FBC Melgar

Foot Ball Club Melgar, known as FBC Melgar or simply Melgar, is a sports institution based in the city of Arequipa, Peru. It was founded on 25 March 1915 by a group of young men who wished to play this sport. It is the most traditional and representative club of Arequipa and has a large number of supporters in the southern region of the country. It has taken part uninterruptedly in the Primera División del Perú since 1971, after winning the Copa Perú of that same year.

The founders, who initially christened the club "Juventud Melgar", adopted that name in honour of the poet and revolutionary Mariano Melgar. To date it has won two national titles and one Copa Perú. Its best international performance came in 2022, when it reached the semi-finals of the Copa Sudamericana.

In its early years it played its matches at the Stadium Melgar, which was later demolished and replaced, a few blocks away, by the new Estadio Melgar, located in the district of Arequipa and named in honour of Mariano Melgar. Since 1995 it has played its home matches at the Estadio Monumental de la UNSA (alternating the home venue with the Estadio Melgar in some seasons), which was inaugurated on 30 July 1995 and is located within the campus of the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, in the cercado of Arequipa. The ground has a total capacity of 60,000 spectators, making it one of the largest football stadiums in South America and the second largest in Peru after the Estadio Monumental de Ate.

With 16 international appearances in official tournaments organised by the South American Football Confederation, it is the fourth Peruvian side to have played the most continental cups. It is the best Peruvian team in the all-time table of the Copa Sudamericana and the fifth best Peruvian team in the all-time table of the Copa Libertadores de América.

Its classic rival is Cienciano, with whom it contests the Clásico del Sur, as well as FBC Aurora, with whom it used to contest the Clásico Arequipeño. It maintained rivalries with other Arequipa clubs such as White Star, Sportivo Huracán and FBC Piérola, as well as with clubs from southern Peru such as Coronel Bolognesi of Tacna and Alfonso Ugarte of Puno. In addition, it has a recent rivalry with Sporting Cristal.