Nacional (URU)

Club Nacional de Football is a Uruguayan sports institution. It was founded on 14 May 1899 in Montevideo, on the initiative of young students of the time, with the intention of consolidating a football institution for native-born (criollo) Uruguayans in the face of the predominance of foreign European clubs and players of this sport, particularly English and German, and it is thus considered the “first criollo team” of the country and one of the first clubs founded by nationals in the Americas.

Although it acquired a multi-sport character that led it to venture into several sports, it is in football that it obtained its main sporting glory, constituting one of the most decorated and recognised entities in the world, having been honoured at national and international footballing level.

It is one of the most iconic and traditional teams on the local scene. The so-called Decano (“Dean”) of Uruguayan football holds the record of having kept its place in the top category since its debut in 1901, and boasts a total of 49 titles of Uruguayan Champion (it also finished first in the 1925 and 1948 tournaments, but was not awarded the title of “Uruguayan Champion” because they were not completed). In total it has 162 official titles, of which 143 are national and 19 international, which makes it the club with the most official titles in the country and the club with the most official titles in the world. In addition to the 49 Uruguayan championships, it is the club that has won the most titles organised by the AUF when other tournaments are taken into account. It is also the only club to have had at least one player in the Uruguay national football team every time they won the Copa América, the Olympic Games and the World Cups.

At international level, it won the Copa Libertadores de América on three occasions — 1971, 1980 and 1988 — and it is the second club with the most points in the all-time table of the continental competition (545), along with other records, such as being the club with the most participations (50), the one that has played the most matches (415), the second club with the most matches won (175), the second with the most goals scored (577), the club that has won the most matches as the visiting side (65), the one that has most often qualified for the round of 16 (23), or the one with the most consecutive participations (uninterrupted since 1997). Through that cup it qualified to play the now discontinued Copa Intercontinental, being crowned champion every time it played it, becoming the first unbeaten three-time champion of that competition in 1988 and the first to win this tournament since it began to be played in Japan in 1980, and it is also the most decorated club in that competition together with Boca Juniors, Real Madrid, Milan and its greatest rival, Peñarol.

It is also the club that won the most titles at international level during the era of the River Plate competitions, played between clubs from Argentina and Uruguay, before the development and organisation of official club competitions at South American level, during the first half of the 20th century, having won 10 titles, with 6 victories in the Copa Aldao, the most prestigious title of the old River Plate cups.

In total it has 19 official international titles, of which 9 correspond to tournaments organised by Conmebol and by Conmebol jointly with other confederations such as UEFA and Concacaf, and 10 to tournaments organised jointly by the AFA and the AUF, making it the Uruguayan club with the most titles at international level and the club with the greatest number of official international titles in the Americas, which is why it is also nicknamed “Rey de Copas” (“King of Cups”). It was the club with the greatest number of official international titles in the world during practically the whole of the 20th century until it was surpassed in the early years of the 21st century by Real Madrid with 29 titles and Al-Ahly with 24. It is also the only Uruguayan club to have won the Copa Interamericana — 1972 and 1989 — and the Recopa Sudamericana, a competition of which it is the first champion in history, winning the 1989 edition against Racing Club of Argentina.

Nacional is identified with the colours white, blue and red, taken from the Flag of Artigas. It plays at home in the Estadio Gran Parque Central, which it owns, located in the barrio La Blanqueada, where on 13 July 1930 the national teams of Belgium and the United States played one of the first two matches in the history of the World Cups and where the national teams of Argentina and Brazil made their World Cup debuts. It was also the sole host of the 1923 and 1924 editions of the Copa América.

Its traditional rival in Uruguayan football is Peñarol, the oldest rivalry in football outside the British Isles and one of the most important derbies in world football. Matches between Nacional and Peñarol are among the three most attractive derbies in the world, according to the British magazine FourFourTwo.