Sport Boys

Sport Boys Association, commonly referred to as Sport Boys or simply Boys, is a Peruvian football club based in the port city of Callao. It was founded on 28 July 1927. Its classic and historic rival is the Atlético Chalaco against whom dispute the Clasico Porteño derby of Callao. They play their home games in Estadio Miguel Grau in Callao, which it also shares with two other clubs in Callao, Academia Cantolao, and Universidad de San Martín de Porres.

Sport Boys is considered the fourth most important club in the history of Peruvian football as they have won 6 national titles and have the largest number of international appearances after the Big 3, Universitario, Sporting Cristal and Alianza Lima, teams of Lima. Its most recent title was in 1984, where it overtook Colegio Nacional Iquitos and qualified for the 1985 Copa Libertadores where it finished in the quarter-finals. It won the first title in the professional era of the First Division. They currently participate in the Peruvian Primera División, the top flight of the Peruvian football league system.

The team's original uniform was striped red and yellow, which was then changed to its current pink and black color scheme. Sport Boys was the first Peruvian football club to feature cheerleaders. Many of them, including Anelhí Arias, Shirley Cherres, and others that have become Peruvian celebrities.

Foundation
The club was founded on 28 July 1927, by a group of young enthusiasts from El Callao who got together to fulfill the dream of a very important local football fan Gualberto Lizárraga to start a football club. The day before Peru's independence day, 27 July, they held a meeting and at midnight, the group sang the National Anthem. Afterwards, they declared the club founded and named Lizárraga president and unanimously voted for the club name to be Sport Boys Association.

Golden age
The team participated in the Provincial League of Lima and Callao from 1929 to 1932 (Third Champion 1930, Second 1931 and runner-up in the Intermediate Division 1932), managing to ascend to the first category of national football, called the Honor Division at that time. A few years after being promoted to the Peruvian Primera División, Sport Boys won their first national league, winning the 1935 Peruvian Primera División undefeated and having a lead of eight points. Two years later, Sport Boys won the First Division again in 1937. The club were runners-up of the tournament the year after, losing to Universitario. They went five years without a single trophy, but won the national league again in 1942.

In 1951, Sport Boys won their first national league titles in the professional era, and their fourth overall. A year earlier, they were runners-up in the tournament. In 1958, Sport Boys appointed Marcos Calderón as the clubs coach. He would bring Sport Boys to win their fifth title in 1958, and became coach of the Peru national team In the 1970s, bringing the team to win the 1975 Copa América. In 1952, Sport Boys got second place in the First Division.

After finishing second place in the 1966 Torneo Descentralizado, Sport Boys qualified for the new created Copa Libertadores in 1967 for the first time but was eliminated in the first round. The club won their last First Division title in 1984 and has since not won any. Before 1984, the club came second in the First Division five times, in 1952, 1959, 1960, 1966 and 1976. As a result of winning the 1985 Torneo Descentralizado, Sport Boys qualified for the Copa Libertadores once again in 1985. This was the clubs best run in an international tournament, reaching the Quarter-finals. They previously reached the quarter-finals in 1977, after finishing second in the 1976 Torneo Descentralizado.

Downfall
Sport Boys was going through an economic crisis and a long drought of titles. The club was relegated to the Peruvian Segunda División in 1987 and stayed for two years, until they won the 1989 tournament and got promoted back to the First Division. They won the Torneo Regional in 1990 and qualified for the 1991 Copa Libertadores. Sport Boys qualified for the next edition as well. They were eliminated in the first round in both editions.

Recent years
The last time Sport Boys became champions of the Primera División Peruana was 1984. Since then they have had a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Some of the ups have been being runners-up in the 1990 and 1991 First Division after having won the Segunda División Peruana to gain promotion. In 1999 the Sport Boys qualified for the Copa CONMEBOL, and in 2001 for the 2001 Copa Libertadores. Since then that team has had more downs than ups by avoiding relegation to the Segunda División Peruana by winning an end of season playoff match that went down to a penalty shootout against José Gálvez in the 2006 season. During 2008 their campaign was worse than the 2007 campaign leaving the Sport Boys in the bottom of the standings for most of the Apertura tournament. Financial issues were also haunting the club in 2008, so severe that they have not been able to pay their players from March 2008. Some players like midfielder Montenegro have had to do taxi work at night to be able to support their families. That year they were relegated to the Segunda División Peruana but on 17 October 2009, after a great season, Sport Boys went on to beat Cobresol 3–2 for the Segunda División Peruana finals to go back into the Primera Division Peruana, where it played for three seasons before been inundated with economical problems, and then finishing 15th during the 2012 season which relegated them back to the Peruvian Segunda Division.

Sport Boys returned to the Peruvian Primera División after winning the 2017 Peruvian Segunda División. They placed 14th on the aggregate table on the brink of Relegation but were ahead of the relegation zone by 11 points and again in 2019. The club qualified for the 2022 Copa Sudamericana, their first participation in the tournament. They did not advance past the First Round.

Kit and crest
The pink shirt is perhaps the most characteristic symbol of the Sport Boys of callao. After the club was founded, back in 1927, it was decided that the Boys' shirt would have red and yellow vertical stripes. However, in 1929, after the first championship in which the club participated - a children's tournament organized by the Raimondi Intellectual Club of La Victoria - it was decided to change the color of the uniform, adopting the pink jacket. And it has never been changed since then. However, the model of the shirt changed over the years, but not the colors that represent the club. The year 1981 was characterized by the club wearing a completely pink outfit, a uniform that was also used in some games in 1973, 1986, 2009 and 2010.

Due to the peculiarity of the shirt color, the club has rarely used an alternate jersey. In 1989 against Juventud Progreso, who also wore pink, they used an alternative yellow shirt for the first time. Then in 2004 they wore a black uniform in some games as a protest for having been stripped of the third place in the Copa Libertadores. They also wore black in 2010. In 2008 and 2014 they wanted to remember the club's original colors and adopted, as an alternative shirt, one with yellow and red vertical stripes that was used for the only time on matchday 16 of the Second Division. 2014 in Huacho against the Pacific, because both clubs have the starting uniform of the same color.

Stadium
Sport Boys plays its home games at the Estadio Miguel Grau. It has a capacity of about 17,000. The stadium is named after the Peruvian war hero of the War of the Pacific, Miguel Grau Seminario. The stadium shares the same name as another, larger stadium in Piura, the birthplace of Miguel Grau Seminario. Sport Boys shares Estadio Miguel Grau with Academia Cantolao, Deportivo Municipal, and Club Deportivo Universidad de San Martín de Porres.

Before this stadium was built, they had to use the 5,000 spectator capacity, Estadio Telmo Carbajo, a stadium that was in bad condition and unfit to host football matches. It was the first stadium constructued in Callao. Sport Boys were forced to play their games in the Estadio Nacional, where they would be far away from their fans.

Supporters
The pink team 's barras had their formal beginning in 1966 when, at the initiative of Isaac Lastres after a championship match, a group of fans decided to group together forming the "Vamos Boys" bar. This barra was traditionally located in the west stand of stadiums. Some time later a group of fans separated from it, creating the team' s second bar called "Somos Boys", which was located in the east stand.

The third barra of the pink team is called "Juventud Rosada", formed by the new generation of Sport Boys fans. It was founded on August 20, 1991 at the initiative of a group of twenty boys, gathered in the Isabel la Católica park, near the municipality of Bellavista. Following the tradition marked by the "Vamos Boys" bar, it is also characteristic of the "Pink Youth" to be very well organized, encourage the team for 90 minutes without stopping and accompany them to their presentations in the provinces. Its traditional location is in the south popular tribune. The club is the among most popular in Callao and competes for supporters with rivals Atlético Chalaco and Deportivo Municipal.

Rivalries
Sport Boys has had a long-standing rivalry with Atlético Chalaco, Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal, Deportivo Municipal, and Universitario.

The Clasico Porteño, or Clasico Chalaco, is the most important classic in Callao and is played between the two most important clubs in the Constitutional Province of Callao, Atlético Chalaco and Sport Boys. This derby was played regularly in the Peruvian Primera División, until Atlético Chalaco was relegated to the Copa Perú. The first official match was played on June 6, 1937, by the Amateur Tournament (ANA), Sport Boys and Atlético Chalaco. The game corresponded to the second date of the Division of Honor, which was the name that the highest division took from that year on. Since 1932, León Porteño had only participated in the Callao League and after winning it in 1935 it was invited, along with runner-up Telmo Carbajo, to be part of the aforementioned Honor Division of 1937 (in 1936 there was no tournament due to Peruvian participation in the Berlin Summer Olympics). In that tournament, among other teams that came from the First Division, there was Sport Boys, champion of 1935, whom they had not faced before because La Misilera debuted in the highest category only in 1933.

Technical staff
Teddy Cardama

Other titles
Titles won in lower divisions:

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

 * Copa Libertadores: 6 appearances


 * 1967: First round
 * 1977: Quarter-finals
 * 1985: Quarter-finals
 * 1991: First round
 * 1992: First round
 * 2001: First round


 * Copa Sudamericana: 1 appearance


 * 2022: First round


 * Copa CONMEBOL: 1 appearance


 * 1999: Quarter-finals

Notable players

 * 🇦🇷 Fernando Martinuzzi
 * 🇧🇷 Cláudio Adão
 * 🇮🇹 Vincenzo Gianneo
 * 🇵🇪 Armando "Tuta" Agurto
 * 🇵🇪 Jorge "Campolo" Alcalde
 * 🇵🇪 Teodoro "Prisco" Alcalde
 * 🇵🇪 Enrique Aróstegui
 * 🇵🇪 Gerónimo "Patrulla" Barbadillo
 * 🇵🇪 Alfredo Carmona
 * 🇵🇪 Jose Chacon
 * 🇵🇪 Paolo de la Haza
 * 🇵🇪 Carlos Flores
 * 🇵🇪 Mario Flores
 * 🇵🇪 Jorge Hirano
 * 🇵🇪 Valeriano López
 * 🇵🇪 Julio Meléndez
 * 🇵🇪 Juan Jose Munante
 * 🇵🇪🇲🇽 Nicola Porcella
 * 🇵🇪 Oswaldo "Cachito" Ramírez
 * 🇵🇪 Santiago Salazar
 * 🇵🇪 Jhonny Vegas
 * 🇺🇾 Waldemar Victorino

Managers

 * 🇵🇪 Víctor Alcalde (1930s)
 * 🇵🇪 Raúl Chappell (1940–42)
 * 🇨🇱 Abelardo Robles (1943–44)
 * 🇵🇪 Enrique Aróstegui (1945–46)
 * 🇵🇪 Telmo Carbajo
 * 🇵🇪 Miguel Rostaing
 * 🇵🇪 José Arana (1948)
 * 🇵🇪 Alfonso Huapaya (1950–52)
 * 🇵🇪 Jorge Alcalde (1953)
 * 🇬🇷 Dan Georgiadis (1957–58)
 * 🇵🇪 Marcos Calderón (1958–62)
 * 🇧🇷 José Gomes Nogueira (1964)
 * 🇵🇪 José Chiarella (1966)
 * 🇵🇪 Roberto Drago (1966)
 * 🇵🇪 César Brush (1967)
 * 🇵🇪 Diego Agurto (1968)
 * 🇵🇪 José Chiarella (1969)
 * 🇵🇪 Juan Honores (1970)
 * 🇧🇷 Zózimo (1971)
 * 🇺🇾 Juan Hohberg (1972)
 * 🇧🇷 Djalma Santos (1973)
 * 🇵🇪 Walter Milera (1973)
 * 🇵🇪 Moisés Barack (1974)
 * 🇵🇪 Diego Agurto (1974)
 * 🇧🇷 Zózimo (1975–76)
 * 🇵🇾 César Cubilla (1977)
 * 🇵🇪 José Chiarella (1978)
 * 🇵🇪 Luis Roth (1979)
 * 🇵🇪 Eloy Campos (1979–80)
 * 🇵🇪 José Chiarella (1980–81)
 * 🇵🇪 Walter Milera (1983)
 * 🇵🇪 Marcos Calderón (1984)
 * 🇺🇾 Juan Hohberg (1985)
 * 🇵🇪 Walter Milera (1986–87)
 * 🇵🇪 Gustavo Merino (1987)
 * 🇵🇪 Augusto Palacios (1987)
 * 🇨🇱 Jaime Ramírez (1988)
 * 🇦🇷 Vito Andrés "Sabino" Bártoli (1989)
 * 🇨🇱 Miguel Ángel Arrué (1990)
 * 🇵🇪 Miguel Company (1990)
 * 🇧🇷 Fred (1990)
 * 🇵🇪 Miguel Company (1991)
 * 🇵🇪 Manuel Mayorga (1991)
 * 🇧🇷 Edu (1992)
 * 🇵🇪 Hernán Saavedra (1992)
 * 🇵🇪 Manuel Mayorga (1992)
 * 🇵🇪 Roberto Challe (1993)
 * 🇵🇪 César Gonzales (1993–94)
 * 🇵🇪 Luis Roth (1994)
 * 🇵🇪 Carlos Solís (1994)
 * 🇵🇪 Moisés Barack (1994)
 * 🇵🇪 César González (1994)
 * 🇧🇷 José Carlos Amaral (1995)
 * 🇨🇱 Miguel Ángel Arrué (1996)
 * 🇧🇷 Cláudio Adão (1997)
 * 🇵🇾 César Cubilla (1997)
 * 🇵🇪 César González (1998)
 * 🇷🇸 Ivica Brzić (1999)
 * 🇵🇪 César González (1999)
 * 🇵🇪 Ramón Mifflin (2000)
 * 🇵🇪 Teddy Cardama (2000)
 * 🇵🇪 Ramón Mifflin (2001)
 * 🇵🇪 César González (2001)
 * 🇵🇪 Ramón Mifflin (2002)
 * 🇦🇷 Jorge Sampaoli (2002–03)
 * 🇦🇷 Fernando Zamácola (2004)
 * 🇵🇪 Eusebio Salazar (2004)
 * 🇵🇪 Franco Navarro (2004–05)
 * 🇵🇪 Juan Carlos Cabanillas (2005)
 * 🇵🇪 Eusebio Salazar (2005)
 * 🇵🇪 Roberto Mosquera (2006)
 * 🇦🇷 Raúl Márcovich (2006)
 * 🇵🇪 César González (2006–07)
 * 🇵🇪 Moisés Barack (2007)
 * 🇵🇾 Jacinto Rodríguez (2008)
 * 🇵🇪 Eusebio Salazar (July 2008–Dec 08)
 * 🇵🇪 Juan Carlos Cabanillas (2009)
 * 🇵🇪 Roberto Drago Maturo (Sept 2009–April 10)
 * 🇵🇪 Miguel Company (April 2010–Dec 11)
 * 🇵🇪 Agustín Castillo (2011)
 * 🇺🇾 Claudio Techera (Jan 2012–July 12)
 * 🇵🇪 Jorge Espejo (Sept 2012–13)
 * 🇺🇾 Pablo Bossi (2013)
 * 🇵🇪 Rivelino Carassa (2014)
 * 🇵🇪 Paul Cominges (2014–15)
 * 🇵🇪 Rivelino Carassa (2015–)
 * 🇵🇪 Rainer Torres (2016)
 * 🇺🇾 Mario Viera (2017)