Unión Magdalena

They currently play in the Primera B, second division of the Colombian football league system.

Unión Magdalena

Full name	Unión Magdalena
Nickname(s)	El Ciclón Bananero (The Banana Cyclone) Los Samarios (The Samarios)
Founded	10 March 1951; 73 years ago (1951-03-10) (as Deportivo Samarios) 19 April 1953; 71 years ago (1953-04-19) (officially)
Ground	Estadio Sierra Nevada
Capacity	16,000
Chairman	Alberto Garzón
Manager	Álvaro Hernández
League	Categoría Primera B
2023	Primera A, 17th of 20 (Relegated by average)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Founded on 10 March 1951 as Deportivo Samarios, the club was re-founded as Unión Magdalena on 19 April 1953. The original playing squad was largely composed of Hungarians who were touring Colombia when their club, the Hungaria FbC Roma, was disbanded.

Unión Magdalena was founded as Deportivo Samarios on 10 March 1951. The team was founded with the help of José Eduardo Gnecco Correa and Eduardo Dávila Riascos and was formed by the squad of the Hungaria FbC Roma when it was disbanded after a tour in South America. The first team consisted in 10 Colombians, 8 Hungarians, 2 Yugoslavs, 1 Austrian, 1 Argentine, 1 Italian and 1 Romanian. Deportivo Samarios debuted on league that same year and placed 14th. That season, the team achieved the record of the biggest win in the Colombian league against Universidad, with a score of 12–1.

The club was re-founded as Unión Magdalena on 19 April 1953. Unión has only won one championship, in 1968 playing against Deportivo Cali in the final, thus becoming the first football club of the Caribbean region of Colombia to win a football championship in history. Carlos Valderrama, born in Santa Marta and one of the most famous Colombian footballer, started his career in this club.

Relegated in 2005 after losing 3–0 to Deportivo Pereira, Unión earned automatic promotion to the 2019 Categoría Primera A season, after playing 13 years in the second division football league. Despite qualifying for the semifinals of the 2019 Apertura, Unión's performance in the Finalización tournament was poor and the club ended up being relegated on 29 October after losing 3–1 to Once Caldas.

Red and blue stripes compose the traditional shirt of the team, and its design is inspired by the Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro.

2021 controversy and promotion

On 4 December 2021, the last matchday of the semi-final Group B of the second tournament of the 2021 Primera B season, Unión Magdalena sealed their promotion to Categoría Primera A after coming back from a 1–0 deficit against Llaneros in Villavicencio with a couple of goals in quick succession in stoppage time to win the game by a 2–1 score and get promoted at the expense of Fortaleza, who were clinching promotion with the score in Villavicencio despite losing their final match to Bogotá at the same time. However, video footage of Unión Magdalena's winning goal appeared to show the Llaneros players backing off and failing to make an effort to prevent their rivals from scoring. The events sparked outrage both within the country and abroad, with Colombian internationals Juan Cuadrado and Mateus Uribe expressing their displeasure, calling them "a lack of respect" and "an embarrassment for Colombian football", whilst President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez stated it was a "national disgrace".

In response to the growing backlash, as well as calls from Fortaleza to get the match annulled and Unión Magdalena's promotion reversed, Dimayor chairman Fernando Jaramillo ordered the opening of an inquiry on the match events while also requesting the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia to investigate whether any criminal offenses had been committed, but on 7 December 2021, Jaramillo stated that the tournament would not be paused and Unión Magdalena's promotion would not be overturned while due process was completed. However, amid the ongoing inquiries, the Torneo II's final match between Cortuluá and Unión Magdalena, which was originally scheduled to be played on 11 December 2021 in Tuluá was postponed until further notice.

On 30 December 2021 Dimayor's disciplinary commission closed the investigation on Unión Magdalena as it found no evidence implying that members of the aforementioned club had been responsible for the events that occurred in the match against Llaneros, thus confirming their promotion to Primera A for the 2022 season.

The Eduardo Santos Stadium, inaugurated in 1951, was the highest sports venue for Magdalenes, located in the Olympic Village of Santa Marta. It served for the Unión Magdalena local games but since its inauguration, it has not only been the headquarters of the Unión Magdalena soccer club, it also witnessed the birth of prominent Colombian soccer figures such as the former Colombian team captain, Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama. It currently has a capacity of 23,000 spectators.^{[citation needed]}

On 3 March 2013, Unión Magdalena played its last game at the stadium against Llaneros F.C., in compliance with the final closure order of the Eduardo Santos Stadium.^{[citation needed]}

The team had a tour of venues around Riohacha (La Guajira) at the Federico Serrano Soto Stadium and then in the Magdalena municipality of Ciénaga, at the "Luis Tete Samper" Municipal Stadium, with a capacity of 5,000 spectators.^{[citation needed]}

After the inauguration of the Sierra Nevada Stadium for the 2017 Bolivarian Games, the Union Magdalena made the agreement with the mayor of Santa Marta official to return to the city from the 2018 season.^{[citation needed]}

Current squad

As of 15 April 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   COL Johan Wallens 2 DF   COL Jefrey Trujillo 3 DF   COL Daniel Mera 4 DF   COL Jaime Giraldo 5 MF   COL Roberto Vanegas 7 FW   COL Daiver Vega (captain) 8 MF   COL Jesús Serrano 9 FW   COL Santiago Gómez 10 MF   COL Jannenson Sarmiento 11 FW   COL Juan del Río 12 GK   COL Cristian Baldovino 13 DF   COL Jhon Lajud 14 DF   COL Alain Guerrero 15 DF   COL Guillermo Tegüé 16 MF   URU Cristhian Sención

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW   COL Gabriel Arrieta 18 DF   COL Juan Ocampo 19 FW   COL Andrés Carreño 20 DF   COL Juan José Tello (on loan from Deportivo Cali) 21 MF   COL Juan Diego Giraldo 22 GK   COL Efraín Ustariz 25 MF   ARG Agostino Spina 26 MF   COL Jeisson Castro 28 MF   COL José Mercado 29 MF   COL Arneth González 30 DF   VEN Freddy Molina 31 DF   COL Andrés Escobar — GK   COL Guillermo Gómez — DF   COL Andrés Felipe Correa — FW   COL Janeth Alemán

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   COL Isaac Camargo (at Deportivo Cali)

Players with dual citizenship

First Team (Deportivo Samarios – 1951)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK   HUN Ernest Sabeditch — GK   COL Rubén Rocha — GK   COL Jaime de la Spriella — GK   YUG Zvonko Monsider — DF   COL Víctor Lanao — DF   ROU Alexandru Negrescu — DF   HUN Sándor Török — MF   HUN Gerro Hinduliak — MF   HUN József Samu — MF   COL Enrique Ortiz — MF   COL Nelson Pérez — MF   COL Rómulo Barrios

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   COL Felipe Fernández — MF   ARG Rafael Botto — FW   HUN György Marik — FW   HUN Joseph Kajml — FW   HUN Gyula Zsengellér (also Manager) — FW   COL Orlando Granados — FW   HUN László Füzesi — FW   YUG Milos Dragolovich — FW   AUT Rudolf Strittich — FW   COL Antonio Carrasquilla — FW   ITA Alessandro Adam — FW   COL Apolinar Pérez

Notable players

 

•   Gyula Zsengellér (1951–53)
•   Georg Hanke (1951)
•   György Marik (1951–1952)
•   Gabriel Rakosky (1952)
•   Kalman Lami (1952)
•   Ladislao Magyar (1952)
•   Nicolás Hrotko (1952)
•   Bruno Gerzelli (1952)
•   Corrado Contin (1952)
•   Manuel Rossi (1965)
•   Arístides Del Puerto (1973)
•   Luis Giribet (1976)
•   Víctor Solar (1977)
•   Carlos Valderrama (1981–84)
•   Alfredo Arango (1965–1972),(1973–1974),(1978–1980)
•   Carlos Arango (1950),(1960–1961)
•   Aurelio Palacios
•   Nixon Perea (1993)
•   Erwin Carrillo (2004–2005),(2007–2009),(2012–2014),(2018)
•   Ruyeri Blanco (2016–2021)
•   Fernando Batiste (2018–2019)
•   Abel Aguilar (2018–2020)
•   David Ferreira (2018–2019)
•   Ricardo Márquez (2018–2020), (2022–2024)
•   Jairo Palomino (2021–)
•   Carlos Bejarano (2022-2023)
•   Alexander Mejía (2023)

• Carlos Vives, vallenato singer

Domestic

 

• Campeonato Profesional/Categoría Primera A:
  • Winners (1): 1968
• Categoría Primera B:
  • Winners (1): 2021–II
  • Runners-up (2): 2000, 2018
• Copa Colombia:
  • Runners-up (1): 1989

Current technical staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Claudio Rodríguez
Assistant manager	David Ferreira
Physical Trainer	Waldir Manga
Goalkeeping coach	Diego Rojas
Psychologist	Joaquín Valdés
Doctor	Pedro Larios   Luis Mendoza
Kinesiologist	Norman Royero