Alianza Lima

Club Alianza Lima, known as Alianza Lima or simply Alianza, is a sports and social institution based in the district of La Victoria, in the city of Lima, capital of Peru. It was founded as a football club on 15 February 1901 by a group of working-class teenagers from the old neighbourhood of Las Chacaritas in Lima who wanted to practise this sport. It is currently the oldest club playing in the Primera División of Peru.

The founders, who at first christened the club “Sport Alianza”, adopted that name in honour of the Alianza stable, located on the jirón Cotabambas, where their first matches were played. It is considered one of the three great clubs of Peruvian football. To date it has twenty-five national titles, one league cup and one Peruvian supercup. Its best international performance came in 1976 when it was champion of the Copa Simón Bolívar. Another of its best international performances came in 1976 and 1978, when it reached the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores de América, and in 1999 in the Copa Merconorte, reaching the same stage.

The club's colours are blue and white. Because of the Italian ancestry of Eduardo Pedreschi, a founding member, it was decided that the first kit would have the colours of the Italian flag. Thus, the first uniforms were green with white. Later, the colours of the stable were included in the uniform, which were blue, white and black, worn on the shirt, shorts and socks respectively. Years later, the blue-and-white uniform was made in stripes, which is used to this day.

Its footballing activity began in the first years after its foundation; however, the matches were amateur, and on several occasions friendly in nature. It is the only surviving club of those that founded, in 1912, the Liga Peruana de Football, in which the club played that tournament for the first time.

Alianza Lima plays at home in the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva, popularly known as “Matute” after the place where it is located, which it owns outright, and which bears the name of one of the most important footballers in aliancista history. It was inaugurated on 27 December 1974 and is located at the intersection of avenida Isabel La Católica and jirón Abtao, in the barrio of Matute, in the district of La Victoria in the city of Lima. Its total capacity is 33,938 spectators. At first, after its construction, it was known as Estadio Alianza Lima, a name that years later was changed to the one it has to this day.

Its traditional rivals are Universitario de Deportes, against whom Alianza Lima shows a large advantage, with 142 victories to 123, and Sporting Cristal, whom it leads by a margin of 76 victories to 68. It also maintains traditional rivalries with Deportivo Municipal and Sport Boys.

In recent years, various surveys and socioeconomic studies carried out by different polling firms agree in placing Alianza Lima as the club with the most supporters in Peru, followed by Universitario and Cristal for the most part.

In 2019, CONMEBOL considered it the most popular Peruvian club in South America. It was also ranked as the sixth most popular team in the region, surpassed only by Flamengo, Corinthians, Boca Juniors, São Paulo and River Plate.

The club also has representation in women's football with its team Alianza Lima femenino, which plays in the Liga Femenina FPF. It also develops other sporting disciplines, among them the Alianza Lima volleyball team, which plays in the Liga Nacional Superior de Voleibol del Perú, and the eSports team, current champion of the Liga Peruana de Pro Evolution Soccer.