| Full name | Cortuluá Fútbol Club S.A. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | El Equipo Corazón (The Heart Team; from the city ofTuluá's own nicknameEl Corazón delValle - or The Valley's Heart) Los Paneleros (The Paneleros) | |||
| Founded | 16 October 1967; 58 years ago (1967-10-16) asCorporación Club Deportivo Tuluá | |||
| Dissolved | 10 January 2024; 22 months ago (2024-01-10) | |||
| Ground | Estadio Municipal Raúl Miranda Yumbo, Colombia | |||
| Capacity | 3,500 | |||
| Chairman | Oscar Arturo Martán | |||
| Manager | Jorge Edier Peralta | |||
| League | Categoría Primera B | |||
| 2023 | Primera B, 7th of 16 | |||
| Website | cortulua | |||
Cortuluá, officially namedCortuluá Fútbol Club S. A.[1] and previously known asCorporación Club Deportivo Tuluá[2] for short, was a Colombianfootball club fromTuluá,Valle del Cauca Department. It was founded in 1967 and last played inCategoría Primera B, the second-tier competition of Colombian football.
In the2001 Categoría Primera A season the team had its most successful campaign after winning theApertura tournament, which granted them a spot in the2002 Copa Libertadores.
Cortuluá was founded in 1967 by a group of people headed by Paraguayan former player and coachHernando Acosta, and enteredCategoría Primera B for its first season in 1991. In 1993, Cortuluá won its first title in theCategoría Primera B, being promoted to thePrimera A for the following year. Its first game in the top flight was on 26 February 1994 at theEstadio Hernando Martinez Azcárate of nearbyBuga againstEnvigado.
In the2001 Copa Mustang Cortuluá won the Torneo Apertura (which at that time did not yet award a championship) and qualified for the2002 Copa Libertadores. However, in 2004 the team were relegated to the Categoría Primera B.
In 2006, theUnited States Treasury identified the football club as one of ten businesses allegedly operating on behalf of one of the most wanted Colombian drug barons,Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla.[3] The move by the United States authorities placed a freeze on any assets owned by the club within the United States, and prevented United States residents from having dealings with the club.[3] Cortuluá was removed from theSpecially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (also known as theClinton List) on 24 May 2012.[4]
After five years in theCategoría Primera B, the club was promoted back to theCategoría Primera A in 2009. Cortuluá qualified for the final of the "Torneo Apertura", surpassingDeportes Palmira,Deportivo Rionegro, andAtlético Bucaramanga in Group A of the semi-finals. In the final instance againstItagüí Ditaires, the first leg ended 3–1 with a win for Cortuluá, but it lost 2–0 in the second leg. In the penalty shootout Cortuluá won 6–5, thus winning the "Torneo Apertura" and qualifying to the Final of the year, where Cortuluá defeatedAtlético Bucaramanga and returned to the top tier for the following season.
In the 2010 season, the team were relegated again and returned to the second division, where they played for four seasons until the 2015 season, when they were once again promoted in a special tournament played to increase the size of theCategoría Primera A to 20 teams. They came on top of Group B, ahead ofUnión Magdalena, pre-tournament favoritesAmérica de Cali, andDeportivo Pereira and thus earned promotion for the 2015 season. In 2016, its reserve team placed third in theU-20 Copa Libertadores. On the final matchday of the first round of the2017 Torneo Finalización, Cortuluá were once again relegated to the Primera B, after losing 2–1 toOnce Caldas inManizales with a last-minute goal.[5]
After four years in the second tier, Cortuluá were able to return to Primera A at the end of the2021 season, winning their semi-final group to clinch one of the two promotion spots.[6] However, they were immediately relegated back to Primera B after a poor campaign that saw them end in last place of therelegation table of the 2022 Primera A. Their relegation was confirmed on 16 October 2022, following a 1–0 home defeat toDeportes Tolima.[7]
Following the team's relegation from Primera A, the club's owner Ignacio Martán announced his intention to move Cortuluá out of its hometown, citing the lack of financial support from successive local administrations. On 14 December 2022 the General Assembly ofDIMAYOR approved Cortuluá's proposal to move their home matches from Tuluá toYumbo,Valle del Cauca Department, starting from 2023.[8] The team played its matches in the2023 Primera B tournament in Yumbo, planning to rebrand toYumbo Industriales F.C. within six months,[9] however, this proposed change did not materialize.
At the end of 2023 Cortuluá requested another change of home stadium, planning to move toPalmira. The request was approved by DIMAYOR on 12 December 2023.[10] The club was ultimately rebranded asInternacional F.C. de Palmira on 10 January 2024.[11]
Estadio Doce de Octubre, located inTuluá and able to seat 16,000 people, was Cortuluá's home stadium until the end of 2022. Starting from 2023, the club moved its home matches toEstadio Municipal Raúl Miranda inYumbo, which has a capacity of 3,500 people.[8][12] The club only played one season in Yumbo, moving toEstadio Francisco Rivera Escobar inPalmira for the following season.
Álvaro Peña
Jairo AmpudiaJavier ArizalaFaustino AsprillaVíctor BonillaMiguel BorjaMayer CandeloÓscar DíazDiego GómezHéctor HurtadoEdison MaflaLeonardo Mina PoloJohnnier MontañoTressor MorenoRubiel QuintanaHamilton RicardCarlos RodasMilton RodríguezOscar A. LeónJaime Alfonso RuizNéstor SalazarFernando UribeGustavo VictoriaMario Yepes
Julio César Maya
Rolan de la CruzDanny Quendambú
Román TorresAlejandro Vélez
Rafael DudamelEdgar Pérez Greco
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