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Aragua FC
Full name	Aragua Fútbol Club
Nickname(s)	Aurirrojos (Yellow and Red); Chocolateros (Chocolatiers)
Founded	20 August 2002 (22 years ago)
Ground	Estadio Olímpico Hermanos Ghersi Páez
Capacity	16,000
Chairman	Ricardo Villaroel
Manager	Edson Rodríguez
League	Segunda División
Home colours	Away colours

Aragua Fútbol Club (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈɾaɣwa ˈfuðβol ˈkluβ]) is a Venezuelan football team based in the city of Maracay, in the state of Aragua. The club began its professional career playing in the Venezuelan Segunda División a year after the club was founded. From 2005 to 2022, Aragua played in the Primera División Venezolana.

The club's colors are yellow and red, although they were blue and white in the club's beginnings. Home games are played at the Olímpico Hermanos Ghersi in Maracay, with a 16,000 spectator capacity.^[1]

Aragua won the 2005–06 Venezuelan Segunda División and the 2007 Copa Venezuela.

History

For the 2002–03 season, Deportivo Galicia moved to the Estadio Olímpico Hermanos Ghersi and a new franchise named Aragua Fútbol Club was born. The team played in the Venezuelan Segunda División until the 2004–05 season, when they achieved promotion to the Venezuelan Primera División.

Aragua F.C. made their debut in Primera División with a goalless tie against Trujillanos on 5 August 2005, and remained unbeaten during the first five games of the season. Rafael Mea Vitali scored Aragua's first goal in the top flight. Aragua ended up finishing the 2005–06 season in seventh place.

At the start of the 2006–07 season, goalkeeper Renny Vega was called up by national team coach Richard Páez to represent the Venezuela national football team in a match against Colombia, making Vega the first player to receive an international call-up while playing for Aragua F.C.

In 2008, led by manager Manolo Contreras, Aragua won the Copa Venezuela and automatically qualified to participate in the 2008 edition of the Copa Sudamericana, where they were eliminated in the first round by Guadalajara. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Salomón Rondón was awarded as Youth of the Year, marking the first time that an Aragua F.C. player received the distinction.

Aragua played in Primera División until the 2022 season, in which it placed last and was relegated to Segunda División. On 3 March 2023, the club announced that it would not take part in the Segunda División season and would instead go on a one-year hiatus to solve its financial issues.^[2] On 9 March 2024, Aragua's return to the league was confirmed, joining the second tier for the 2024 season.^[3]

Titles

Venezuelan Segunda División: 1

2005

Copa Venezuela: 1

2007

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

Copa Sudamericana: 1 appearance

2008: First Round

Club culture

Supporters

The Aragua F.C. fans are known as Los Vikingos (The Vikings), and they traditionally occupy the western stand of the stadium, known as La Popular (The Popular).^[4] They are made up of several factions that represent different cities across the state: Artillería Aurirroja (Yellow and Red Artillery), Cagua Aurirroja, Caña de Azúcar, El Limón, Turmero Aurirrojo, Santa Rita, and Santa Rosa Aurirroja. As is the case with supporter groups of other Venezuelan teams, the factions only exist in theory, and in practice all the supporters act as a unified body.^[5]

Rivalries

The club's main rival is Carabobo FC, from the neighboring state of Carabobo. The fixture is popularly known as El Clásico de la Autopista (The Highway Classic). Due to the proximity of both states' capitals, Aragua-Carabobo rivalries exist in virtually every professional sport practiced in Venezuela. In 18 encounters, Aragua has achieved 6 victories against Carabobo's 4.^[6] The classic is currently "on hold" since Carabobo was relegated to the Venezuelan Segunda División after the 2011–12 season.^[7]

Notable managers

References

^ Ceroacero.es. "Estadio Olímpico Hermanos Ghersi Páez". Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
^ "Aragua FC se suma a los equipos que no jugarán en la próxima temporada del fútbol nacional" [Aragua FC joins the teams that will not play in the next season of domestic football] (in Spanish). El Nacional. 4 March 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
^ "La Liga FutVe 2 arrancará el Torneo Apertura el sábado 16 de marzo con 16 equipos" [Liga FutVe 2 will start the Torneo Apertura on Saturday 16 March with 16 teams] (in Spanish). Balonazos. 9 March 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
^ "Vikingos y Demonios dieron un espectáculo". LaVinotinto.com. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^ Moros, Ricardo (1 November 2010). "Un Corazón Aurirrojo Que Late Con Fuerza". AraguaFC.net. Prensa Aragua FC. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^ "H2H Comparison – Aragua vs. Carabobo – Teams – Soccerway". Soccerway. Global Sports Media. 27 April 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^ Montes de Oca, Juan (15 April 2012). "Aragua FC defendió su casa y logró un punto valioso". AraguaFC.com. Prensa Aragua FC. Retrieved 27 June 2013.^{[permanent dead link‍]}