Club Universitario de Deportes, who are they?

The 7th of August, 1924, saw the founding of one of Peruvian football’s great teams, Club Universitario de Deportes. This historic club was founded by a group of students from the National University of San Marcos, the oldest continuously operating university in the Americas.

Club Universitario de Deportes have many nicknames, but they are generally referred to as “La U” and “Los Cremas”, a nickname that comes from the distinctive colour of their shirt. They play in this colour because of a small accident that happened when they sent their kit to be cleaned before an upcoming match. When the laundry workers washed the white shirts, they forgot to remove the maroon badges of the “U” that were attached with a safety pin. The colour of the badges ran and left the jerseys with a unique cream colour that marked the club’s identity forever.

At the time of writing, Universitario are the most successful club in Peru, with 27 national championships. Additionally, they belong to a select group of twenty-four South American clubs that have never been relegated. What’s more, they were the first Peruvian football team to reach a Copa Libertadores final. This happened in 1972, and despite not winning the championship, they were one of the most feared clubs in South America that year.

Great Peruvian football stars have played for Universitario, such as Lolo Fernández, Toto Terry, Humberto Ballesteros, Héctor Chumpitaz, Roberto Chale, Puma Carranza, Gustavo Grondona, and many more. There is no doubt that when talking about football in Peru, Universitario cannot be left out of the conversation.