Monagas Sport Club is a Venezuelan professional football team competing at the top level, the Primera División Venezolana. It is based in Maturín. Their home stadium is the Estadio Monumental de Maturín. The club received the nickname of “Los Guerreros del Guarapiche” (The Warriors from the Guarapiche), because of the never giving up mentality of its players and the name of the river (River Guarapiche) which crosses the city where the team has its headquarters.

Monagas SC
Full nameMonagas Sport Club
Nickname(s)Guerreros de Guarapiche
Los Guerreros Chaima
Los Azulgranas
FoundedSeptember 23, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-09-23)
GroundEstadio Monumental de Maturín
Capacity51,796
ChairmanNicolás Fernández
ManagerTony Franco
LeaguePrimera División
2023Primera División, 11th of 15

History

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Monagas Sport Club was founded on 23 September 1987 by Joaquín (Fariñas) da Silva, Ramón Ramírez, Enrique Polo, Rubén León, Francisco "Paco" Espinoza and Luis Enrique Rodríguez. Its first official match was against "Unión Deportivo Puerto la Cruz" on 22 May 1988; however the club had had friendly matches against the teams "Atlético Cumaná”, “Cachorros del Tigrito” and “Mariscales de Sucre”. The team started as a second division team and its first official league game, which it won with a final score of 4–0, was against the "Unión Deportivo Puerto La Cruz".

The team participated in the Venezuelan second division until 1990 when the club was promoted to the first division. Since then Monagas Sport Club have tried to remain in this division.

Crisis in the season 2006–07

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Monagas Sport Club obtained awful results in the season 2006–2007 of Venezuela's first division. As the consequence of this bad patch three previous coaches (Franco Fasciana, Del Valle Rojas and Bernardo Redín) had led the club before the arrival of Alí Cañas. Some football players resigned to the team before the conclusion of the tournament and Ramón Caballero, president of the club, gave up.

Monagas Sport Club finished in the relegation places at the end of the season, but the club won a reprieve when the Primera División Venezolana decided to expand from 10 to 18 teams, thus allowing the two teams in the relegation places to remain in the league.

2017

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In 2017, Monagas participated in the Primera División and qualified to the knockout stage of the Torneo Apertura, finishing 6th in the regular season. In the quarter-finals, they defeated Zamora 6–2 on aggregate and went on to the semi-finals, where they defeated Carabobo on away goals after a 1–1 draw on aggregate. In the final, Monagas faced Caracas. The first leg was played at Maturín on 25 June, with a 1–0 win for the home side. On the second leg in Caracas on 2 July, Monagas lost 2–1, but won on away goals (2–2 on aggregate), securing Monagas' first title in short tournaments and their first qualification to the Copa Libertadores. Later, on the Serie Final, against Torneo Clausura champions Deportivo Lara, Monagas lost the first leg in Maturín on 13 December, 1–0, but won the second leg in Cabudare on 17 December, 2–0, becoming the Venezuelan champions for the first time, winning the Serie Final 2–1 on aggregate.

Stadium

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The Estadio Monumental de Maturín is a football stadium located in the city of Maturin, Monagas state. It is the biggest stadium in Venezuela with a capacity of 51,796 spectators. It is competing for the football matches that Monagas Sport Club home game. It was built to host the Copa America Venezuela 2007.

El Monumental was inaugurated on June 24, 2007, where they were the opening game between the Monagas Sport Club and Zamora Fútbol Club home team winning 2–0 with goals from Edder Farías.

Monagas Sport Club played from 1987 to 2007 at Estadio Alexander Botinni in Maturín.

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La Lotería de Oriente (a public lottery from Maturín) is the main sponsor of Monagas Sport Club. For last years the president of the lottery, Willy Farías, has been in charge of the presidency of the club.

Controversy over the uniform, the logo and the name of the club

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The colors of the Monagas Sport Club's uniform are blue and maroon. The uniform and crest are largely based on those of FC Barcelona. These colors were proposed by Francisco "Paco" Espinoza, a former vice-president of the club, in 1988. In 2006 Ramón Caballero, the former president of the team, and other members of the board of directors suggested the colors of the uniform, the logo and the name of the club should be changed. According to them, the uniform and crest should not copy a foreign club and the name of the team should be written in Spanish. Many supporters of Monagas Sport Club are opposed to this idea as they consider the red and maroon colors, crest and current name to be a part of the club's identity.

Honours

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  • Torneo Apertura: 1 (2017)
  • Torneo Clausura: 0

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

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2018: Group stage
2023: Group stage
2002: Second stage
2003: Preliminary round
2012: First stage
2019: First stage

Players

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Current first team squad

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As of 20 February 2024

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   VEN Jesús Cabrera
2 DF   PAR Richard Cabrera
3 DF   PAR Marcos Acosta
6 MF   VEN Richard Iriarte
7 FW   VEN Fernando Basante
9 FW   PAN Tomás Rodríguez
10 FW   VEN Edanyilber Navas
11 MF   VEN Jacobo Kouffati
13 DF   VEN Henri Pernía
14 DF   VEN Christopher Rodríguez
16 MF   VEN Édgar Carrión
18 MF   VEN Jeferson Caraballo
19 DF   VEN Oscar González
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF   PAN José Murillo
22 DF   VEN José Velásquez
23 FW   VEN Santiago Herrera
25 GK   ARG Brian Olivera
26 MF   VEN Dhylan Castillo
30 MF   VEN Alejandro Gonçalves
32 DF   VEN David Guevara
33 DF   VEN Yulwuis Pérez
38 MF   VEN Saúl Asibe
39 FW   VEN Ronald Rodríguez
98 MF   VEN Freyn Figueroa
GK   VEN Eduardo Herrera

Presidents and managers

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Presidential history

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Monagas Sport Club has had numerous presidents over the course of its history, some of whom have been owners of the club while others have been honorary presidents. Here is a complete list of them.[1]

 
Name Years
Rubén León 1988–92
Rumualdo Romero 1993–95
Jesús Salgado 1995–96
Rafael Castellín Osuna 1997
no assigned 1998–99
Claudio González 2000–01
Roicis Pérez 2001–03
Antonio Del Moral 2003–04
Antonio Nuñez 2004
Manuel Villalba 2005
Ramón Caballero 2005–06
Nelson Núñez 2006–07
Willy Farias 2007–present

Managerial history

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Below is a list of Monagas SC coaches from 1987 until the present day.[2]

 
Name Nationality Years
Joaquín "Fariñas" da Silva   1987
Alexander "Titi"  
Gilberto Viana   1990
Bejuma  
Victor Pignanelli   1992
Luís Fernández  
Antonio Mejías  
Radamel García  
Manuel Contreras   2001
Eduardo Borrero   2001–02
Luís Mendoza   2003
Daniel Lanata   2003
Alí Cañas   2003–05
Franco Fasciana   2005
Eduardo Borrero     2005–06
Franco Fasciana   2006
Del Valle Rojas   2006
Bernardo Redín   2006–07
Alí Cañas   2007
Dario Martinez   2008
Horacio Matuszyck   2008
Manuel Plasencia     2008–09
Alí Cañas   2010–11
Eduardo Borrero     March 30, 2011–

References

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  1. ^ "Monagas sport club futbol Historia". Riie.com. Romanian Soccer. 27 October 2005. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Monagas SC". Riie.com.ve. Riie. 5 October 2005. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
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