O'Higgins

Club Deportivo O'Higgins, also called O'Higgins de Rancagua or O'Higgins Fútbol Club, is a professional team in the top division of Chilean football, from the city of Rancagua. It was founded on 7 April 1955, as a result of the merger of the clubs América and O'Higgins Braden (a merger of the teams of Braden and of Instituto O'Higgins). From 2005 it became a sociedad anónima deportiva (sports public limited company), and it is managed by the former president of the ANFP, Ricardo Abumohor.

It currently plays in the Primera División of Chile, where it has spent most of its history. It has taken part in 8 international tournaments, which makes it the third provincial team with the most international participations, behind Huachipato with 9 participations and Cobreloa with 18 participations, placing it ninth nationally.

The youth football branch of O'Higgins de Rancagua is run by its Sporting Director Fernando Vergara, with the youth squads training at the complex called Monasterio Celeste, which is one of the most modern in Latin America.

Since its foundation, the colors that identify the club are sky blue, white, green and yellow, and it has also occasionally used black. Its crest consists of an escutcheon with the word O'Higgins at the top. Below, in a pentagonal structure, are arranged three vertical stripes, one white, one green and one yellow, which recall the colors of the former clubs Braden, Instituto O'Higgins and América de Rancagua respectively. On top of everything, it bears the silhouette of a phoenix, the symbol of the city of Rancagua.

The club has 4 official titles: one Primera División title after winning the 2013 Torneo Apertura, one Supercopa de Chile in 2014, one Segunda División tournament won in 1964 and one Segunda División Apertura championship in 1986. It also has other runner-up finishes: one in the Primera División, 2 in the Copa Chile and 3 in the Primera B. It obtained 2 Liguilla Pre Libertadores in 1978 and 1979. Internationally it is the third provincial club with the most participations in international tournaments.

The club plays its home matches at the World Cup stadium Estadio El Teniente, which belongs to Codelco and has a capacity of 12,476 spectators. On 20 January 2015, the website Stadiums Database, a specialist in stadiums worldwide, nominated it as one of the 32 best stadiums in the world during 2014; in the list, where mainly stadiums from Brazil, host country of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, appear, it became the only South American stadium to appear.

Its traditional rival is Cobreloa, against whom it contests the Clásico del Cobre. In addition, against Rangers de Talca it contests the Clásico Huaso and against Colchagua the Clásico Regional.

In April 2014, according to the ranking of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol), O'Higgins was ranked 14th, being the second best team in Chile, surpassed only by Universidad de Chile, the best position in its history.

In December 2013, Conmebol praised Club Deportivo O'Higgins for being a modern and champion club, owing to the championship won and to the new facilities of its sports ground, which are considered of European standard, which little by little has consolidated this club and places it among the most important in the country.

On 31 December 2013, the newspaper El País of Uruguay carried out a survey in which more than 700 journalists worldwide took part, in which O'Higgins was awarded Best Team of Chile, ahead of Universidad Católica, Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile and Unión Española respectively.