Caracas F.C.

Caracas Fútbol Club is a Venezuelan professional football team based in Caracas. The club has won twelve First Division titles making it the most successful in Venezuelan football history.

They are nicknamed Los Rojos del Ávila, or the "Reds from Ávila". This refers to their red jerseys as well as Cerro El Ávila, a mountain near Caracas.

Caracas FC was founded in 1967 under a group of friends led by José Beracasa and Jorge Cubeddu with the name Yamaha FC. The team was entered as an amateur team to the Football Federation of the State of Miranda. The purpose of the club was to allow for Beracasa and his friends to have somewhere to enjoy their free time. As a result, Beracasa created one of the most historical and winning sports franchises in Venezuelan history.

In 1984, renamed Caracas-Yamaha FC after successful seasons in the amateur league, the team was admitted into the Second Division. Their first season in the professional league they won the division and gained promotion to the First Division.

Their first season in the First Division was unstable as they barely survived relegation. After an acceptable second season in 1986, where relegation was not a huge threat, they were renamed Caracas FC when RCTV bought part of them and had joint leadership with Yamaha. Under the guidance of Manuel Plasencia and Luis Mendoza as the managers of the club, the subsequent 1987 season was their best to date.

Reaching the last set of games in the eight-team tournament, they needed a place in the top two in order to qualify for the Copa Libertadores and compete on an international level. However, they lost on the last weekend to now arch-rivals Deportivo Táchira and barely missed out on international competition. The next year brought changes for the First Division as it would now follow the European format of games being played from the Fall to Spring.

The 1988–89 season started well for Caracas FC and they even lifted the Copa de Venezuela but suspensions and injuries in the second half of the season almost led to the collapse of the team. However, even after many of the team's players left, the team was saved by the Cocodrilos Sports Organization, which was led by Guillermo Valentiner until his death, and his son, Philip Valentiner is the owner today.

Despite a primarily amateur squad, the team finished fourth in the league during the 1989–90 season. Two years later in the 1991–92 season, under manager Manuel Plasencia, who had stayed through the turmoil, Caracas FC won their first national championship. They went on to win the next two seasons, with the third title in 1993–94 being won under a new manager, Pedro Febles. However, after an unsuccessful 1994–95 season, Plasencia returned to lead the team to a title in the 1995–96 season. It is also worth noting that during this time Caracas FC won the Copa de Venezuela twice, though historically that competition has been marked by instability and anonymity.