Delfín S.C.

Delfín SC

Full name	Delfín Sporting Club
Nicknames	El ídolo de Manta (Manta's Idol) El ídolo del Puerto (Idol of the Port) Los auriazules (The golden-blues) El Equipo Cetáceo (The Cetacean Team)
Founded	1 March 1989; 36 years ago (1989-03-01)
Ground	Estadio Jocay
Capacity	21,000[1]
President	José Delgado
Manager	Juan Zubeldía
League	Ecuadorian Serie A
2025	First stage: 12th of 16 Second hexagonal: 5th of 6
Website	www.delfinsc.com
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Delfín Sporting Club, lit.'dolphin Sporting Club',is an association football club based in Manta, Ecuador. The club was founded on 1 March 1989 after Club Deportivo 9 de Octubre was ceded to a group of directors, which had Club Social Delfín. Later the team renamed Delfín Sporting Club. The club currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of Ecuadorian football.

Since 1989, the club has played their home games in Estadio Jocay located in the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador.

History

Delfín SC was founded on 1 March 1989; after founder of Club Deportivo 9 de Octubre Pedro Azua ceded the team to a group of directors from Club Social Delfín. It was Efrén Delgado, Otto Schwarz, and Benincaza whom later joined to create 9 de Octubre-Delfín, which later it renamed Delfín Sporting Club. The club started off on a strong note winning the Serie B championship in 1989 and gaining promotion to the top-flight Serie A in its first season. Surprisingly, the young team was able to stay in Serie A until 1995, when it was relegated back to the Serie B. During their time in the Serie A, the club gained the nickname El ídolo de Manta (Manta's Idol), a nickname previously given to Manta Sport Club, which was Manta's previous team in the top-flight.

In 1998, the club returned to the top-flight, only to return to the Serie B in 1999 and bounce back up in 2000. Their last season in the Serie A was in 2001. In 2007, they were relegated to the third-level Segunda Categoría. Having gained promotion to the Ecuadorian Serie B, they were then promoted to the Ecuadorian Serie A for the 2016 season, in which their Argentine forward Maximiliano Barreiro was the league's top scorer, with 26 goals.

The following 2017 season was the club's historic year, standing strong with only one loss in the first leg of the season and winning La Primera Etapa of the Ecuadorian Serie A. This automatically qualified Delfín a spot for the first time to a Copa Libertadores, which made them the first team from the Manabi province to enter an international tournament. On 17 December, Delfín lost to Emelec 2–0 in the second leg of the final for the Ecuadorian Serie A championship in el Estadio Jocay and therefore ended the season as runner-up.

On 5 April 2018, Delfín achieved its first international win after defeating 2–0 Chilean club Colo-Colo at the 2018 Copa Libertadores.^[2] Delfín ended in fourth place at the end of the season, which gave them a straight ticket to their second Copa Libertadores.

Estadio Jocay in Manta, Ecuador

2019 marked the greatest year for the team as they won their first Serie A title, and the first time a team from their province won any title. The final was played against Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito.

Rivalries

The club's biggest rival is LDU Portoviejo with whom they contest the Clásico Manabita.^[3]

Honours

Delfín supporters at el Estadio Jocay.

National

• Serie A
  • Winners (1): 2019
• Serie B
  • Winners (2): 1989 E1, 2015
• Segunda Categoría
  • Winners (1): 2013

Regional

• Segunda Categoría de Manabí
  • Winners (2): 2011, 2012

Players

As of 11 September 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ECU Brian Heras 2 DF  ECU Maikel Caicedo (on loan from LDU Quito) 3 DF  ECU Jerry Parrales 4 DF  ECU Jefferson Nazareno 5 DF  ARG Nahuel Gallardo 6 DF  ARG Mateo Burdisso 7 MF  ECU Édison Vega 8 MF  ECU Hancel Batalla 9 FW  BOL José Briceño 10 MF  ECU Erick Mendoza (On loan from Imbabura S.C.) 11 MF  ECU Janus Vivar 14 FW  ECU Erick Zuniga

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  ECU Luis Castro 17 FW  PAR Osmar Fernández 18 FW  ARG Jeremías Pérez Tica (On loan from Newell's Old Boys) 19 FW  ARG Brahian Cuello 22 GK  ECU José Cárdenas 24 MF  ARG Joaquín León 25 DF  ECU Edilson Cabeza 26 MF  ECU Jean Estacio 27 FW  ECU Gianni Cagua 29 DF  ECU Carlos Cuero 33 GK  ECU Benjamín Cárdenas 55 MF  ECU Maikel Reyes 71 MF  ECU Juan Nazareno

Managers

• Enrique Della Vecchia (2002)
• Dušan Drašković (2005)
• Geovanny Mera (2006)
• Benicio Aranda (2007)
• Juan Carlos Bedoya (2011)
• Nexar Zambrano (2012-2014)
• Raúl Duarte (2014)
• Segundo Montaño (2014)
• Fabian Bustos (2015-2016)
• Diego Alarcon (2016)
• Octavio Zambrano (2016)
• Guillermo Sanguinetti (2017-2018)
• Fabian Bustos (2018-2019)
• Ángel López (2020)
• Carlos Ischia (2020)
• Jefferson Huertas (2020)
• Miguel Ángel Zahzú (2020)
• Paúl Vélez (2021)
• Horacio Montemurro (2021)

References

1. Anuario Conmebol Sudamericana 2022. CONMEBOL. 3 April 2023. p. 84. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
2. "Delfín sorprende a Colo Colo y le gana 2–0" [Delfín surprises Colo Colo and wins 2–0] (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
3. "Liga de Portoviejo ganó el Clásico Manabita en la Serie B". 26 July 2015.

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Delfín Sporting Club results
• Official website (in English)