Deportivo Petare

**Deportivo Petare Fútbol Club** (until summer 2010 called **Deportivo Italia Fútbol Club**) is a Venezuelan football club based in Caracas. Formed in 1948 as "Deportivo Italia F.C.", the club after fifty years merged with "Deportivo Chacao F.C." in 1998, and was called *Deportivo Italchacao* for eight years. The club has won the Primera División Venezolana five times and the Copa de Venezuela three times.

## History
The actual "Deportivo Petare" was founded on 18 August 1948 with the name "Deportivo Italia" by nine 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. 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.
 
This period was crowned by the victory 1:0 with the Fluminense, champion team of Brazil in 1971.

## Name change: *Deportivo Petare*
Deportivo Italia changed their name to "Deportivo Petare" in the summer of 2010. There is an ongoing dispute because of the strong opposition from the Italian community in Caracas.

## 2010/2011 season
Deportivo Petare has started de 2010/2011 season with good results, ending fourth at the end of the first half of the season in December 2010. The last match ended in a draw with Deportivo Tachira, the eventual "Torneo Apertura" champion.

* "Torneo Apertura 2010" Standings*

## Stadium
 of Deportivo Petare.]]

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

The Olimpico stadium is also used as headquarters for some of the matches of the national team, as well as FC Caracas.

## Colors
The colors from 1948 to 2010 were the same as the Italian national football team (blue and white). After the name change, the actual Deportivo Petare uses those colors as second choice. In the 2010-2011 championship the main colors are white and black.

## Titles
***Primera División Venezolana: 5**
::**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**

::1964: First Round
::1966: First Round
::1967: First Round
::1969: Quarter-Finals

::1971: First Round
::1972: First Round
::1985: First Round
::2000: Preliminary Round

::2001: Preliminary Round
::2010: Group Stage

***Copa Sudamericana: 2 appearances**
::2003: Second Preliminary Round
::2004: Preliminary Round

***Recopa Sudamericana: 0 appearances**
:: :

***Copa CONMEBOL: 1 appearances**
::1998: First Round

***Copa Merconorte: 1 appearances**
::2001: First Round

## Current squad
## Former players
* Hugo Maradona
* Pablo Camacho
* Alejandro Valldeperas
* Daniel De Oliveira

## References
## Other websites
* Deportivo Petare website (in Spanish) 
* Original Deportivo Italia (in Spanish) 
* FVF (in Spanish)