Club Sporting Cristal S.A. is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its football team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac district by engineer Richard Bentín Mujica and his wife Esther Grande de Bentín, stockholders of the Peruvian brewery Backus and Johnston.[2][3] The club and the brewery have been closely linked since its inception, and it is for this reason that it is popularly known as los Cerveceros ("the brewers").
The team has played in the Primera División since 1956, where it obtained the title that year. Due to this achievement, Cristal is often referred to as "El club que nació campeón".[4] Since their first participation, they have won the league title 19 times and are one of the few teams in Peru to have never been relegated from the top division. Sporting Cristal is also the first Peruvian team to have been crowned tricampeóns, successively winning the 1994, 1995, and 1996 seasons.[5][6] In 1997, they were runners-up of the Copa Libertadores, losing the final to Brazilian side Cruzeiro. Cristal holds the longest undefeated streak in the tournament; 17 games without suffering a loss.[7]
Cristal has a heated rivalry with Club Universitario de Deportes. One of the main reasons for the enmity between the two sides is the series of transfers of Universitario's star players to los Celestes. The club also has rivalries with Alianza Lima, Deportivo Municipal, and Sport Boys.
Sporting Cristal plays its home games at the Estadio Alberto Gallardo. They play at the Estadio Nacional for international competitions such as the Libertadores or Sudamericana. The Estadio Nacional is also the venue for matches against Universitario and Alianza Lima.
Ricardo Bentín Mujica, with the support of his wife, co-owners of Backus and Johnston brewery, was the man who is credited with achieving the company's goal. A club from Rímac ward, known as Sporting Tabaco founded in 1926 and originally belonging to the tobacco growers' union, was already playing in the professional Peruvian First Division. Never having won a national championship, the club was in dire economic straits. Bentín decided to buy the club and search for a playing ground, so that the club could develop and be able to play better at the professional level. The club found a lot in the neighborhood of La Florida of 137,000 m2.
Sporting Tabaco 1926–1955
On 13 December 1955 the club was founded as Sporting Cristal , after Backus' best-known beer brand, Cristal. The new club from the Rímac ward debuted in 1956 in the professional Primera Division and won their first national title that same year. Journalists thus called them the club born a champion (nació campeon). The team managed to win more titles over the years and was known as one of the best football clubs in Peru after Universitario and Alianza Lima.
Even before its foundation, the Sporting Cristal Backus project had more than one opponent: articles from the time point out how certain sports journalists and football clubs viewed with displeasure that a team was financed by a private company. Even the Peruvian Football Federation itself put legal obstacles in the way of the team before and after its merger; until March 1956 the FPF did not authorize Cristal's participation in that year's championship, arguing from the prohibition of advertising in the clubs to the fact that they should have names of national heroes, places or institutions of the country. Various legal outlets were used for the impositions of the Federation, however, the controversy did not end until 1968,when the word "Backus" was finally removed from the club's name.
As a champion of Peru in 1956, Cristal was invited to tour various parts of the world, this being the first tour made by a champion team of Peru. The series of matches began in the United States, continued through several Asian cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Malacca City and Tehran, and culminated in Spain. There were a total of 30 matches played over two months, of which 20 were won, 7 were drawn and there were only 3 defeats. The star of this tour was Alberto Gallardo, who scored 37 goals. The club shook up the market again when they signed the legendary Brazilian player, Didí in 1962, a world-famous footballer who had just won the 1962 World Cup title with his national team. Didí arrived to be the team's coach and implemented the attacking and possession style of play characteristic of Brazil's football. The Brazilian formed an eye-catching team that used to provide a show, however, he had to settle only for the runners-up in 1962 and 1963.
After retiring from football, Didí returned to take over the technical direction of the club for 1967, again obtaining the runner-up position that year. The revenge came the following season, in which Sporting Cristal obtained the highest score along with the Juan Aurich club, due to this the champion of the Descentralizado 1968 had to be defined in an extra match in which the brewers were victorious 2-1 thanks to two goals by Alberto Gallardo. In addition to its local titles, the young institution gained prestige for its international performances. During the 1962 edition until the 1969 edition of the Copa Libertadores, Sporting Cristal went on a 17-game undefeated streak,[10] the longest unbeaten streak in the Copa Libertadores history, winning 8 games, and drawing 9.
The following years would bring new titles, the first of them in 1970, under the technical direction of the Argentine Vito Andrés Bártoli, in a tournament that was hard fought with Universitario de Deportes and that was defined in the Final Liguilla of the tournament. In this last stage, Cristal had the best performance and the highest accumulated score, thus winning a new title. Their last match was against Juan Aurich, defeating them 4-2.Of the 32 games played that year, the team won 18, drew 9 and lost 5.
Sporting Cristal changed its shirt color from blue to light blue. They are known as "Los Celestes". During a brief period between 1978 and 1981, they again used blue shirts. In 1982 they returned to light blue as the color of the club.
The 1990s were the most successful decade as they claimed 4 national titles (including 3 in a row) with coach Juan Carlos Oblitas. Under Oblitas, Cristal won 1991, 1994 and 1995 domestic league. Then, guided by Sergio Markariánhead coach they won 1996 league. By 1997, the team, led by Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarián, reached the finals of the Copa Libertadores, where they faced the Brazilian club Cruzeiro. The first leg was a home game, in which they ended in a scoreless draw; in the second leg, they lost 1–0. This is the closest Team Peru has come to the Copa Libertadores Final since 1972, when Universitario had a similar fate playing against Independiente.
The club stayed on the top spots of the national tournament during most of the 2000s and gained qualification to the Copa Libertadores eight years in a row from 2000 to 2007. It would only win two titles during the decade which were obtain in 2002 and 2005 with many notable players as Sergio Leal, Jorge Soto and Luis Alberto Bonnet. However, during the 2007, Cristal would come four points away from relegation. It would make a comeback during the 2008 season and qualify to the Copa Libertadores once again.
Cristal celebrating their victory in 2012
In 2009, the Primera División Peruana would change the tournament structured which caused Sporting Cristal to have mediocre results for the next few years into the new decade. After a seven-year dry spell it would become the national champion once more during the 2012 season when it defeated Real Garcilaso in the finals. They qualified to the 2013 Copa Libertadores where they did not pass the tournament's group stage. In the 2013 season, they played on the same liguilla as Real Garcilaso and fought for a place in the final up to the last match of the season in which they finished third and qualified for the 2014 Copa Libertadores once more.
In the 2018 season, they conquered another historical feat, they became the best Team Peru in the Historic Table during the Professional Era (1966 - 2018). As of 2018, they surpassed Universitario for the first spot, 3264 points to Universitario's 3236 points.[11]
In the 2020 season, after a bad start in Liga 1 and Copa Libertadores, the club announced the departure of coach Manuel Barreto, days later Roberto Mosquera returned as technical director after 7 years.[12][13] Sporting Cristal was unable to play in Phase 3 of the 2020 Copa Libertadores, as they lost 4-0 to Barcelona S.C., but won 2-1 in Lima, as an aggregate result of 5-2 against them. On March 12, the Torneo Apertura was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru. When the competition returned, the team finished in third place. In the Clausura Tournament they won group A and qualified for the definition against Ayacucho FC, they would be defeated by the foxes in the penalty kicks. Cristal, for being first in the accumulated table, would also play the semifinal with Ayacucho, in the first match they would win 2-1 and in the second they would win again with a resounding 4-1 qualifying for the national final. Sporting Cristal would achieve its twentieth title by beating Universitario in an aggregate of 3-2 in the final.
Sporting Cristal plays its matches at home at Estadio Alberto Gallardo, owned by the Peruvian Sports Institute and with the right to use it by the club until 2022.The sports venue is located in the district of San Martín de Porres in Lima; in addition, it is located on the banks of the Rimac River, one of the longest rivers in Peru. The stadium was officially inaugurated on 9 June 1961, with the name of "Estadio Fray Martín de Porres". On 19 May 2012, the former "Estadio San Martín de Porres" was officially renamed "Estadio Alberto Gallardo", in honor of former footballer Alberto Gallardo who was a champion with Sporting Cristal as a footballer and as a coach. On certain occasions, the club plays at the Estadio Nacional del Perú.
Rivalries
Sporting Cristal has had longstanding rivalries with Universitario, and Alianza Lima, as these teams are considered the big three of Peruvian football. The matches played between them are called classics and are usually the most attractive of tournaments. Cristal also has rivalries with Deportivo Municipal and Sport Boys, both located in Callao.
Alianza Lima
Sporting Cristal is characterized by the practice of the colorful game, even stipulating it as a condition in the employment contracts of its coaches. Alianza Lima, in the same way, usually plays an offensive style game, so the matches played between these teams are among the most attractive in the tournament, the matches are usually very even. Both teams have defined championships on several occasions, the first of them was in 1961, when Sporting Cristal beat the Alliance 2-0 and was crowned champion. Highlighting the final of the 2018 Torneo Descentralizado, where Cristal won 1-4 away and 3-0 at home, obtaining a resounding aggregate result of 7-1 in favor of the brewers,being the largest final in the history of Peruvian football. The last national championship played between the two teams was in 2021.
Sporting Cristal got its biggest result against Alianza Lima in 1960, when it beat them 5-0. On the other hand, their biggest defeat occurred in 2004, when they lost 5-0; although the sky-blue team played on that occasion with an alternate team. In 1987, Sporting Cristal got its biggest win ever against Alianza on the road, defeating them 4-0 at the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva.That Alianza Lima squad was known as the foals. In the Copa Libertadores the biggest results were two: In 1995 there was a 3-0 win in favor of the Rimense team,while in 1978 they lost by the score of 4-1.
Universitario
The match played between Sporting Cristal and Universitario de Deportes is one of the most important rivalries in Peru, both clubs are the ones that won the largest number of titles since the Peruvian Primera División began to be played from 1966, giving 18 titles for Sporting Cristal and 16 for Universitario, this succession of championships made there be a great rivalry between both teams,being sporadically called as the Modern Classic of Peruvian Football, although the name was not widespread (before it was associated with the matches between Universitario and Deportivo Municipal).
Supporters
Cristal has three ultra or barra bravas known as Extremo Celeste, Fverza OrienteGvardia Xtrema.
Fverza Oriente was the first ultra of Cristal, founded in 1975. They are located on eastern grandstand of the stadiums. Extremo Celeste was formed in 1991 when a group of young fans from Fuerza Oriente decided to form a new group for young energetic supporters. Extremo Celeste has become one of the biggest barras bravas in Peru. And in 2007 a smaller third ultra was created in the western grandstand to support the team. Sporting Cristal had supporters on every grandstand on Estadio Alberto Gallardo.
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.
This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by Sporting Cristal. For the full season-by-season history, see: List of Sporting Cristal seasons.
^Since 1966, play-off games have been used as a tie breaker between teams tie on points for promotion or relegation or as a post-season stage to decide the national championship. Whenever they have occurred, the club's position on that stage is shown in this column.
