Real Estelí FC

The club was founded in 1960 as Estelí FC, adding Real to its name in 1961. Estelí FC plays at the Estadio Independencia, one of the biggest stadiums in Nicaragua, with a capacity of 4,800. The club is known by the nickname, El Tren del Norte (Train of the North), coming as it does, from the northern region of Las Segovias.

Real Estelí has finished in the top five of Nicaragua's top flight every year since 1986. In that time, they have also achieved traditionally high attendance numbers. However, it took time for the club's burgeoning popularity to translate into championships. They won their first title in 1991, then added another in 1999. Nonetheless, their fierce rivals Diriangén FC remained the dominant power in Nicaraguan football.

This began to change in 2002–2003. The two clubs met for a two-legged tie to determine the year's champion. Diriangén won the first leg 1–0, but Real Estelí answered by winning the return match 3–0, claiming the title 3–1 on aggregate. That was the last year Nicaragua determined their championship with a "long season"; for 2003–2004, the league adopted an Apertura/Clausura format. Real Estelí won both tournaments, and each time they defeated Diriangén in the finals.

The following September, Real Estelí made history in Nicaraguan football by eliminating favorites Real España in the First Round of the Copa Interclubes UNCAF. They thus became the first Nicaraguan football team in history to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Back home, Diriangén won the next two championships, but quickly gave way to Real Estelí, who embarked on their dominant run of eight championships in a row from 2006 to 2014. Then, after a brief interruption by Walter Ferretti, Estelí won two more.

Real Estelí FC has finished in the top five of Nicaragua's top division every year since 1986 and has achieved some of the highest attendances in the league during this period.

Crest

The club crest consists of a crown, representing 'Real' (meaning 'Royal'). Similar crowns can be seen on the crests of many other clubs with the prefix 'Real', such as Spanish clubs Real Betis, Real Zaragoza and Real Madrid[1]

The two gold stars of the crest mark the first two national championships won by the club (in 1991 and 1999), while the red and white striped shield represents the club colours as used on team shirts. The logo was redesigned and digitalised in 2000 by Nakor'd J. García and Michael D. Raney (current President/CEO of the World Football Organization), based on the original design by Arnulfo Rivera Zeledón and Johnny Herrera Vallejos.

As of 23 January 2021[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ARG Álvaro Rezzano 2 MF  BRA Vitor Silva 3 MF  NCA Luis López 4 DF  NCA Oscar López 6 MF  NCA Jorge Betancur 7 DF  NCA Manuel Rosas 8 MF  NCA Richard Rodríguez 9 FW  NCA Henry García 10 MF  NCA Harold Medina 11 MF  NCA Juan Barrera 12 MF  ARG Luis Acuña 13 DF  NCA Francisco Paz

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  NCA Marlon López 15 DF  BRA Rodrigo Bronzatti 17 MF  EQG Niko Kata 18 MF  NCA Brandon Ayerdis 19 MF  NCA Ayel Palacios 20 DF  NCA Édgar Castillo 22 GK  NCA Denvorn Fox 23 DF  NCA Óscar Acevedo 24 DF  NCA Cristian Gutiérrez 25 FW  NCA Carlos Chavarría 27 DF  NCA Josué Quijano

• CONCACAF Champions League: 6 appearances

Best: Group stage in 4 times

2009 : Preliminary Round

2012 : Preliminary Round

2013 : Group stage

2014 : Group stage

2015 : Group stage

2017 : Group stage

2021: TBD

• CONCACAF League: appearances

Best: Quarter-finals in 2020

2017 CONCACAF League: Round of 16

2019 CONCACAF League: Round of 16

2020 CONCACAF League: Quarter finals

• Copa Interclubes UNCAF: 5 appearances

Best: Quarter-finals in 2004

2000 : First Round

2003 : First Round

2004 : Quarter-finals

2006 : First Round

2007 : First Round

Record versus other nations

As of 2020-12-06

The Concacaf opponents below = Official tournament results: (Plus a sampling of other results)

Opponent	Last Meeting	G	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	+/-
Aguila	26 – Sept – 2012	2	1	0	1	1	1	3	0
Alajuelense	2 – Dec – 2020	7	0	0	7	3	23	0	-20
Árabe Unido	1996	2	0	1	1	1	2	1	-1
Atlético Marte	15 – Dec – 1991	1	0	0	1	0	3	0	-3
Comunicaciones	6 – Dec – 1991	1	0	0	1	0	15	0	-15
Dallas	24 – Aug – 2016	2	0	1	1	2	3	1	-1
Diriangén	2003	1	0	1	0	1	1	1	0
FAS	2003	1	0	0	1	1	2	0	-1
Herediano	24 – Nov – 2020	1	1	0	0	1	0	3	1
Montreal Impact	2 – Oct – 2008	2	0	1	1	0	1	1	-1
Motagua	10 – Dec – 2020	3	0	1	2	3	7	1	-4
Olimpia	24 – Sept – 2013	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	-2
Real España	29 – Sept – 2004	4	0	2	2	5	14	2	-9
Saprissa	26 – Aug – 2014	7	0	2	5	2	12	2	-10
Santa Tecla	6 – Aug – 2019	2	1	0	1	2	2	1	0
Sporting Kansas City	23 – Sept – 2014	4	0	2	2	2	7	2	-5
Suchitepéquez	13 – Sept – 2016	2	0	1	1	1	2	1	-1
Tauro	1992	2	0	0	2	1	7	0	-6
Toronto	2 – Aug – 2011	2	0	0	2	2	4	0	-2
UANL	18 – Sept – 2012	2	0	1	1	1	5	1	-4
Totals				0

• Campeonato Nacional/Primera División de Nicaragua: 1991, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2019 Clausura, 2019 Apertura, 2020 Clausura
• Copa de Nicaragua: 1991

• Real Estelí Baloncesto

• Real Estelí FC | Sitio Oficial