Aucas

Sociedad Deportiva Aucas, better known as Aucas, is an Ecuadorian sports club based in the city of Quito. It was founded on 6 February 1945 by the hydrocarbons company Royal Dutch Shell. It currently competes in men's and women's football: its men's squad plays in the Serie A, and its women's squad in the Serie A Amateur.

Its name comes from the Quichua word awka [auca], meaning “savage”. This was the term the Quichuas of the Amazon used to refer to the Huaorani, and it became popular among oil workers. Because of that connotation, they chose the word as the name of the team, and they later received the nickname “el Equipo Oriental” (“the Eastern Team”). Shortly after its foundation, it became the most powerful team in the city at that time, which also earned it the epithet “Papá Aucas”; meanwhile, as a result of its sporting achievements, it became the most popular team in Quito at the time, receiving the nicknames “Ídolo de Quito” (“Idol of Quito”) and “Ídolo del Pueblo” (“Idol of the People”).

As for its sporting achievements, its golden age came during the amateur period of Ecuadorian football and the early years of professionalism, when there was still no national championship. It won six titles in the Pichincha Amateur Championships, including five consecutive titles, during which it set the record of remaining unbeaten for more than three years. Although it was one of the founding teams of the Ecuadorian Football Championship, it has not played a major role in that tournament; nevertheless, in the 2022 edition it won its first and only national title, and it is therefore the reigning champion. The team maintains a historic rivalry with Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, against whom it plays the Superclásico de Quito, regarded as the most traditional match in the capital city.

It is one of the few Ecuadorian clubs with its own stadium, and it was the first Quito team to have one; since 1994 it has played its home matches at the Estadio Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda. The stadium, also known as “la Caldera del Sur” (“the Cauldron of the South”), has a capacity of 18,799 people. Its sports headquarters used to be the Campus Luis Flores Valenzuela, located next to the stadium, but in 2023 the club moved its training centre to a new complex called la Eterna Primavera, which is located in Puembo, near Quito.