlight of Colombia (4/0)	2013, 2015, 2017, 2021. (Récord)

International Tournaments (3)

Ladder

IFFHS Rankings

• World Club Classification (Top 10): 7.o (240.00 points).

Updated as of January 7, 2016.

CONMEBOL Rankings

• Classification of Clubs: 21.o (3004 points).

Updated on February 3, 2021.

Other sports sections

In addition to the soccer team, Independiente Santa Fe has had other teams from other sports throughout its history. Among the sports teams, the basketball and futsal teams stand out.

Basketball Team

In 1943, Independiente Santa Fe had a good number of members and a stable economy. These factors allowed him to create a basketball team. In its first year of competition, Santa Fe achieved good results and finished runner-up in its first tournament in this discipline. In the following years, the men's team was reinforced, and the women's team was also formed. Thanks to this, several titles were achieved, the most important being the one achieved in 1949, when Santa Fe was crowned champion of the Cundinamarca Departmental Tournament.

Titles

• Basketball: Departmental Tournament in 1949.

Futsal Team

Santa Fe also had a futsal team in the mid-2000s. The cardinal team represented Colombia in the 2006 futsal Copa Libertadores, in which they won the northern zone and qualified for the final of the tournament, where he faced the Brazilian team Malwee/Jaraguá. Unfortunately, Santa Fe lost the 2 games of the series, and was left with the runner-up in the continental tournament that was held in Fusagasugá, Colombia.

Honours of Prizes

• Football Cup Champion Football Room in 2006.