User:Isaiahcambron/Millonarios/Millonarios English

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Club Deportivo Los Millonarios, also widely known as Millos is a Colombian football team, based in Bogotá. As of 2007, Millonarios is the team which has won the most Fútbol Profesional Colombiano championships, 13 in total, although they haven't won this tournament since 1988. The team was initially created in 1937 by students from 2 schools of Bogotá: "Colegio San Bartolomé" and "Instituto La Salle". Millonarios, as the team it is now, was officially founded in June 18th, 1946, thanks to the efforts of Alfonso Senior Quevedo, Millos' first chairman. From the beginning of the Colombian Soccer Tournament, Millos won many domestic and international titles, earning several nicknames in the process, like "Embajador" (Ambassador), the "Most winner" and the "Most times champions" in Colombian Football.

History

Millos had its first glory in the early 1950s in what is known as the El dorado era. During this time it was considered one of the best teams in the world, with players such as Alfredo Di Stéfano (widely considered one of the four best players in the history of world soccer), Adolfo Pedernera, Nestor Raul Rossi and Julio Cozzi ("The Century's Goalkeeper"). It was because of the assembly of this team of stars that the team became widely known as "The Millionaires" (in a way a little similar to that of the Galácticos). With that team, Millonarios won 4 Colombian leagues (1949,1951,1952,1953). The blues then won 5 titles in six years: 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964. During the 70's Millonarios won two championships: 1972 and 1978. In the 1980s, Millonarios was tied to Colombian drug dealer José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha. During this decade the team won titles in 1987 and 1988.

Throughout its history, Millonarios has had famous players, including (among others): Juan Gilberto Funes, "El Búfalo", Willington Ortiz, Arnoldo Iguarán, Daniel "Tito" Onega, Fernando Areán, Carlos Valderrama, Carlos Ángel López, Alfredo Castillo, Sergio Goycochea, Delio "Maravilla" Gamboa, Miguel Angel Converti, Jaime Morón, Amadeo Carrizo, Alejandro Brand,and Pedro Alberto Vivalda. Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama was actually expelled from Millonarios as the Coach and Board of Directors thought he was not good enough for football.

During the 2000's, Millonarios has endured a horrible financial situation in the wake of the death of Rodriguez Gacha who was killed by the Colombian National Police. The club had two of their worst crisis in 2 seasons: In 2002 the club had their worst financial situation, to the point that many people feared the possibility of Millos coming to an end. After a decent 2003 performance, chaos reappared in later 2004 (while playing the Copa Mustang II), when Millos had their worst league campaign, finishing second from bottom.

From this point, Millonarios began a slow process to recover their former glory, managing to get again into the cup's group stage in 2006, something they didn't do at the previous tournament. Millos had further improvement when former Manchester City F.C. assistant manager Juan Carlos Osorio was appointed as the new Millonarios' Manager, which led the club to 3rd position in the League Stage of the Mustang Cup, and 5th in the sumatory of all the year's performance, taking Millos again into the Copa Sudamericana, while the financial situation of the team also had a notable recovery. The club currently is involved in a bankruptucy process that promises to cancel the team's debts and start a new chapter in Colombian football.