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| Full name | Asociación Civil Deportivo Lara | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Rojinegro | ||
| Founded | 2 July 2009; 15 years ago (2009-07-02) | ||
| Ground | Estadio Metropolitano de Cabudare Cabudare, Venezuela | ||
| Capacity | 47,913 | ||
| Chairman | Jose Antonio Quintero | ||
| Manager | José María Morr | ||
| League | Primera División Venezolana | ||
| 2022 | 12th | ||
Asociación Civil Deportivo Lara (usually calledACD Lara, or justLara) is a professionalfootball club based inBarquisimeto,Lara State, that was promoted to theVenezuelan league in 2009, in their first year of existence.
It was one of four teams that has won theVenezuelan Primera División championship by winning both short tournaments of the season as well as being the team that has accrued the most points in a season, when it obtained 83 points in the2011–12 campaign, under the reins ofEduardo Saragó and the help of players with experience in the Venezuela national team such asMiguel Mea Vitali,José Manuel Rey andRafael Castellín.
One of the club's most significant milestones was achieved on March 1, 2018, in their first2018 Copa Libertadores match, when they beat the top winner of the competitionIndependiente 1–0 with a goal byCarlos Sierra.[1]
Club Deportivo Lara was founded on July 2, 2009, by Arid García, Luís Yépez, Juan Conde, and Carlos Eduardo Hernández to maintain aVenezuelan Primera División team in theLara State as the former teamGuaros de Lara had been struggling financially and eventually disappeared. The new team was created under the slogan "Believe in Lara."
In its first year in the top flight, the team placed in the top four of the cumulative overall, just behindCaracas,Deportivo Táchira andDeportivo Italia, the latter having its title aspirations severed by the team in both the Apertura and Clausura.
On May 9, 2010, the team sealed its qualification for the2010 Copa Sudamericana, after placing fourth in the 2009–10 season's aggregate table, bringing back an international tournament to the Lara state after 44 years whenLara FC did so in 1966 but in theCopa Libertadores back then.
ACD Lara played their first leg at home on August 17 against Colombia'sSanta Fe at theEstadio Metropolitano de Cabudare with a favorable outcome for the local 2–0, and the second leg was held atEl Campín inBogotá on Thursday August 26. There, the club could not maintain their lead and fell by the score of 4–0 leaving the competition with an aggregate score of 4–2 in favor of Santa Fe.
In December 2010 the club hired coach German "Basílico" González, who brought a new coaching staff includingArturo Boyacá and Óscar Gil as technical assistants. After poor results González left the club, and Óscar Gil took the helm.
Gil took over the club in Week 14 againstEstudiantes de Mérida in which he took the win 1–0 at the Metropolitano de Cabudare stadium, then faced Caroní atCachamay winning 0–3, then a defeat at home toMonagas 1–3 and finishing the tournament with a 0–4 win in a game played in Caracas. Previously, he had served as interim coach in the win againstYaracuyanos by a score of 1–4, which gave him one of the first joys to all Lara fans.
But Gil decided not to stay for the upcoming season, although the Red & Black would not be too long without coach, since on June 3, 2011, coachEduardo Saragó signed for three seasons with the club. That same day a press conference was held to open the club's new headquarters. This began a promising project, as it had taken in consideration the youth teams of the club, and there were transfers of experienced players such asMiguel Mea Vitali,Edgar Pérez Greco,Rafael Castellín,David McIntosh, Vicente Suanno,José Manuel Rey, Norman Baquero, Marcelo Maidana, Bladimir Morales, and for a long-term project which made them long contracts.
After a dream season, the Red & Black became overall champions of the2011–12 Venezuelan Primera División after winning the 2011 Apertura unbeaten by beatingMineros de Guayana with a 5–1 score, and also winning the 2012 Clausura by defeating Mineros de Guayana again, this time by a 1–0 score. Thus, ACD Lara closed the season as the third team in Venezuelan football history to win both tournaments in a season (afterCaracas did so in 2003–04 andUnión Atlético Maracaibo who did it in 2004–05) and the first team to do so since the expansion of teams in 2007, with an accumulated campaign of 25 wins, 8 draws and just one loss, accumulating 83 points (record of points obtained in a Venezuelan football season), which allowed them to obtain qualification for both the2012 Copa Sudamericana and the2013 Copa Libertadores.
Due to family issues, Eduardo Saragó decided not to continue in charge of the team, and his assistant Lenín Bastidas was promoted to head coach in the hopes of guaranteeing the long-term success of the process started with Saragó.[2]
After the end of the 2011–12 season, the club started experiencing financial problems due to an investigation opened on Arid García, owner of the club at the moment, which made it accumulate a debt of 30 millionbolívars.[3] In spite of the situation, the team's on-field performances were still positive, and the club was eventually taken over by the Lara state government, which stabilized the club's financial situation and later sold it to businessman Énder Luzardo in 2013.[4]
CoachRafael Dudamel was appointed as manager for the2014 Clausura tournament, and with him at the helm ACD Lara made it to the Serie Sudamericana in 2015 and also advanced to the final of the2015 Copa Venezuela, which they lost againstDeportivo La Guaira, whilst in that same year they made it to the knockout stage of the2015 Adecuación tournament, losing to that same team in the quarter-finals. Dudamel left the team in 2016, after being appointed asVenezuela national football team coach.[5]
In that same year, Luzardo transferred his shares in the club to Jorge Giménez and Silvio Ochoa, who broughtLeonardo González as new manager. With González at the helm, Deportivo Lara advanced to the final stages of the2016 Clausura and theCopa Venezuela semifinals, and won the2017 Clausura tournament, defeatingMineros de Guayana in the final.[5] The victory in the Clausura qualified ACD Lara for the season's Serie Final, where they faced the Apertura winnersMonagas. Despite having won the first leg in Maturín by a 1–0 score, Deportivo Lara were denied their second Primera División title as Monagas won the second leg at theEstadio Metropolitano de Cabudare by a 2–0 score.[6] The runner-up finish in the 2017 season allowed Deportivo Lara to qualify for the group stage of the2018 Copa Libertadores, where they placed last in their group despite getting two wins at home againstIndependiente and Colombian sideMillonarios.
In2018 Deportivo Lara once again won the Clausura tournament, beating Deportivo La Guaira in the final, but ended up as season runners-up again after losing the Serie Final toZamora, and in2020 they defeatedCaracas to claim third place in the season.
In July 2021 Jorge Giménez was elected as president of theVenezuelan Football Federation (FVF) and left the club, being replaced by Daniel Villasmil, who in turn passed the baton to Khalil Yusef in March 2022. The club began to fall behind in its payments, while at the same time the situation on the field was not much better as the team drifted through the bottom of the table in theleague season. ManagerEduardo Saragó, who returned to the club after being signed in July, resigned just one week after taking over upon noticing the financial situation of the club's players.[7] Saragó was replaced byJesús Ortiz, with whom Deportivo Lara started a comeback that allowed them to avoid relegation and also qualify for the final stages of the competition, narrowly missing out on aCopa Sudamericana berth.
By the start of 2023, and with ACD Lara's debts already totaling more than a millionUSD and some of the club's players and staff announcing their departure, club president Yusef agreed to hand over the administration of the club to the Lara state government until a new owner could be found.[8][9] However, that debt played a major factor in leading the FVF to refuse granting ACD Lara the club license required to compete in the2023 Primera División season.[10] The club did not enter any competition for the 2023 season, due to its administrative issues.[11]
ACD Lara remained on hiatus in 2024, but the club's return to professional activity starting from the 2025 season was announced on 11 December 2024 at a press conference held at theEstadio Metropolitano de Cabudare and led byJose Antonio Quintero as new club chairman. Quintero announced that the club's administrative and legal issues were being solved and the club's debts were being paid as a mandatory requirement to apply for a license that would allow the club to play at professional level once again.[12][13]
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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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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Jaime de la Pava (July 1, 2007 – Dec 31, 2007)Germán González (Dec 14, 2010 – May 1, 2012)
Eduardo Saragó (July 1, 2011 – Dec 12, 2012)Lenín Bastidas (Dec 24, 2012 – Dec 31, 2013)Rafael Dudamel (Dec 15, 2013–15)Alí Cañas (Ene 1– 2016 – July 26, 2017 )Leo González (July 31, 2017 – Dec 20, 2020)
Martín Brignani (Jan 25, 2021 – )
