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| Full name | Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | El Halcón (The Falcon) | ||
| Founded | 20 March 1935; 90 years ago (1935-03-20) | ||
| Ground | Estadio Norberto Tomaghello | ||
| Capacity | 20,000[1] | ||
| Chairman | José Lemme | ||
| Manager | Tobías Kohan and Alejandro Kohan (caretakers) | ||
| League | Primera División | ||
| 2024 | 21th | ||
| Website | defensayjusticia.org.ar | ||
 Current season | |||
Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known asDefensa y Justicia, is an Argentinefootball club fromFlorencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935.[2] The senior squad currently plays in thePrimera División, the top division of theArgentine football league system.
The team plays its home games atEstadio Norberto Tomaghello, with a capacity of approximately 20,000. Defensa y Justicia is one of the clubs with most seasons inPrimera B Nacional, also having played in all the divisions of theArgentine league system since their debut inPrimera D Metropolitana in 1978.[3]
In 2016, Defensa y Justicia qualified to play their first international tournament, the2017 Copa Sudamericana.[4] The team advanced to second stage but then lost toChapecoenseon penalties.[5]
In 2021, the club achieved their first international titles after having won both,2020 Copa Sudamericana toLanús and2021 Recopa Sudamericana beatingPalmeiras on penalties.[6] Along withBoca Juniors andDeportivo Riestra, Defensa y Justicia is one of the clubs that have not been relegated since their promotion to Primera División.
The institution was founded on 20 March 1935 by a group of friends who wanted to form a local team. There are no sources explaining how the name was given to the club.[7] Presided by Norberto Tomaghello, Defensa y Justicia affiliated toArgentine Football Association, built its stadium, which was opened with a friendly match againstBoca Juniors reserve team in December 1977.
The club's original colors were blue with white collars and cuffs, which were changed to yellow with green details. These were the colors of the bus line "El Halcón", a company that belonged to the club president at the time. This company used its buses to bring the fans to away games, and thus received the nickname "Los Halcones de Varela".[7]
Even though the club was founded as early as 1935, Defensa y Justicia did not play in official tournaments until 1978, when the team debuted inPrimera D, defeatingCañuelas 2–1.[7] The starting line-up was: Ramón Correa; Benito López, Roberto Lucarini, Raúl Bustos, Alberto Cortez; Horacio Roselli, Jorge Giache, César Echeverry; Luis Briega, Héctor Cardozo, Oscar Bruno.
Defensa y Justicia played in Primera D until 1982 when the team won the championship and promoted to the upper division,Primera C. Only three years after, Defensa promoted again (this time toPrimera B, the second division by then) after winning their second title. Defensa achieved promotion after beatingBarracas Central 7–0. That same year, Defensa y Justicia played an "Octogonal", an 8-team tournament which winner promoted to Primera División.
After a 1–1 draw vAtlanta, the club promoted to recently createdPrimera B Nacional on 1 June 1986, achieving their second promotion within six months. In the first Primera B Nacional season,1986–87, the team finished 10th. The following years Defensa would be relegated again, but the club returned to Primera B Nacional when winning the 1996–97 title in B Metro.
In1998–99 season and coached byRicardo Villa, Defensa was near to promote after eliminatingArsenal de Sarandí andCipolletti, then losing toChacarita Juniors (which would then promote along with championInstituto) 4–2 on aggregate. In the1999–2000 season, Defensa was coached byJorge Burruchaga but could not qualify to "Torneo Reducido" (promotion and relegation playoff).
On 14 May2014, coached byDiego Cocca, Defensa y Justicia reached promotion to Primera División for the first time in its history when they beatSan Martín de San Juan 1–0 with the only goal of the match scored byBrian Fernández.[8][9]
Defensa y Justicia debuted in the2014 Primera División on 9 August 9,2014 vRacing Club, being defeated 3–1. The team did not make a good performance, finishing 18th out of 20 teams.[10] On the other hand, Defensa had a better performance inCopa Argentina where they eliminatedGodoy Cruz andSan Lorenzo, but lost toAtlético de Rafaela in quarterfinals.[11] In the next season,2015 (contested by 30 teams due a restructuring of the tournament), Defensa y Justicia finished in the 21st position, with only 8 games won.
In June 2015,Ariel Holan was appointed as coach in replacement ofJosé Oscar Flores. It was the first tenure of Holan at a professional club in Primera Division after having worked in several coaching positions at Arsenal de Sarandí, Independiente, andEstudiantes de La Plata. He had also worked withMatías Almeyda in River Plate. In2015–16 Copa Argentina, Defensa eliminatedTalleres de Córdoba and then Independiente in the second stage before losing to Belgrano. Nevertheless, in the2016 Primera División season it was one of the six teams to qualify to2017 Copa Sudamericana, the first international competition where the club participated.[4] The team advanced to the second stage after eliminating Brazilian sideSão Paulo onaway goal rule but then lost toChapecoenseon penalties after the series ended 1–1 on aggregate.[5]
Being coached bySebastián Beccacece, Defensa y Justicia made their first performance in2018–19 Primera División season finishing 2nd. to champion Racing therefore qualifying for the2020 Copa Libertadores group stage. Defensa y Justicia completed the season with 15 wins, 8 draws and only 2 losses over 25 matches played with 33 goals scored and 18 against. In2018 Copa Sudamericana, the club eliminatedAmérica de Cali andEl Nacional qualifying to group stages, where it eliminatedBanfield being then beaten by Colombian sideJunior on away goal rule after a 3–3 on aggregate.[12]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Ricardo Zielinski (2002–03)
Jorge Bermúdez (2010)Jorge Almirón (2012–13)Diego Cocca (2013–14)José Oscar Flores (2014–15)Ariel Holan (2015–16)Sebastián Beccacece (2016–17)Nelson Vivas (2017–18)Sebastián Beccacece (2018–19)Mariano Soso (2019–20)Hernán Crespo (2020–2021)Sebastián Beccacece (2021–2022)Julio Vaccari (2022–)
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