Club Always Ready

Always Ready

Full name	Club Always Ready
Nickname(s)	Albirrojo El Millonario
Founded	April 13, 1933;90 years ago (1933-04-13)
Ground	Estadio Municipal de El Alto El Alto, Bolivia
Capacity	25,000
Chairman	Andrés Costa
Manager	Flabio Torres
League	División Profesional
2023	División Profesional, 3rd of 17
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Club Always Ready, better known as Always Ready, is a Bolivian football club from La Paz which plays its home games in nearby El Alto. Due to the jerseys the team is also known as Banda Roja, or the red band.

History

Club Always Ready was founded on 13 April 1933. The team took part in the La Paz championship, which was held in 1950 under semi-professional conditions; it was organized by La Paz Football Association (LPFA). Despite not having any official status, the winner of the tournament was widely considered the de facto champion of Bolivia. Always Ready earned their first title in 1951. In the following two years, the team was runner-up.

From 1954 onwards, teams from Cochabamba and Oruro participated in the now-called Torneo Integrado, a much larger tournament than the La Paz championship; Always Ready found themselves withdrawing from the competition as it found it difficult to retain key players. Always Ready's resurgence was not until 1956. The team secured its second national title in 1957.

Always Ready was the first Bolivian team to do a tour outside Bolivia: from August to November 1961, the club toured Europe. ^[1]

In 1967, the club obtained second place in its national league; that allowed Always Ready to participate in South America's most prestigious club event: the Copa Libertadores. However, the results were disappointing as they went out in the first round without winning a single match. Nevertheless, Always Ready won that same year's city championship and finished 5th in the national standings.

In 1977 Always Ready was one of the founding members of the new national professional league, where it stayed until 1981, when they were relegated to the second division. They achieved promotion in 1987, but in 1991 they were relegated again and did not reach promotion until 2019, 28 years later.

In 2018, Always Ready returned to the top flight for the first time since 1991 by winning the Copa Simón Bolívar after beating Avilés Industrial 3–0 in the final.

In the 2019 Bolivian Primera División season, the club finished ninth in the Apertura, and fifth in the Clausura. These positions were good enough to finish seventh in the aggregate table and earn a spot in the 2020 Copa Sudamericana, their first continental competition in 32 years. They faced Millonarios in the first stage. The first leg in Bogotá ended in a 2–0 win for the Colombian team. In the second leg, which was played in La Paz, Always Ready won 1–0, being eliminated 2–1 on aggregate.

On New Years Eve 2020, Always Ready won the Torneo Apertura championship of the top-flight División Profesional after defeating Nacional Potosí 2–0 away from home in the last match of the season, their first top flight title in 63 years. ^{[2] [3]}

With this title, the club earned a spot in the 2021 Copa Libertadores group stage. Their first match was on 20 April 2021, a 2–0 win against Brazilian powerhouse Internacional at home. Their second match was a 2–1 loss to Olimpia in Paraguay. In the match against Deportivo Táchira on Venezuelan soil, Always Ready suffered a 7–2 defeat. In their last match, they drew against Internacional in Porto Alegre, however this was not enough to prevent their elimination from the competition where they finished last in their group.

In the 2021 season, Always Ready had another good season, finishing as runner-up one point behind champions Independiente Petrolero, and earning qualification to the 2022 Copa Libertadores in the process, where they finished last in the group stage again.

Always Ready in CONMEBOL competitions

• Copa Libertadores: 5 appearances

1968  – Group stage

2021  – Group stage

2022  – Group stage

2023  – Second stage

2024  – Third stage

• Copa Sudamericana: 2 appearances

2020  – First stage

2024  – TBD

Honours

• División Profesional: 3; 1951, 1957, 2020
• Copa Simón Bolívar: 1; 2018

Current squad

As of 19 February, 2024 ^[4]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   VEN Alain Baroja 2 DF   BOL Diego Medina 3 DF   BOL Pablo Vaca 5 DF   BOL Marcelo Suárez 6 DF   BOL Enrique Taborga 7 MF   BOL Julio Herrera 8 FW   COL Ayron del Valle 9 FW   BRA Wesley Tanque 10 MF   BOL Adalid Terrazas 11 MF   BOL Darlin Rodriguez 12 GK   BOL Fabián Pereira 13 DF   BOL Héctor Cuellar 14 MF   ECU José Carabalí 16 MF   BOL Marco Salazar 17 FW   DOM Dorny Romero

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF   ECU Luis Caicedo 21 MF   BOL Robson Matheus 23 GK   BOL Jimmy Roca 25 MF   BOL Matías Galindo 27 FW   BOL José Martínes 28 DF   BOL Matias Castro 29 MF   BOL Sebastián Galindo 30 MF   BOL Edwin Riveria 31 MF   BOL Carlos Abastoflor 33 FW   BOL Gary Rea 40 FW   BOL Moises Paniagua 50 GK   BOL Fabián Pereira 80 MF   COL Larry Angulo

References

1. "Club Always Ready celebra hoy su 74 aniversario" (in Spanish). El Diario. 13 April 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
2. "Always Ready se coronó campeón del futbol boliviano después de 63 años". Depor (in Spanish). 2020-12-31. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
3. "¡Tras 63 años, Always Ready campeón!". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 2020-12-31. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
4. "Club Always Ready - Roster". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 10 August 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Club Always Ready on Facebook
• Club Always Ready on Twitter
• Club Always Ready on Instagram
• Final standings in Bolivia – 1950 to 1990
• Bolivian Soccer Championship, results and tables
• Book Au-delà des Andes : le fabuleux périple européen du Club Always Ready (in French) (juin 2023)
• Team profile at Soccerway