User:Gabox11

Sports


There are professional Association Football, baseball and several other sports.

Professional teams include Deportivo Italia, Caracas Fútbol Club, SD Centro Italo Venezolano, Estrella Roja FC and Real Esppor Club. The Deportivo Italia has arrived to the semifinals of international tournaments such as the Copa Libertadores de America, while the Caracas Fútbol Club has arrived to the quarterfinals.

Baseball teams Tiburones de La Guaira and Leones del Caracas play in the Estadio Universitario de la UCV, of the Central University of Venezuela, with a capacity of 26,000 spectators.

Another baseball team started in Caracas: the Navegantes del Magallanes. It was moved to Valencia, Carabobo in the 1970s.

Association Football stadiums include:
 * Estadio Olímpico de la UCV, with capacity of 30 000 spectators is seat of the Deportivo Italia and Caracas Fútbol Club.
 * Brígido Iriarte stadium, with a capacity of 12 000 spectators (old seat of the Deportivo Italia and Caracas Fútbol Club, and seat of the Estrella Roja FC). The Caracas Fútbol Club opened its own stadium in 2005, Campo Deportivo Cocodrilos.
 * Cocodrilos de Caracas plays in the Venezuelan professional basketball league. They play their games in the "Gimansio José Beracasa" in the neighbourhood of El Paraíso.

Caracas is the seat of the National Institute of Sports and of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee.

Caracas hosted the 1983 Pan American Games.

Teams

 * Association Football: Deportivo Italia, SD Centro Italo Venezolano, Estrella Roja Futbol club, Caracas Fútbol Club, Real Esppor Club.
 * Baseball: Tiburones de la Guaira, Leones del Caracas.
 * Basketball: Cocodrilos de Caracas.

Deportivo Italia is a Venezuelan football club.

History
Deportivo Italia was founded on August 18, 1948 by 9 Italian immigrants: Carlo Pescifeltri, Lorenzo Tommasi, Bruno Bianchi, Giordano Valentini, Samuel Rovatti, Angelo Bragaglia, Giovanni de Stefano, Giuseppe Pane and Alfredo Sacchi.

The golden years of the team were those of the "D'Ambrosio era", that lasted from 1958 to 1978.

The D'Ambrosio golden era
In 1958 Mino D'Ambrosio together with his brother Pompeo D'Ambrosio (who managed the financial side) took control of Deportivo Italia.

For the next twenty years the team was the most successful in Venezuela.

In those golden years Deportivo Italia won the Venezuelan First Division tournament four times (1961, 1963, 1966 and 1972) and the Copa Venezuela three times (1961,1962 and 1970), and was runner up in the first division in 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971 and in the Copa Venezuela in 1976. Deportivo Italia even managed to participate in the Copa Libertadores six times (1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971 and 1972).

In the 1971 Copa Libertadores, Deportivo Italia was even able to defeat Fluminense (Champion of Brasil) in the Stadium Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.

Deportivo Italchacao
right In August 1998, Deportivo Italia and Deportivo Chacao F.C., merged and changed the name to “Deportivo Italchacao Fútbol Club, S.A.”, in order to preserve the colors, the logos and the history of more than 50 years of Deportivo Italia.

For the 2006/2007 season the team returned to its original name: Deportivo Italia. In 2008, with manager Eduardo Saragó, Deportivo Italia won Torneo Apertura, beating with Aragua FC (0-2) on November 30, and for this, qualificate to Copa Libertadores.

Stadium
The club played until 2006 their home matches at Estadio Brígido Iriarte, which has a maximum capacity of 15,000 people. Nowadays, the team plays at the Estadio Olímpico (Caracas), with a capacity of 30,000.

Colors
The colors are the same as the Italian national football team (blue and white).

Titles

 * Primera División Venezolana
 * Professional Era (5): 1961, 1963, 1966, 1972, 1999 (as Deportivo Italchacao)


 * Copa de Venezuela (3): 1961, 1962, 1970

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

 * Copa Libertadores: 10 appearances
 * Best: Quarter-Final in 1969.
 * 1964: First Round
 * 1966: First Round
 * 1967: First Round
 * 1969: Quarter-Final
 * 1971: First Round
 * 1972: First Round
 * 1985: First Round
 * 2000: Preliminary Round
 * 2001: Preliminary Round
 * 2010:


 * Copa Sudamericana: 2 appearances
 * Best: Second Preliminary Round in 2003.
 * 2003: Second Preliminary Round
 * 2004: Preliminary Round


 * Recopa Sudamericana: 0 appearances


 * Copa CONMEBOL: 1 appearances
 * Best: First Round in 1998.
 * 1998: First Round


 * Copa Merconorte: 1 appearances
 * Best: First Round in 2001.
 * 2001: First Round

Former players

 * Pablo Camacho
 * Alejandro Valldeperas