Once Caldas

Once Caldas is a football club from Colombia, from the city of Manizales, department of Caldas. It was founded on 16 April 1947 as “Deportes Caldas”, a team that had played the first four championships of the Categoría Primera A between 1948 and 1951. It was refounded on 16 January 1961 as Once Caldas, following the merger of Deportes Caldas and Once Deportivo. It currently plays in the Categoría Primera A, the top level of Colombian professional football.

The color that identifies the club is white, which it has used in its kit since 1961. The team plays at home at the Estadio Palogrande in Manizales, which has a capacity of 28,678 spectators.

Once Caldas has been champion of the Primera A four times, in 1950, in the 2003 Apertura, in the 2009 Apertura, and in the 2010 Torneo Finalización. In 2004 it was crowned champion of the Copa Libertadores de América, defeating in the final the then reigning champion, Boca Juniors of Argentina, becoming the second Colombian team to win this title.

It has finished runner-up twice in the Primera A, in 1998 and the 2011 Finalización, as it did in the Copa Colombia in 2008 and 2018.

The Manizales team was the first in the country to exploit advertising by large companies. Paradoxically, and to the surprise of its economic slumps, it had to cede the name of the team to private interests. It is the Colombian club that has had the most names, among which are remembered "Deportes Caldas", the team of the 1940s and early 1950s, and the names of its sponsors, such as "Varta Caldas", "Cristal Caldas" and "Once Philips".

It contests the "Clásico Cafetero" against Deportivo Pereira and against Deportes Quindío.