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| Full name | Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle | |||
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| Nicknames | Los Negriazules (The Black-and-Blues) El Matagigantes (The Giant-Killer) Los Rayados del Valle (The Stripes of the Valley) | |||
| Short name | IDV | |||
| Founded | 1 March 1958; 67 years ago (1958-03-01) | |||
| Ground | Estadio Banco Guayaquil Quito, Ecuador | |||
| Capacity | 12,000 | |||
| Chairman | Franklin Tello Núñez | |||
| Manager | Javier Rabanal | |||
| League | Ecuadorian Serie A | |||
| 2023 | Serie A, 3rd of 16 (Finals runner-up) | |||
| Website | www | |||
Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle,[1] known simply asIndependiente del Valle, is a professional football club based inSangolquí,Ecuador that currently plays in theEcuadorian Serie A.
Founded in 1958, the club plays its home games atEstadio Banco Guayaquil, which opened in March 2021 and has a capacity of 12,000. In the2013 Serie A season Independiente finished runners-up and they won their first league title in2021.
In CONMEBOL competitions they reached the final of the2016 Copa Libertadores after famously defeating powerhousesRiver Plate andBoca Juniors.[2] They won their firstCopa Sudamericana title in2019,[3] and three years later the club would become one of the few two-time Sudamericana champions after defeatingSão Paulo in the2022 final.
Independiente have a renowned youth academy. Notable players they have produced includeJunior Sornoza,Cristian Ramírez,Gonzalo Plata,Moisés Caicedo,Piero Hincapié,Willian Pacho andKendry Páez.[4]
The club was founded on 1 March 1958 asClub Deportivo Independiente by Jose Terán, a football fan fromSangolquí, along with a group of friends including José Díaz, Jorge Atapuma, theNegro Sanguano, Tomás Zaldumbide andMarino Guayasamín. In 1977, two years after the death of José Terán, the club's name was changed toClub Social y Deportivo Independiente José Terán in honor of its founder. The name and initial club colors (red and white) were inspired by Argentine clubClub Atlético Independiente.
In 1995 the club reached theSegunda Categoría (3rd Division) for the second time. After winning the Segunda Categoría in 2007, the club changed its name toIndependiente del Valle and adopted the current colors (blue and black).Los Negriazules achieved promotion to theSerie A for the first time ever in the 2010 season, after winning the2009 Serie B.
In the2013 Serie A, the club finished runners-up on the aggregate table. Independiente del Valle made its first international participation that same year, in the2013 Copa Sudamericana, where it was eliminated in the second stage byUniversidad de Chile after having beat Venezuelan clubDeportivo Anzoategui in the first stage. The next year, the Ecuadorian club made its first Copa Libertadores participation and second overall international participation, with the2014 edition. In that edition, the club was eliminated after placing 3rd in their group.
In July 2014, the club officially changed its name from "Independiente del Valle" toClub de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle. Although the club had changed its name already, it had never been made official by theEcuadorian Football Federation until that point.[5]
Independiente del Valle unexpectedly reached the finals of the2016 Copa Libertadores with incredible odds,[6] being compared toLeicester City'sPremier League title that same year.[7][4] Independiente began itsknockout stage run by beating Copa Libertadoresdefending champions, Argentina'sRiver Plate, in the round of 16 2–1 on aggregate. In the quarter-finals they defeatedPumas UNAM on penalties 5–3, after an aggregate score of 3–3.[8] The club subsequently faced Argentina's giantBoca Juniors in the semi-final, defeating them 5–3 on aggregate, including a 3–2 victory at the famousLa Bombonera stadium.[9] These feats earned the team the nickname"matagigantes" (killer of giants).[10] In thefinals, the Ecuadorians facedColombia'sAtlético Nacional. In the first leg played atEstadio Olímpico Atahualpa on 20 July, the match finished 1–1. Independiente's fairy tale story came to a conclusion after a 1–0 loss in the second leg with the series ending 2–1 in favor of the Colombians.[11][12]
In November 2019, Independiente del Valle played their firstCopa Sudamericana final, and only its second ever CONMEBOL final, where they defeatedClub Atlético Colón 3–1 inAsunción. This was the Ecuadorian club's first historic title. It was considered a major upset because Colón had a richer history and a much bigger fanbase, with around 40,000 fans at the stadium versus only 500 Ecuadorians.[13]
In February 2020, the club lost the2020 Recopa Sudamericana against the champion of the2019 Copa Libertadores,Flamengo. The first leg in Quito was a 2–2 draw, but in the second leg atEstadio Maracana, Flamengo won 3–0 and became the champion with a 5–2 aggregate score.[14]
Estadio Rumiñahui was inaugurated in 1941 and has a capacity for 8,000 spectators.
For international tournaments the club use larger stadiums like theEstadio Olímpico Atahualpa inQuito that has a 38,500-capacity.
In March 2021, the club opened a new 12,000-capacity stadium calledEstadio Banco Guayaquil. It meets modern FIFA standards and is able to hold international matches, unlike their old stadium. It also has three grandstands with a roof, compared to Estadio Rumiñahui, which only had one grandstand.[15]
Since 2018, the club has a reserve team in theEcuadorian Serie B, formerly namedAlianza Cotopaxi SC. After the promotion, the club changed name toC.D. Independiente Juniors.
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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The following players were chosen to represent their country at theFIFA World Cup while contracted to Independiente del Valle.
Moisés Ramírez (2022)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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Javier Rabanal (head coach) Felipe Sánchez Mateos (assistant coach) Francisco Trujillo (fitness coach)
Ricardo Pereira (goalkeeper coach)
Luis Piedrahita (performance analyst) Wendy Montiel (doctor) Javier Echeverría (physiotherapist) Camila Nájera (physiotherapist) Junior Alcócer (equipment manager) Francisco Alcócer (equipment assistant)Nelson Brito (2007 – April 26, 2008)Daniel Silguero (April 30, 2008 – November 8, 2008)
Janio Pinto (November 8, 2008 – April 27, 2009)
Guillermo Duró (May 11, 2010 – Sept 21, 2010)Julio Asad (Sept 22, 2010 – April 17, 2011)Carlos Sevilla (April 17, 2011 – Sept 20, 2012)Álvaro Carcelén (Sept 21, 2012 – Sept 30, 2012)
Pablo Repetto (Sept 25, 2012 – Jul 27, 2016)Alexis Mendoza (Jul 29, 2016 – Dec 6, 2017)Gabriel Schürrer (Dec 10, 2017 – 2018)Ismael Rescalvo (Jun 28, 2018 – April 27, 2019)Yuri Solano (April 27, 2019 – May 7, 2019)Miguel Ángel Ramírez (May 7, 2019 – Dec 19, 2020)Renato Paiva (Dec 25, 2020 – May 30, 2022)Martín Anselmi (June 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2023)Javier Gandolfi (Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 23, 2024)Javier Rabanal (Dec 24, 2024 – present)Copa Sudamericana winners | |||||||
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