Independiente Medellín

Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at Estadio Atanasio Girardot, which seats 40,943 people, and is also shared with city rivals Atlético Nacional. The team is dubbed "El Poderoso de la Montaña" (Mighty of the Mountain) due to Medellín's geographical location high in the Andes mountains, and as a reference to the many amateur titles it won in its early years.
Founded in 1913 as the second oldest club in Colombia, Independiente Medellín has won the Categoría Primera A six times: in 1955, 1957, 2002–II, 2004–I, 2009–II, and 2016–I, and the Copa Colombia three times: in 1981, 2019, and 2020. Its best performance at international level was in 2003, when the team reached the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores.
Independiente Medellín has a rivalry with Atlético Nacional, and the teams face each other in El Clásico Paisa, which is considered one of the most important derbies in the country.
Independiente Medellín was founded on 14 November 1913 under the name of Medellín Foot Ball Club by siblings Alberto, Luis, and Rafael Uribe Piedrahíta. The team played its first match against Sporting Medellín, who defeated them 11–0.
The club won amateur titles in 1918, 1920, 1922, 1923 and 1930; with these titles it became one of the most important teams of Colombia at the time.
In 1948, Medellín joined professional football and played the first edition of the Colombian professional league. Medellín placed seventh out of 10 teams, winning seven matches. Their first match was a 4–0 defeat against América de Cali. Their first win was 3–2 against Junior.
In 1950, Medellin signed many Peruvian footballers in a movement known as El Dorado, when Colombian teams signed many foreign footballers. Some of the players signed include brothers Constantino Perales [es] and Agapito Perales, Segundo Castillo, Roberto Drago [es] and Luis Guzmán Gonzales [es]. This squad was dubbed "La Danza del Sol", and that season the club finished fourth with 34 points.
Medellín did not play in 1952 and 1953 due to economic problems. In 1953, the club changed its entire administration and was renamed to its current name, Deportivo Independiente Medellín. In the club's first season back, the 1954 season, they finished third in the league table. 1954 also marked the arrival of Argentine footballer José Manuel "El Charro" Moreno, who had won two South American championships with Argentina and many trophies at River Plate.
Under El Charro's command, who had taken a role as a player-manager, DIM won its first title in the 1955 Campeonato Profesional, finishing first with 31 points and just one defeat. Argentine striker Felipe Marino was the tournament's top goalscorer, with 22 goals. The team won its second title two years later, in 1957, with almost the same players as the previous seasons. José Vicente Grecco was the top scorer of the tournament. Despite having strong squads, in 1959 and 1961 DIM finished runner-up to Millonarios, who had one of the strongest sides in Colombian football history and won four straight titles from 1960 to 1964; in 1964, DIM also came close to winning the title, finishing third but only three points from Millonarios.
In 1966, Medellín achieved their first ever qualification for the Copa Libertadores, after finishing runner-up in the league. They played against Argentine sides Racing de Avellaneda and River Plate, Bolivian teams 31 de Octubre and Bolívar, and fellow Colombians Independiente Santa Fe. They finished fifth out of six in their group and were eliminated.
In 1971, Medellin did not participate in the league due to economic hardships. The 70s were a low point for the club; the club were consistently finishing in the middle to bottom half of the league table, and were never close to winning the title.
The club won its first Copa Colombia in 1981; although this title is not officially recognized by many experts nor by DIMAYOR, it is recognized by CONMEBOL. Despite the joy of winning their first cup, in the 1981 league season, the club had a lacklustre season and finished last in the aggregate table with 38 points from 47 matches. Things improved in the 1980s, and despite not winning anymore titles for the decade, the club was consistently qualifying for the octogonal finals.
In 1984, with young manager Julio Comesaña at the post, the club finished third in the octogonal, the best participation the club had in the league since 1964.
In 1989, a year where Medellín had one of the strongest squads in the league and was expected to win the title, a tragic event occurred in Colombian football. In one of the final games of the season, Medellín tied América de Cali 0–0 at home. During the game, linesman Álvaro Ortega disallowed a Medellín goal, angering many people. Reports say that a person that had been sent by Pablo Escobar hunted Ortega down and murdered him, with the motive being a lost bet on the match. In response, the Colombian Football Federation decided to cancel the rest of the season, which left the 1989 league season without a winner.
On 19 December 1993, going into the last match of the 1993 season, Medellín and Junior were fighting for a tight first place, as both clubs had the same number of points. Junior was playing América de Cali at home in Barranquilla while simultaneously Medellín played hometown rivals Atlético Nacional. A Medellín win combined with a Junior loss or draw would give Medellín the title. At halftime América were leading the game in Barranquilla 1–0 and in Medellin the game was still 0–0; at that moment América were winning the title due to the draw in Medellín. Junior scored two goals to put the game at 2–1 with ten minutes remaining, and Medellín scored at the same time to put the game at 1–0. América tied the game at 2–2 with seven minutes remaining. The match at Estadio Anatasio Girardot ended with Medellín winning 1–0 while awaiting the 2–2 game in Barranquilla to end, which still had five minutes remaining due to a delay at the start of the second half. Medellín players were celebrating with a victory lap and giving interviews with reporters white they waited for the final whistle in Barranquilla. However, Oswaldo Mackenzie scored a late goal in the 89th minute and gave Junior the 3–2 win and the title, leaving the Medellín players and fans heartbroken.
As a result of their great campaign, Medellin returned to the Copa Libertadores for the first time in almost three decades. Entering the 1994 edition, they topped their group and then beat Universitario in the round of 16 before being eliminated by Junior in the quarter-finals.
In the 1994 league season, Medellin had a great season and qualified to the Cuadrangular final, a group of four teams with one of them being rivals Nacional. Going into the last match of the season, Medellin did not have any chance at winning the title, but a win or draw would prevent Nacional from achieving the title; however the match ended 1–0 in favor of Nacional and Nacional won the title.
El Poderoso had a great 1999 season, finishing in the top eight of both Apertura and Finalización tournaments, and finishing fourth in the aggregate table. This season was different from the standard format; in the Apertura tournament there were no playoffs. The Finalizacion tournament had playoffs, where Medellin topped their group and qualified for the Finalizacion finals against rivals Nacional, with the winner playing the Apertura tournament champion in a championship final to decide the 1999 league champion. Medellin lost the Finalizacion finals to Nacional 1–0 on aggregate, and Nacional went on to win the league title against Améric, while Medellin missed out on a spot for the 2000 Copa Libertadores.
Medellin came close to winning their third league title in 2001 thanks to Jorge Serna's prolific goalscoring, who finished as top scorer tied with Carlos Castro on 29 goals. The club ended up losing the final to América de Cali 3–0 on aggregate, although they reached the final in an unexpected manner; in the regular season they finished in 10th place and occupied the last seed for the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs through the aggregate table.
After 45 long years of agony, Medellín won its third league title in the 2002 Finalización tournament under manager Víctor Luna, who replaced Reinaldo Rueda halfway through the season after he was sacked due to poor results. Medellín played against Deportivo Pasto in the two-legged final. El Rojo Paisa beat Pasto 2–0 at home in the first leg with goals from Robinson Muñoz and an own goal from Julio César Valencia. In the second leg on 23 December 2002, Medellín drew 1–1 away from home, with Mauricio Molina scoring Medellín's goal from a free-kick, helping the team lift the trophy after a 3–1 aggregate score.
The 2002 league title gave the club a spot in the 2003 Copa Libertadores, where they qualified for the knockout stages by topping their group, which consisted of Boca Juniors, Barcelona, and Colo-Colo, with twelve points and a total of four wins and two losses. During the group stage, the club famously beat Bianchi's Boca Juniors, 1–0. "Medallo" beat Cerro Porteño on penalties in the round of 16 and Grêmio in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, they faced Santos. In the first leg played at Estádio Urbano Caldeira, DIM lost 1–0. In the second leg at home, Tressor Moreno scored first to level the aggregate score at 1–1, but the club eventually lost the game 3–2 (4–2 on aggregate) and was eliminated, narrowly missing out for the final, which would have been played against their group stage opponent, Boca Juniors.
In 2004, Medellín and Nacional qualified for the final of the Apertura tournament; in Antioquia everybody was very excited because this was the first "Paisa" final in the league's history. The final was played over two legs, both at Atanasio Girardot: in the first leg, Medellín won 2–1 with goals scored by Rafael Castillo and Jorge Horacio Serna. The second leg was played on 27 June; it ended 0–0 and Medellín became the champion of the 2004 Apertura, its fourth league title, won under manager Pedro Sarmiento. In the 2004 Finalizacion, the club also made the playoffs, but finished third in its group and were eliminated.
In the 2005 Copa Libertadores, the club topped their group, which was made up of Atletico Paranaense, América de Cali, and Libertad. They also unexpectedly beat Paranaense 4–0 away in Curitiba on their way to the round of 16, where they faced Banfield and lost 5–0 on aggregate.
In the 2008 Finalización, the club almost won its fifth title, but lost the final to América de Cali with Santiago Escobar as head coach. The next season, the 2009 Apertura, was very poor; the team finished in last place. However, in the 2009 Torneo Finalización, with the departure of Santiago Escobar as head coach, his assistant, Leonel Álvarez, replaced him, and the team got its fifth title, beating Atlético Huila 3–2 on aggregate. In that season, Jackson Martinez broke the league's top scoring record with 18 goals (the previous record was Léider Preciado's 17 goals), a record that was broken again later by Cortuluá forward Miguel Borja in 2016, with 19 goals.
During the 2010s, DIM was close to winning league titles several times. In 2012, they faced Millonarios in the Torneo Finalización final and lost on penalties. In 2014, they finished as runners-up to Independiente Santa Fe in that year's Finalización tournament. Six months later they made the final again, this time losing to Deportivo Cali. These losses were finally overcome in the 2016 season, where the club won its sixth league title. In the Apertura tournament, they finished first in the regular season table with 40 points. Then they eliminated Deportivo Cali and Cortuluá in the playoffs to set up a final with Junior; the first leg in Barranquilla ended 1–1 and the second leg was won by Medellín 2–0, with Christian Marrugo scoring a brace and securing a 3–1 aggregate victory.
With the 2016 league title, El Poderoso gained a spot in the 2017 Copa Libertadores, returning to the tournament for the first time since 2010. They were placed in Group 3 along with River Plate, Emelec, and Melgar. The club placed third in the group and was transferred to the Copa Sudamericana, where they eventually lost to Racing Club in the second round. One of the highlights of their Copa Libertadores run was beating powerhouse River Plate 2–1 at Estadio Monumental.
Medellín's greatest rivalry is with the city's other major club, Atlético Nacional, in a match known as Clásico Paisa (Paisa derby). Both clubs share the same stadium; Atanasio Girardot. Atlético Nacional has a clear advantage over Independiente Medellín in titles won, with 35 titles (most in Colombia) to Medellín's 9 titles. However, Medellín defeated Nacional in the first final series played between both, in the 2004 Apertura. This was considered as an upset, since Nacional's squad had a much higher value that Medellín's.
The rivalry is especially strong due to each team's main fanbases; Rexixtenxia Norte for Independiente Medellín and Los Del Sur for Atlético Nacional. There are often fights between these two fanbases, which is why sometimes only the fanbase of one team is allowed entry. The two clubs are named with the location that they occupy in the stadium; Rexixtenxia Norte occupies the section behind the northern goal and Los Del Sur occupy the section behind the southern goal.
The first Clásico Paisa was played on 12 September 1948, where Medellín beat Nacional 3–0. Over 300 matches have been played between the two clubs, with Nacional dominating the historical record by 40 wins.
The club also has minor rivalries with other clubs in the Medellín Metropolitan Area and nearby areas, such as Envigado, Águilas Doradas, and Leones. Although none of these teams have won top-flight titles, matches between them still draw attention due to their close geographical location, meaning games like these usually sellout.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The following players were chosen to represent their country at the FIFA World Cup while contracted with Independiente Medellín.
This is the list of presidents of Independiente Medellín since its foundation: