Leones F.C.

Itagüí Leones

Full name	Itagüí Leones Fútbol Club
Nickname(s)	El Equipo Felino Los Felinos Los Felinos de Antioquia Los Felinos del Valle de Aburrá La Garra Antioqueña Auriverdes
Founded	15 February 1944 (1944-02-15) as Deportivo Rionegro
Ground	Estadio Metropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí
Capacity	12,000
Chairman	Carlos Murillo
Manager	Giovanny Ruiz
League	Categoría Primera B
2023	Primera B, 6th of 16
Website	http://www.leonesfc.co/
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Leones F.C., also known as Itagüí Leones, is a professional Colombian football team based in Itagüí playing in the Categoría Primera B starting from 2019. They play their home games at the Estadio Metropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí.

History

Founded as Deportivo Rionegro in 1944, Leones Fútbol Club participated in all seasons of the Categoría Primera B from 1991 to 2017, when the team was runner-up of the tournament and was promoted to Categoría Primera A for the first time.

The team played for almost forty years in the amateur league. The team's first president was Libardo Sanchez and his first manager was Alfonso Piedrahita. Thanks to its performances and achievements in the 80s the club was admitted in the first edition of the Categoría Primera B, the second-tier of the professional Colombian league, played in 1991. In 1993, with the direction of manager Carlos Augusto Navarrete, Rionegro managed to be among the five best of the tournament. The team got its best performance in 2001, when they were runners-up under the direction of manager Orlando Restrepo.

In 2008 Deportivo Rionegro, with René Higuita as their captain and star and with Óscar Aristizábal as manager, managed to win the first tournament of the year, defeating Unión Magdalena in the final, but in the second half failed to reach the final, so they had to fight for the title of the Primera B against Real Cartagena, losing on aggregate by 2-4. They played the promotion matches against Envigado F.C., but lost by a score of 3-1 on aggregate. In 2014 Deportivo Rionegro moved to Bello and changed its name to Leones Fútbol Club. The following year they moved to Turbo where they stayed for another year before moving back to the Medellín metropolitan area in 2016, establishing themselves in Itagüí.

Leones ended as runners-up in the 2017 Primera B, winning the Torneo Finalización and then going on to lose the final to Boyacá Chicó on penalty kicks. However, since they ended the season as the best team in the aggregate table, they earned promotion to the Categoría Primera A for the 2018 season, the first time the team played in the first division. They were relegated back to Primera B at the end of the season, finishing in bottom place of the relegation table.

Stadium

Further information: Estadio Metropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí

Honours

Domestic

• Categoría Primera B
  • Runners-up (1): 2017

Players

Current squad

As of 18 August 2021

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	COL	Arled Cadavid
2	DF	COL	Brayan Carabalí
4	DF	COL	Carlos Gallego (captain)
6	MF	COL	Stiven Palomeque
7	FW	COL	Gilber Lucumí
8	MF	COL	John Wilmar Arango
10	MF	COL	Mateo Muñoz
11	FW	COL	Luis Felipe Gómez
12	GK	COL	Juan David Ramírez
13	DF	COL	Miguel Arboleda
16	MF	COL	Juan Diego Giraldo
18	FW	COL	Jefferson Rivas
19	MF	COL	Juan Diego Ceballos
20	FW	COL	Andrés Córdoba

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	DF	COL	Hadier Borja
23	DF	COL	Javier Torres
25	DF	COL	Nicolás Gil
29	MF	COL	Kevin Pérez
—	GK	COL	Cristian Holguín
—	GK	COL	Juan Millán
—	DF	COL	Jhoan Cuernú
—	DF	COL	Juan Sebastián Herrera
—	MF	COL	Roinner Fruto
—	MF	COL	Ever Meza
—	MF	COL	Pablo Ospina
—	MF	COL	David Pabón
—	FW	COL	Brayan Martínez
—	FW	COL	Luis Villalba

Notable players

• Iván Córdoba (1993-1995)
• Samuel Vanegas (1996)
• Vladimir Marín (1999-2001)
• Neider Morantes (2005)
• René Higuita (2008-2009)
• Jefferson Duque (2010-2012)

External links

• Leones FC on DIMAYOR