Juan Aurich

Association football club
predecessor football clubs of the same name

Club Juan Aurich S. A., commonly known as Juan Aurich, is a professional football club based in Chiclayo, Peru. The original Juan Aurich club was founded in 1922, this incarnation however was founded in 2005; they play in the Torneo Descentralizado where they have been playing since attaining promotion when they won the 2007 Copa Perú. They play their home games at the Estadio Elías Aguirre. Although the current Juan Aurich has played for only a few years in the top flight, three other football clubs named Juan Aurich have played in the Torneo Descentralizado. The first Juan Aurich was founded in 1922 and played in the first division between 1967 and 1983 and again between 1988 and 1991. Between 1994 and 1996 the merged football club Aurich–Cañaña had a brief spell in the Primera División after they achieved promotion through the 1993 Copa Perú. Finally, a third Juan Aurich football club achieved promotion in 1997 by winning the 1997 Copa Perú. This spell in the first division lasted from 1998 to 2002.

The club has had several restructurings since its formation in 1922.

The first incarnation of the football club was founded by a group of workers of the hacienda Batán Grande on 3 September 1922 as Club Deportivo Juan Aurich, after the owner of the hacienda, Juan Aurich Pastor. Due to the financial strain created by playing in the top flight, Juan Aurich de Chiclayo also folded as its predecessors. Juan Aurich defeated Atlético Minero 2–1 and remained in the first division. In the 2009 Torneo Descentralizado, the club made a huge improvement with manager Franco Navarro. They finished first in the first stage of the season and were one of the favorites to reach the finals. As leading team of the first stage, they started first in their group of the second stage. However, in October, two months before the end of the season, the club and Navarro terminated the manager's contract. The club hired Luis Fernando Suárez to finish coaching what was left of the season. Alianza Lima, which was second of the group at the start of second stage, surpassed Juan Aurich and failed to advance to the finals. At the end of the season the club finished third on the aggregate table, qualifying for the 2010 Copa Libertadores. The club continued with Suárez into the 2010 season, which began on a high note after they eliminated Estudiantes Tecos in the first stage of the 2010 Copa Libertadores. They advanced to Group 3 of the competition with Copa Libertadores defending champions Estudiantes de La Plata, Alianza Lima, and Bolívar. They did not advance to the following stage as they finished third behind Estudiantes and Alianza Lima. In the 2010 Torneo Descentralizado the club's performance suffered which led to Suárez's exit from the club but they managed to obtain the last berth to the 2011 Copa Sudamericana under Juan Reynoso. In mid 2010 he became Anonymous Society.

The following season they achieved their greatest success yet. The club started by hiring Colombian Diego Umaña after Reynoso resigned from the managing position. Under Umaña's direction, they returned as contenders for the title and successfully reached the finals of the 2011 Torneo Descentralizado. They lost the first leg at home 1–2 against Alianza Lima and were in danger of losing the chance to win their first professional championship. Surprisingly, in the second leg they held their own against Alianza at the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva and achieved a narrow 1–0 win with a memorable goal from Ysrael Zúñiga in the second half. As both teams had won a match of the finals, a third leg was forced to be played in the Estadio Nacional. A scoreless draw at the Nacional led to a penalty shootout. The final score of the shootout was 3–1 in favor of Juan Aurich. They were the first club outside the Lima Region to win the Torneo Descentralizado since FBC Melgar in 1981.

The original Club Deportivo Juan Aurich's colors were red and white. Both Juan Aurich de Chiclayo and Juan Aurich de La Victoria adopted the same colors and the same badge.

Juan Aurich plays in the multi purpose stadium Estadio Elías Aguirre which has a capacity of 25,000. Built between 1968 and 1970 by the municipality of the Chiclayo Province, it was named after the 19th century Peruvian sailor Elías Aguirre Romero. The municipality transferred administration of the stadium to the Instituto Peruano del Deporte. The stadium was renovated for the 2004 Copa América and again for the 2005 FIFA U 17 World Championship in which artificial turf was installed. The stadium is also home to many football clubs of the Chiclayo province that compete in the Ligas Distritales. In 2013, the stadium was closed for renovations in preparation for the 2013 Bolivarian Games to be held in Trujillo. Consequently, Juan Aurich has temporarily moved its home matches to the Estadio Francisco Mendoza Pizarro, located in Olmos.

Juan Aurich has a total of three major achievements. Their first important achievement was their conquest of the Copa Perú in 1997 which led to the promotion of the club to the first division. Their most important achievement, however, was their first Primera División title won in 2011. In addition, their reserve team won the reserve league Torneo de Promoción y Reserva in 2012.