Cienciano

Club Cienciano, more commonly known as Cienciano, is a Peruvian professional football club based in Cusco, that currently plays in the Peruvian Primera División. It gained worldwide recognition after defeating River Plate in the finals of the 2003 Copa Sudamericana and Boca Juniors in the 2004 Recopa Sudamericana. The club is considered the largest and most successful in Cusco. Founded in 1901, the club is among the oldest in Peru and the oldest in Cusco.

The club was founded on 8 July 1901 by a group of students of the Colegio Nacional Ciencias del Cusco, the oldest school in Peru. They decided to give the club its name based on the word Ciencias, which means "Science". The club is nicknamed El Papá de América, the Father of America. It has a large, longstanding rivalry with FBC Melgar of Arequipa known as El Clasico del Sur. Its mascot is a donkey.

The club plays their home games at Estadio Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, named after Peruvian writer, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The club shares the stadium with other clubs from Cusco, Cusco FC and Deportivo Garcilaso. The stadium has a capacity of 45,056 making it the fourth largest stadium in Peru.

To this day, Cienciano is the only Peruvian club to win an international competition. Despite being the only club from Peru to win two international tournaments, they have yet to win the Peruvian Primera División. Cienciano has won 1 Copa Sudamericana and Recopa Sudamericana, 1 Segunda División and the Torneo Apertura 2005 and Torneo Clausura in 2001 and 2006.

Cienciano was founded on 8 July 1901 by a group of students from the National School of Science of Cusco (Colegio Nacional Ciencias del Cusco). It participated in several leagues and tournaments of the region. They played their first official match on 27 July 1902 against Atletic Club in Cusco. Cienciano soon won its first trophy, winning the 1903 Liga Departamental del Cusco, and would go on to win it 27 times from 1912 to 1983.

In 1966 Hector Ladrón de Guevara was the inaugural Cienciano player to be named captain of the Peru national team. In 1972, it began to play in the Peruvian First Division; however, the club was relegated four years later.

The Cienciano team was managed by the teachers of the Cienciano Alma Mater School until the mid-sixties, when after the creation of the Copa Perú, football in Peru became more competitive. And in 1973, when Cienciano left the Cusco League and the Copa Peru behind to participate for the first time in the Peruvian First Division, it was understood that the authorities should no longer depend on the College for the attention that a competitive soccer team requires, which is why Waldo Callo, another of Cienciano's precursors, is stepping away from the presidency to make way for businessmen willing to invest and support the team.

Cienciano remained in the First Division until 1977, where they were relegated to the Peruvian Second Division. In 1988, the FPF invited the club to play in a tournament of the southern region. In 1991, Cienciano won the tournament and in 1992 it once again played in the First Division. Since then, the club has always played in the First Division.