Club Always Ready

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Always Ready
@Club Always Ready Escudo.png
Full nameClub Deportivo Always Ready
Nickname(s)Albirrojo
el Millonario
la Banda Roja
Founded13 April 1933;92 years ago (1933-04-13)
Ground Estadio Municipal de El Alto
Capacity25,000
ChairmanAndrés Costa
Manager Eduardo Villegas
League División Profesional
2024 División Profesional, 8th of 16
Website www.alwaysready.bo

Club Deportivo 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.

Contents

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

1968  – Group stage
2021  – Group stage
2022  – Group stage
2023  – Second stage
2024  – Third stage
2020  – First stage
2024  – TBD

Honours

National

Regional

Current squad

As of 19 February, 2024 [4]

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.NationPlayer
1 GK Flag of Venezuela (state).svg  VEN Alain Baroja
2 DF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Diego Medina
3 DF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Pablo Vaca
5 DF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Marcelo Suárez
6 DF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Enrique Taborga
7 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Julio Herrera
8 MF Flag of Gabon.svg  GAB Karl Stivince
11 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Darlin Rodriguez
13 DF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Héctor Cuéllar
14 MF Flag of Ecuador.svg  ECU José Carabalí
16 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Marco Salazar
17 FW Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg  DOM Dorny Romero
18 DF Flag of Ecuador.svg  ECU Luis Caicedo
19 FW Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL José Briceño
21 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Robson Tomé
22 DF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL José Herrera
23 GK Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Jimmy Roca
No.Pos.NationPlayer
25 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Matías Galindo
27 FW Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL José Martínes
28 DF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Matias Castro
29 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Sebastián Galindo
30 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Alexandro Zenteno
33 FW Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Gary Rea
38 MF Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Alfredo Alanoca
40 FW Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Moises Paniagua
50 GK Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Fabián Pereira
61 FW Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Marcos Ovejero
70 FW Flag of Colombia.svg  COL Cristián Cañozales
99 GK Flag of Bolivia.svg  BOL Enzo Rodriguez

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). 31 December 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  3. "¡Tras 63 años, Always Ready campeón!". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 31 December 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  4. "Club Always Ready - Roster". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 10 August 2019.