<span lang="ms" dir="ltr">Club</span> Ferro Carril Oeste, known simply as Ferro Carril Oeste or familiarly, Ferro, is an Argentine sports club from the neighbourhood of Caballito, Buenos Aires. Although many activities are hosted by the club, Ferro is mostly known for its football team, which plays in the Primera Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system.

Apart from football, Ferro Carril Oeste hosts a wide variety of sports that can be practised at the club, such as athletics, basketball, baseball, futsal, handball, field hockey, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, volleyball. and, since 2001, professional boxing shows, including world championship boxing contests.

As its name indicates, the club had railway origins, being founded in 1904 by employees of the Buenos Aires Western Railway. The club had its glory days in the 1980s, having won numerous titles in several sports disciplines, being also recognised by Unesco as a model institution. Ferro Carril Oeste had 50,000 members by those years.

In the 1959 Primera División, Ferro finished 4th, being the best position in the top division until then. After being relegated again, Ferro won the Primera B championship in 1963, returning to Primera División. In the top level, Ferro reached another 4th place in the 1965 tournament. Ferro would be relegated again in 1968 after playing a "Reclasificatorio" tournament. In the 1969 Primera B season, Ferro C.O. won the tournament (with San Telmo as runner up) but none of them could promote to Primera after they lost in the Reclasificatorio tournament to Banfield and Deportivo Morón (the worst placed teams in 1969 Metropolitano).

Ferro C. Oeste quickly returning to Primera so the team won the Primera B championship in 1978.

The Golden Age: 1980s

Ferro had a prominent role in Argentine sports in the 1980s, more specifically in football and basketball. The football team won 2 titles of Argentine Primera División and played the Copa Libertadores. Otherwise, the basketball team won the Liga Nacional de Básquet (the Argentine first division league) championship 3 times.

thumb|left|150px|Carlos Griguol (here in 1978) lead Ferro C.O. to win their first titles in Primera División during his two tenures on the club

In 1979 Carlos Griguol was hired as club manager. He would become the most successful coach in the club's history, winning 2 Primera División titles for the first time and also promoting players such as Alberto Márcico, Héctor Cúper and Oscar Garré. In the 1981 Metropolitano championship Ferro finished 2nd, totalling 49 points, just one less than champion Boca Juniors. In that season, goalkeeper Carlos Barisio set a national record by keeping his goal unbeaten for 1,075 minutes. This included a run of 10 complete games without conceding a goal. That same year Ferro reached the Torneo Nacional final although the team was defeated by River Plate (by the same score: 1–0 in the two matches played).

thumb|right|In 1982, Ferro C. Oeste won its first title in Primera División

Ferro finally won its first title at Primera in 1982, winning the Nacional tournament after beating defending champions Quilmes in the finals (0–0, 2–0). The squad played a total of 22 matches, winning 16 with 6 draws so they won the championship remaining unbeaten. Ferro scored 50 goals and conceded 13. Left wing Miguel Angel Juárez was the top scorer with 22 goals. Other notable players for the champion team were Adolfino Cañete, Alberto Márcico, Juan Domingo Rocchia, and Héctor Cúper.

Although some key players during the 1982 tournament (Saccardi, Rocchia, Crocco) had left the club, Ferro won another Torneo Nacional in 1984, defeating River Plate (with Norberto Alonso and Enzo Francescoli) winning the two finals (3–0 and 1–0). The team played 14 matches, winning 8 and losing only 1, with 5 draws. Ferro scored 32 goals and only conceded 9, with Márcico being the top scorer with 5 goals. As one of the Argentine champions, Ferro debuted in Copa Libertadores playing the 1983 edition in a group with Estudiantes LP, and Chilean teams Colo Colo and Cobreloa, being eliminated after finishing last.

The good performances by the squad in local football followed in the 1984 Metropolitano, where Ferro C.O. finished 2nd. (50 pts) after Argentinos Juniors (51 pts). Ferro returned to international competitions to play the 1985 Copa Libertadores, being eliminated in the first stage.

During the 1980s, Ferro gained recognition not only in football but also in basketball, being the first winner of the recently created Liga Nacional in 1985 after beating Atenas 2–1 in the finals. Santiago Leyden was the president between 1964 and 1993. He is regarded as the man who led the club to a decade of greatness that included more than 100 titles in several sports disciplines. Leyden was also vicepresident of CONMEBOL between 1976 and 1980. Also in the 1980s. Ferro Carril Oeste reached its peak as sports and social club, with more than 50,000 members and was proclaimed as a "model institution" by Unesco.

In 1987 Carlos Griguol left the club, and was hired by River Plate. He had won 2 titles in the first division (who still are the only two championships won by Ferro at the top level of Argentine football) and 2 sub-championships. Griguol returned in 1988, coaching Ferro until 1993.

Decline

On the other hand, Ferro had the longest run without scoring a goal. The team went 875 minutes without scoring between the end of the 1998 Apertura and the 1999 Clausura. The run was cut in a match v River Plate, when Christian Chaparro scored for his team.

In the 1990s, Ferro's form gradually declined and relegated to the third division (Primera B Metropolitana) in 2001 after two consecutive relegations. Ferro finally returned to the second division two years later.

Ferro has a strong rivalry with Vélez Sársfield, so both teams disputed what is known as Clásico del Oeste.

Team image

Uniform

thumb|130px|An early Argentine cigarette card c. 1910, showing the Ferro C. Oeste green shirt

According to some historians of the club, the first acts stated that the uniform was a white shirt with a red crest bearing the club's initials, inspired on the colors of the flag of England so the first executives of Ferro C. Oeste were English. Nevertheless, many workers of the Buenos Aires Western Railway (whose workers had founded the club) were Irish.

In 1910 Ferro C. Oeste affiliated to the Argentine Football Association and the idea of those Irish employees prevailed, so a green shirt was registered with the AFA (as Nile green). That would remain as the definitive color for the club, worn up to present days.

The club has also worn different designs (as alternate jerseys) over the years, such as a green and white square shirt (in 1952), another model similar to the Celtic F.C. shirt (that was European Cup reigning champion by then) in 1966, and even an orange shirt, inspired on the Netherlands national football team that had had an outstanding performance at the 1974 World Cup, it was worn only once that same year in a match v Rosario Central.

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Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable former players

  • Bernardo Gandulla (1934–39)
  • Jaime Sarlanga (1937–39)
  • Delfín Benítez Cáceres (1941–44)
  • Vicente Gambardella (1960)
  • Gerónimo Saccardi (1969–75, 1979–83)
  • Juan Domingo Rocchia (1973–83)
  • Oscar Garré (1974–88)
  • Héctor Cúper (1976–77, 1978–88)
  • Carlos Barisio (1978–83)
  • Alberto Márcico (1980–85)
  • Adolfino Cañete (1980–84)
  • Carlos Moya

Managers

  • Mario Fortunato (1937), (1953)
  • Pedro Dellacha (1965)
  • Victorio Spinetto (1973–76)
  • Carlos Griguol (1979–87), (1988–93)
  • Gerónimo Saccardi (1997–99)
  • Rubén Darío Insúa (1999)
  • Héctor Rivoira (2004–05)
  • José Luis Brown (2007–08)
  • Carlos Trullet (2008–09)
  • Jorge Luis Ghiso (2009)
  • Dalcio Giovagnoli (2010)
  • Mario Gómez (2011–12)
  • José Luis Brown (2013)
  • José Romero (2014)
  • Marcelo Broggi (2015)
  • Walter Perazzo (2016)
  • Marcelo Broggi (2017–18)
  • Alejandro Orfila (2018)
  • Jorge Cordon (2018–20)
  • Diego Osella (2020-)

Honours

League

  • Primera División (2): 1982 Nacional, 1984 Nacional
  • Primera División B (5): 1958, 1963, 1969, 1970, 1978
  • División Intermedia (1): 1912
  • Primera B Metropolitana (1): 2002–03

Cups

  • Copa Bullrich (2): 1912, 1913

Friendly

  • Copa El Diario (1): 1908

Other sports

Basketball

Ferro Carril Oeste was one of the most successful basketball clubs in Argentina during the 1980s, being the first champion of Liga Nacional de Básquet in 1985. The club has won a total of three LNB and one Campeonato Argentino title.

At international level, Ferro won three South American Championship titles (being also the first Argentine team to win that competition). Ferro remains (along with Boca Juniors) as the most winning Argentine team.

2019–20 Ferro Carril Oeste season

Volleyball

Honours

;Men's team

  • Primera División (6): 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985
  • Copa Morgan (7): 1966, 1977, 1977, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
  • Campeonato Sudamericano (2): 1987, 1998

;Women's team

  • Primera División (8): 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1990
  • Copa Morgan (11): 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1998, 2004

Notes

References

<!-- Per WP:ELMINOFFICIAL, choose one official website only -->

  • Ferro C. Oeste (unofficial)
  • Ferropedia
  • Ferroweb