Getting to Know Colo-Colo:
Chile's most successful futbol team is steeped in history
By: Collin Curry
Located in southeast Santiago, the Estadio Monumental David Arellano is the homeof Club Social Y Deportivo Colo-Colo, Chile’s most popular and most successfulfútbol club.
Colo-Colo has played their home games in the 47,000-seat Estadio MonumentalDavid Arellano since 1989.
Introduction:
Founded in 1925, Colo Colo is the most popular and most successful fútbolteam in Chile. The club plays in the 47,000-seat Estadio Monumental David Arellano, a stadium named for the founder of the club. Colo Colo has won 31 league championships, more than any other team, and a record 10 Copa Chile titles. It is theonly Chilean club to win the Copa Libertadores, the South American continental tournament. Colo Colo fans are known as Colo Colinos.
The club’s all-time top scorer is Carlos Caszely with 207 goals. The clubmottos are Colo Colo es Chile or Colo Colo is Chile, and El Eterno Campeon, or TheEternal Champion. Carlos Felipe Soto, the coordinator of the club museum, said thata famous saying about Colo Colo goes, “Quando Colo Colo gana, la marraqueta esmas crujiente y el té es mas dulce.” Roughly translated, the statement means, “When Colo Colo wins, the bread is crispier and the tea is sweeter.”
Estadio Monumental David Arellano is a fortress for Colo-Colo. Carlos Felipe Soto,the Coordinator of the Colo-Colo Museum says that the club’s biggest rivals,Universidad de Chile, have not won at the Estadio Monumental since 2006.
The Chilean national team is the current champion of South America having won the 2015 installment of the Copa America tournament. Many of the country’s top starslike Claudio Bravo, Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez began their professional careersplaying in the Estadio Monumental for Colo-Colo.
In Chilean Fútbol, the teams compete in two competitions in a calendar year. The Apertura, or Opening competition, and the Clausura, or Closing competition, each has its own champion. Colo-Colo’s most recent success came in claiming the 2014 Clausura and the 2015 Apertura.
Colo-Colo is the most successful fútbol team in Chile. Visitors can see all 31 of their league title trophies displayed at the club’s museum.
David Arrellano:
Arellano was the Chilean soccer player who founded Colo Colo in 1925. Hedied after being hit by an opposing player in a match against the Spanish teamValladolid. Following his death, the club added a permanent black bar above theteam’s crest in memory of Arellano.
There are several monuments just outside Estadio Monumental including one that honors the founder of Colo-Colo, David Arellano, whom the stadium is named after. Arellano founded the club in 1925.
Badge/Crest:
The Colo Colo crest features the Mapuche chieftain Colo Colo, who foughtagainst the Spanish in the 1500s. The colors of the badge are the same as theChilean flag: red, white and blue. The crest also features a horizontal black bar at thetop in memory of the founder, Arellano.
The Club is named after a famous Cacique, or Mapuche warrior chieftain. Colo Colo, the chieftain, fought against the Spanish Conquistadors in the 1500s and is featured in the center of the Club’s crest.
The Colo-Colo crest has changed a great deal over the history of the club. The clubadded a horizontal black bar over the crest in 1927 after the death of Arellano, the founder of Colo-Colo.
Reminders of club’s former glories can be seen all throughout the Estadio Monumental David Arellano.
Murals line the inner walls of the Estadio Monumental David Arrellano depicting the Colo-Colo fans and important moments in the club’s history.
During a tour of Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Carlos Felipe Soto, the Coordinator of the Colo-Colo Museum, explains the significance of the murals inside the stadium to visitors.
One mural shows the passion of the Colo-Colino, the most faithful fans of the club.
Another mural illustrates the most important moment in Colo-Colo’s history, the 1991 Copa Libertadores title.
The 1991 Copa Libertadores victory is the most important moment in Colo-Colo’s history. The trophy is currently on display at the center of the club’s museum.
Copa Libertadores:
In 1991, Colo Colo won the Copa Libertadores, the South Americancontinental tournament. The club defeated the Paraguayan club, Olympia, 3-0 tobecome the first ever Chilean club to win the tournament.“This victory was the most important moment in the history of Colo Colo,” Soto says.
While there are many heroes from the team’s run to the Copa Libertadorestitle, the most memorable wasn’t a Colo Colo player. In fact, he wasn’t even human. Adog became one of the biggest heroes of the Colo Colo during the second leg of theCopa Libertadores semi-final against Argentinean powerhouse Boca Juniors. Ron thepolice dog earned his fame during a brawl that broke out in the middle of the match.
In the midst of the confusion, he broke away from his handler and bit Bocagoalkeeper Navarro Montoya on the leg.
Another monument features a display of photos from Colo-Colo’s historic 3-2 Copa Libertadores semi-final victory over the Argentinean club, Boca Juniors in 1991.
Ron became instantly famous. He toured the country, ended up on the coversof several newspapers and magazines, and had a memorial erected in his honor atthe Estadio Monumental.
Ron the dog is buried in a police dog cemetery at the foot of Cerro SanCristobal, and Colo Colo fans still make pilgrimages to his grave on the anniversaryof the match.
His gravestone reads, “Aquí yace el noble ovejero alemán, baluarte de su razay ejemplo para la especie humana.” Roughly translated it says, “Here lies the nobleGerman shepherd, bastion of his breed and example for the human species.”
