C.D. Antofagasta

Chilean football club

Deportes Antofagasta is a Chilean football club based in the city of Antofagasta currently playing in the Primera B Of Chile. The club's home stadium is the Estadio Bicentenario Calvo y Bascuñán, which has a capacity of 21,178.

The club was founded on May 14, 1966, when the amateur clubs Unión Bellavista and Portuario Atacama merged. The team's original name was Club de Deportes Antofagasta Portuario. The team's first manager was Luis Santibañez, future manager of the Chile National Team. The team finished 10th in its first league season. Under coach Francisco Hormazábal, Antofagasta was crowned champions of the second division in 1968. The final was played on January 19, 1969, against San Luis. The only goal of the match was scored by the Paraguayan player Juan Pelayo Ayala. The team was promoted to first division after that game. On July 21, 1974, the team changed its name to Club Regional Antofagasta. In 1977, the team finished 18th in the table and returned to the second level. In 1979, Jorge León was named the team's president and changed the club's name to Club de Deportes Antofagasta. The regional was not appropriate anymore, because a second team, Cobreloa, had been established in the Antofagasta Region. On June 30, 1983 D. Antofagasta, coached by Manuel Rodríguez, returned to the top level once after defeating Lota Schwager 9–0. However the following year the team was again relegated. D. Antofagasta experienced one of their most successful spans from 1991 through 1995, playing in the top tier under the guidance of Croatian coach Andrija Perčić, with star players such as Marco Cornez and Gabriel Caballero. In 1997, they once again descended to the second level, after finishing at the bottom of the table. In 2005, D. Antofagasta gained promotion to the first division along with Santiago Morning. In 2008, the club returned to the Primera B, finishing at the bottom of the cumulative table 2007–08. In 2011, they won the Primera B championship and were promoted to the Primera Division.

Deportes Antofagasta plays its home matches at the Estadio Regional de Antofagasta, owned by the Municipality of Antofagasta. The stadium was planned to be a reserve stadium for the FIFA World Cup 1962, and was finally inaugurated on October 8, 1964, on the grounds of the former Riding Club of Antofagasta. The first professional football match was played there in 1966, and Deportes Antofagasta has played there since that time. In 2007 the stadium was closed for repairs, and home games had to be played elsewhere; The Estadio Municipal de La Pintana in Santiago against Deportes Puerto Montt in Estadio Municipal de Calama against Huachipato and Estadio Carlos Dittborn, Arica against Lota Schwager, and until 2013 at the Estadio Parque Juan López.