Deportes Tolima

Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department, that competes in the Categoría Primera A.

Founded in 1954, the club has won the Colombian top tier thrice: in the 2003–II, 2018–I, and 2021–I tournaments, one Copa Colombia in 2014 and one Superliga Colombiana in 2022. They play their home games at Estadio Manuel Murillo Toro.

Club Deportes Tolima was founded by Manuel Rubio Chávez on 18 December 1954, when he gave Juan Barbieri (an Argentinian living in Ibagué, Colombia) a sum of $5,000 Colombian pesos in order to hire football players from his native country. Barbieri came back to Colombia with a mix of Argentine and Colombian players such as Jorge Gandulfo, José Jamardo and Enrique Laino. This team competed for the first time in the Colombian football league in 1955, using the uniform of Argentine club Racing Club. In Tolima's league debut, they finished 7th in the league competing with 9 other teams. In 1957, the club finished runner-up in the league.

Senator Gabriel Camargo Salamanca was given the opportunity to work for the team in the 1980s. He accepted, becoming the biggest stock holder of the team. He bought important players such as Francisco Maturana, Óscar Héctor Quintabani, Osvaldo Redondo, Arnoldo Iguarán, Óscar López, and Janio Cabezas. With this team Deportes Tolima finished as league runner-up in 1981 and 1982. Tolima participated for the first time in an international tournament in the 1982 Copa Libertadores, where the club reached the semi-finals after topping their group consisting of Atlético Nacional, Estudiantes de Mérida, and Deportivo Táchira. The team also played the Copa Libertadores the following year, in 1983, where the team was eliminated in the first round after placing second in their group.

In 1993, the club was relegated to Primera B, or the second division, because of poor results. Tolima played for one year in the second division but won the title, which allowed them to make an immediate return to the top tier for the 1995 season.

Deportes Tolima had a very interesting group of players for the second half of 2003. These players included Ricardo Ciciliano, Henry Zambrano, Yulián Anchico, Oscar Briceño, Jhon Charría, Jorge Artigas, Nelson Rivas, and Diego Gómez among others. Deportes Tolima finished in sixth place in the league and qualified to the playoffs. The club was placed in a group with against Atlético Nacional, Junior, and Independiente Medellín. When everyone predicted Junior would top the group and advance to the final, Deportes Tolima beat Atlético Nacional 2–0 in Ibagué and Junior lost 1–0 to Independiente Medellín in Medellín. With these results, Deportes Tolima qualified to the final against Deportivo Cali on away goals scored after tying Junior on points and goals scored. Tolima won the first leg of the finals 2–0 in Ibagué with an exceptional performance of Rogeiro Pereira, who scored both goals. In the second leg Tolima lost 3–1 in Cali, which forced penalty kicks as the aggregate score was 3–3. In the penalty shootout, Deportes Tolima only missed one penalty and goalkeeper Diego Gómez saved two penalties, which helped the club win the league title for the first time in history.

As league champion, Tolima qualified for the 2004 Copa Libertadores, where they were eliminated in the group stage after placing third in their group, comprising River Plate, Deportivo Táchira from Venezuela, and Paraguayan side Libertad.

2006 was a great year for Tolima. The team was second on the overall table (points added up over the Apertura and Finalización tournaments), scored the most goals in the year (over 80), and were runners up in the league for 2006–II. At the beginning of 2006, Deportes Tolima did not seem like a very strong team for the season as it did not sign any new players. The coach was Jorge Luis Bernal, who had been the reserve team coach for many years. However, the team performed well in both home and away games, with victories against Envigado 7–3, Atlético Nacional 5–1, Millonarios 3–0 away and Huila 4–1 away. They reached the semi-finals of the 2006 Apertura and were placed in a group with Deportivo Pereira, Deportivo Cali, and Once Caldas, and were en route to making the finals until they lost an important game against Pereira, who finished last in the group. Tolima won their last game, but eventually finished in second, three points behind Cali.