Club Nacional de Football (, National Football Club) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based La Blanqueada, a neighborhood in the capital city of Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football.

Nacional was established on 14 May 1899 following the merger of Uruguay Athletic Club and Montevideo Football Club at the initiative of young students of the time who aimed to create a football club for Uruguayan-born players in response to the dominance of foreign clubs and players, thus making it one of the first clubs on the American continent founded by locals. Although the club's main focus is primarily on association football, the club hosts many other activities, including basketball, futsal, tennis, cycling, volleyball, and chess. In February 2013, Nacional reached 60,000 associates.

Nacional are associated with the white, blue, and red colors, which are inspired by the flag of José Gervasio Artigas. While the club occasionally hosts matches at Estadio Centenario, it plays the majority of its home games at the Estadio Gran Parque Central; the stadium is one of the three venues selected for the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930. On 13 July 1930, it hosted one of the opening games between Belgium and the United States, and it was also the site where teams like Argentina and Brazil made their World Cup debut. Gran Parque Central was also the only venue in the 1923 and 1924 editions of the Copa América.

Nacional is considered one of the most prestigious football clubs in the sport. In domestic tournaments, Nacional has won the Primera División title 49 times, most recently in the 2022 season, and historically the Copa de Competencia (8 times) and the Copa de Honor (7 times), among others. At international level, Nacional has won 9 titles recognized by FIFA and CONMEBOL, including three Copa Libertadores (1971, 1980, 1988); Nacional is the 2nd best all-time performing club of the tournament with 618 points. Nacional has also won all three Copa Intercontinental it has competed in (1971, 1980, 1988). In addition, Nacional is the only Uruguayan team to have won the Copa Interamericana (two times) and the Recopa Sudamericana, having won the inaugural edition in 1989. Naiconal have also won a record of four Copa de Honor Cousenier, three Copa Aldao, two Tie Cups, and one Copa Escobar-Gerona, all of them organized jointly by the Argentine and Uruguayan Associations. The club has never been relegated and has many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico Uruguayo with Peñarol. According to CONMEBOL, Nacional was the Uruguayan team with the best international performance in the 2007–2012 period. IFFHS named it as the best Uruguayan team of the 2001–2010 period and the seventh best team in South America.

History

Foundation and first years

thumb|left|Nacional in 1905. That squad won the [[Copa de Honor Cousenier defeating legendary Argentine team Alumni]]

Nacional is a result of the fusion between Montevideo Football Club and Uruguay Athletic Club, 14 May 1899. It was decided there that the club's flag should include the three colours (red, blue and white) historically connected to José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguay's national hero. The club's uniform was mostly red and blue. In 1900 Nacional included the Club Defensa and its players, and started playing at the Estadio Gran Parque Central. That same year four clubs governed by foreigners (Albion F.C., CURCC, Uruguay Athletic Club and Deutscher F.K.) founded the "Uruguay Association League". Nacional's petition to be included was dismissed on the thought that criollo clubs and their players lacked category. However, the League's clubs had to admit Nacional in 1901, after the club was invited to join the Argentinean League, due to their impressive performances in a number of friendly matches. In 1902 Nacional won their first Uruguayan Primera División title. The red jersey was substituted by the white jersey in 1902.

In September 1903 Nacional fully represented the Uruguay national football team and beat Argentina 3–2, winning the first international match ever (between national teams) in the history of Uruguayan football (the first international club match ever, was won by Albion over Argentine team Retiro A.C. 3–1 in 1896 in Buenos Aires). In 1905 Nacional won its first international title, the Copa de Honor Cousenier.

thumb|Nacional in 1915, posing with the three trophies won that year: [[Tie Cup, Primera División and Copa de Honor Cousenier]]

Nacional's players started developing already around 1900 a new playing style that introduced a less physical and more imaginative game, made out of fast combinations and frequent dribbles. Magariños says: "The action of these teams [the British-Uruguayan teams, that is] was conducted according to the purest and standardized virtues of British sport: positional play, long passes, furious shots, and strong physical play. The body was used as a weapon, both offensively and defensively. (...) Nacional, formed mainly by smaller and faster players (...) abandoned the physical confrontation that was allowed back then, and chose to play according to their own possibilities. They chose to perform dribbling's, fast and short passing, very fast sprints, and a hectic activity in the pitch."[]

After winning the 1912 championship, they won the 1915 Triple Crown (tri-championship), which included the three major domestic and international tournaments of that time: Primera División, Tie Cup, and Copa de Honor Cousenier. Nacional would go on to win the first Copa Uruguaya en propiedad (meaning they were the first club to win three championships in a row), by winning both the 1916 and 1917 league championships, also winning the 1919, 1920, 1922, 1923 and 1924 league titles. An estimate of 800,000 tickets were sold during that tour, where Nacional played friendlies in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and Portugal. which is considered the largest tour in the history of world football.

In 1927, Nacional made a North America tour, with similar results to the ones obtained in the European adventure made two years before, with 16 wins, 2 ties and 1 loss.

thumb|One forward line of the Quinquenio (1939–43)

Nacional's superiority over Peñarol during this era is best exemplified by some particular feats:

  • Between 1938 and 1943 there were 23 clásicos, with 18 victories for Nacional and only 4 for their rivals.
  • On 14 December 1941 Nacional obtained the largest win in the history of Uruguayan Clásico, defeating Peñarol 6 – 0. (That year, Nacional won all 20 games of the championship.)
  • On 23 November 1943 Nacional won their tenth Campeonato uruguayo clásico in a row.

Team image

Kits and crest

Nacional's crest features a shield with a white slash with the following "C.N de F." written on it. The crest was inspired by the Artigas flag.

The first home kit, used from the founding of the club in 1899 until 1902, utilized a red shirt, with blue sleeves and a blue collar. The new uniform would be a white shirt with a front pocket (which coined the nickname "Los Bolsos" which translates to pocket in Spanish), blue pants and a red sash. In addition, the crest with the initials 'C. N de F.' was added above the shirt pocket.

In 1995, when Umbro was the kit supplier, three different uniforms were implemented, the red shirt becoming the third kit, with the official away being a new blue shirt with an almost vertical red stripe. The blue tone will last a few more years, and in 2000 a new kit was presented with light blue and dark blue tones, which imitated the format of the Pepsi brand, then the club's main sponsor. In 2002, the red kit was established as the official away kit, and since then, Nacional has two alternatives, the red one being the away, and the blue being the third.

Stadium

Nacional plays most home games at its own stadium, the Montevideo-based 38,000 (and growing) capacity Gran Parque Central (soon to be 40,089), first built in 1900.

It is located in "Quinta de la Paraguaya" a historic place where an Oriental revolutionary leader José Gervasio Artigas was named "Jefe de los Orientales" in 1811.

In recent decades the stadium had not been used very often because Nacional played at the national stadium Estadio Centenario, sharing it with Peñarol, but in 2005 Nacional decided to the return to the Gran Parque Central. Since then, its ongoing renovation has allowed Nacional to play most of its home domestic matches there, as well as many international matches. High-risk matches and derbies are still played at the Centenario.

The four stands of the stadium are named in memory of four symbolic figures:

  • the official stand, which includes press and VIP boxes is called José María Delgado, after one of the club's most important Presidents.
  • the largest stand, opposed to the Delgado, is the Atilio García, after Nacional's all-time top scorer.
  • the Abdón Porte, after one of Nacional's biggest symbols: a player who after being relegated from the team shot himself dead in the center of the field. This is the stand where the organized supporter group attends.
  • the Héctor Scarone, after another historical striker, nicknamed el Mago (the Wizard).

After the completion of the second tire of the Atilio García, Abdón Porte and Héctor Scarone stands, the current work involves the construction of a corner structure joining the Atilio García and Porte stands. Future additions include a third tire on the three aforementioned stands.

Supporters

The First "Hincha"

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The Spanish word to describe football fans is "", and it was coined by Nacional fans. An employee of Nacional of the early 20th century, Prudencio Miguel Reyes, was famous for his continuous support to the team. The other fans that attended the games started to call him by one of his duties: pumping air to the balls (in Spanish: "inflar" the balls, in Uruguay: "hinchar" the balls). Within a few games, Reyes was known as the "hincha" of Nacional. This is the origin of a word that is frequently used by Spanish speakers worldwide.

"The biggest flag in the world"

In June 2013, Nacional supporters displayed for the first time the biggest flag in the world as they called the emblem during a match vs. Deportivo Toluca played for the 2013 Copa Libertadores. The flag cost US$50,000, previously collected amongst the supporters La Banda Del Parque The flag, 600 meters in length and 50 meters in height, entered the Guinness World Records as "the biggest flag ever seen in a football match".

The flag also weighed 5,000 kg, with 400 people being needed to move it.

La Banda Del Parque

Nicknames

Nacional is nicknamed "tricolores" ("three colours"), "albos" ("whites") and "bolsilludos", later shortened to "bolsos" ("bolsillo" being the Spanish word for pocket – Nacional used to play with a jersey that had a pocket on the chest). "La blanca" (another reference to the white jersey) is less common.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Records

  • Most appearances: Emilio Álvarez (511 matches played)
  • Most years with the club: Héctor Scarone (21 years), (1917 to 1939)
  • All-time greatest goalscorer: Atilio García (465 goals)
  • Longest time without conceding a goal: Sergio Rochet (1064 minutes)

World Champion players

In 1924, Nacional was the club that contributed more players to Uruguay's team that won the Olympic gold medal in football of that year. It happened again with Uruguay's teams of 1928 and 1930, Olympic and world champions respectively, in which Nacional contributed the majority of players. Nacional is the only Uruguayan club that contributed players to every Uruguay national team that went on to win international tournaments.

Below, the list of Nacional players that were part of Uruguay's Olympic and world champions teams.

|-

! scope=col|Torneo Competencia

| 10

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|-

! scope=col|Liguilla Pre-Libertadores

| 8

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! scope=col|Copa Competencia

|bgcolor="gold"| 7

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! scope=col|Copa de Honor

|bgcolor="gold"| 7

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! scope=col|Torneo Cuadrangular

|bgcolor="gold"| 7

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|-

! scope=col|Liga Mayor

|bgcolor="gold"| 3

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|-

! scope=col|Copa León Peyrou

|bgcolor="gold"| 3

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|-

! scope=col|Campeonato Nacional General Artigas

|bgcolor="gold"| 2

|

|-

! scope=col|Campeonato Ingeniero José Serrato

|bgcolor="gold"| 1

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|-

! scope=col|Copa Albion de Caridad

| 1

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|-

! scope=col|Torneo Fermín Garicoits

|bgcolor="gold"| 1

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|-

! scope=col|Torneo Ciudad de Montevideo

|bgcolor="gold"| 1

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|-

! scope=col|Torneo Campeones Olímpicos

|bgcolor="gold"| 1

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|-

! scope=col|Campeonato Estadio Centenario

|bgcolor="gold"| 1

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|-

| rowspan=8 | International<br />(Cups)

! scope=col|Intercontinental Cup

|bgcolor="gold"| 3

|

|-

! scope=col|Copa Libertadores

| 3

|

|-

! scope=col|Copa Interamericana

| 2

|

|-

! scope=col|Recopa Sudamericana

| 1

|

|-

! scope=col|Copa Aldao

| 3

|

|-

! scope=col|Copa de Honor Cousenier

|-

|}

International friendlies

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center;"

! Type

! width=250px| Competition

! Titles

! Winning years

|-

| rowspan=2 | International<br />(Cup)

! scope=col|Copa Ciudad de Montevideo

|-

! scope=col|Torneo Internacional Nocturno Rioplatense

|1

| align="left"|1938

|-

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Youth tournaments

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center;"

! Type

! width=250px| Competition

! Titles

! Winning years

|-

| rowspan=2 |International<br />(Cup)

! scope=col|U-20 Copa Libertadores

|1

| align="left"|2018

|-

! scope=col|Copa Santiago de Futebol Juvenil

|2

| align="left"|1989, 1994

|}

Other sports

Basketball

Nacional participates in the tournaments organised by the Uruguayan basketball federation Federación Uruguaya de Basketball (known as FUBB) since 1932. The club won the championships of 1935 and 1937. Nowadays, Nacional takes part in the Liga Uruguaya de Basketball, Uruguayan basketball first division.

  • Campeonato Federal (2): 1935 y 1937.
  • Liguilla (2): 1982 y 1983.

Cycling

Nacional participates in the championships organised by the Uruguayan Cycling Federation Federación Ciclista del Uruguay since its beginnings. The club won the most important competitions in several occasions: Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay and Rutas de América, individually and by teams. Nowadays, Nacional cycling team has the presence of Milton Wynants, winner of a silver medal for Uruguay in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay (9)

  • Teams (5): 1960, 1968, 1994, 1999, 2000
  • Individual (3)

: Leandro Noli: 1939

: Jorge Correa: 1968

: Milton Wynants: 1996

Rutas de América (6)

  • Teams (5): 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000 y 2001.
  • General Individual (1)

: Gustavo Figueredo: 2000

Mil Millas Orientales (1)

  • General Individual (1)

: Tomás Correa: 1960

Vuelta Ciclista del Paraguay (2)

  • Teams (1): 1998
  • Individual (1)

: Gustavo Figueredo: 1998

Rugby

In April 2019, Nacional had announced that they would form a rugby union section to compete in the 2020 season of the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby. Nevertheless, it never occurred so Peñarol remained as the only Uruguayan representative in the league.

Tennis

Nacional has a lot of tennis courts in Parque Central, behind the stand Abdón Porte, in which several stages of the tournaments organised in Uruguay are disputed. In 2005, the club had the honour of holding various games played by Uruguay in the American Zone II of Davis Cup.

Volleyball

Nacional has its volleyball court in Parque Central, in the gymnasium of Jaime Cibils street. In that stadium, the club plays its home games of the championships organised by the Uruguayan volleyball federation Federación Uruguaya de Vóleibol in every category.

Men (9)

  • Campeonato Federal (1): 1954.
  • Super Liga Uruguaya de Voleibol (3): 2008, 2009, 2010.
  • Campeonato Uruguayo Livosur (1): 2010.
  • Torneo Apertura Livosur (2): 2009, 2010.
  • Torneo Clausura Livosur (2): 2006, 2008.

Women (4)

  • Campeonato Federal (3): 1955, 1960, 1961.
  • Torneo Abierto ciudad de Minas: 2011

Women's football

Nacional was part of the tournaments organised by the Department of Feminine Football of the Uruguayan Football Association, since its establishment in 1996, winning the Campeonato Uruguayo in 1997 and 2000. The club disaffiliated in 2005 and returned to the league in 2009 ending third in the annual standings. They won the championship in 2010 and 2011–2012. Internationally, Nacional played in various South American championships.

Official national tournaments (12)

  • Campeonato Uruguayo (4): 1997, 2000, 2010, 2011/2012.
  • Torneo Apertura (4): 1997, 1999, 2000, 2011.
  • Torneo Clausura (2): 2002, 2012.
  • Torneo Preparación Joseph Blatter (2): 2010, 2011.

Other national tournaments (3)

  • Triangular Día Internacional de la Mujer (ciudad de Minas, departamento de Lavalleja) (1): 2011
  • Triangular Internacional Diego Rodríguez (Rivera) (1): 2011
  • Triangular Triangular Confraternidad en Artigas (1): 2012

International friendly tournaments (1)

  • Cuadrangular Internacional Ciudad de San Nicolás de los Arroyos (Argentina) (1): 2011

Youth tournaments (3)

  • Torneo Apertura Sub 18 (1): 2004
  • Torneo Preparación Bicentenario Sub 16 (1): 2011
  • Triangular Internacional Diego Rodríguez Sub 16 (1): 2011

Futsal

Nacional participates in the championships organised by de Futsal Delegated Commission of the Uruguayan Football Association. The club won the Uruguayan league title in various occasions and is nowadays the Uruguayan champion. Internationally, Nacionals main achievement is the second place in the South American Futsal Cup Copa Libertadores de América de Futsal in 2003.

Affiliate FIFUSA&nbsp;– AMF / FUdeFS

Official national tournaments (10)

  • Campeonato Metropolitano (8): 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 y 1997.
  • Campeonato Nacional de Clubes Campeones (2): 1994, 1997.

Official international tournaments(1)

  • Campeonato Sudamericano de Clubes Campeones: 1996.

Affiliate FIFA / AUF

Official national tournaments (23)

  • Campeonato Uruguayo (7): 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008 y 2009.
  • Campeonato Metropolitano (5): 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 y 2009.
  • Copa de Honor (Liguilla Pre Libertadores) (3): 2006, 2010, 2011.
  • Campeonato Apertura (5): 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008 y 2009.
  • Campeonato Clausura (3): 1998, 2002 y 2009.

Official international tournaments (1)

  • Ganador de la Zona Sur de la Copa Libertadores de Futsal: 2003.

See also

  • Club Nacional de Football (women)
  • Club Nacional de Football (basketball)
  • List of world champion football clubs

References

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  • Nacional at FIFA.com