Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico

Not to be confused with Club Atlético River Plate.

Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico is a Puerto Rican professional football team based in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2007 as a franchise of the Argentine club River Plate,^[1] the team plays in the Puerto Rico Soccer League, and is the reigning Supercopa DirecTV champion.

River Plate Puerto Rico

Full name	Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico
Nickname(s)	River Plate, River, RPPR
Founded	2007; 18 years ago (2007)
Stadium	Pista Atlética Municipal Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Capacity	12,500
Owner	Giovanni Bonilla
Head Coach	Walter Zermatten
League	Puerto Rico Soccer League
Home colors Away colors Third colors

The team plays its home games at Roberto Clemente Stadium in nearby Carolina. The club's colors are red, white and black. Their current head coach is Argentine Walter Zermatten.

History

On 27 June 2004, a group of 31 fans of C.A. River Plate of Argentina signed an affiliation document with the club.^[2] The event was led by the group's founder, Steven Alvarez. After several meetings, the group organized an in-door football team along with the team from a neighboring town Academia Quintana, finishing in the fourth place of an invitational tournament held in Bayamon which marked its debut.^[2]

In August 2004, Club Atlético River Plate Corp registered in Puerto Rico's Department of State, founding its first office in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Between 2005 and 2006, Club Atlético River Plate had several meetings with the Federación Puertorriqueña de Futbol, seeking authorization to establish the first franchise team in Puerto Rico.^[2] The federation's president, Joe Serralta, signed a contract with them agreeing to license Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico, which was consequently founded on 1 January 2007. The Puerto Rican franchise adopted the same shirt and badge than its Argentine counterpart.^[3]

Seeking exposition, the team reached an agreement with professional boxer Miguel Cotto, who wore the club's colors in several of his world championship contests. The team's directive underwent several integrations, including Erick Rodríguez as first vice-president, Kenneth Cintrón as second vice-president and Alvaro Nazor as vocal.^[2] In 2006, the team's secretary, Eduardo Fabrizi, decided to include Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico in the Liga Premier de Fútbol marking its debut. Rubén Muñoz coached a lineup that included Walter Fabian Zermatten, Leonel Pipa Ganzedo and Martin Gómez, winning its first championship before 3,000 followers.^[2] Its defender, Marcelo Roca, was selected the 2007 Premier League Most Valuable Player. While seeking for a definitive home stadium, Fabrizi visited Ponce, choosing it over the other municipalities. He subsequently had meeting with Ponce's incumbent mayor, Francisco Zayas Seijo, reaching an agreement to play there.^[2]

Some reports indicated that in 2009 the team would follow the Puerto Rico Islanders and join the USL First Division. However, River Plate's directive decided to become a founding member of the Puerto Rico Soccer League, the first nationwide league on the archipelago, which was officially founded in 2008.^[4] For its first season in the new league, River Plate brought in several international players, including footballers from Argentina, Colombia and El Salvador.

Puerto Rico Soccer League

On 28 June 2008, River Plate Puerto Rico played against Atlético de San Juan FC in the league's first official game, winning the game 2:0 with goals by Daniel Gómez and Harry Irizarry.^[5] In its second game the team lost to Sevilla FC, one goal to none.^[6] River Plate tied with Guaynabo Fluminense FC in their third outing.^[7] In their fourth game, River Plate defeated Gigantes de Carolina, three goals to one.^[8] On the fifth date of the tournament the team defeated Caguas Huracán.^[9] On 10 August 2008, River Plate defeated Tornados de Humacao.^[10] This marked the end of the league's first half, the teams would then compete against each other a second time. In the first two games of this stage, River Plate defeated Academia Quintana and Atléticos de San Juan.^[11] To close the regular season, the team won 1, lost 1 and tied 3 games.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

River Plate Puerto Rico won its first game of the 2009 season against Huracán, with a score of 5:1.^[17] River Plate have yet to lose in the 2009 Season as they are 10-0-1 with 31 points. On 25 July 2009, the team tied with Bayamón FC, 0:0. They finished the regular season with a record of 14–0–2, winning the league's standing. The last game against Sevilla FC ended in a 2:2 draw. With 5 minutes left in the match and down 2:0, Daniel Jiménez scored a goal for River Plate, the team scored again 3 minutes later to finish the year undefeated. In the semifinals, River plate lost its only game of the season to Atlético.

Supercopa DirecTV 2010

The Supercopa DirecTV is a unique CFU qualifier tournament that replaced the regular season of the PRSL in 2010. River Plate Puerto Rico was the first team to advance to the semifinals, clinching the first place of Group A. After defeating Sevilla Juncos in the Semifinals, River Plate Puerto Rico went on to win the Super Copa DirecTV after defeating the Puerto Rico Islanders on a 3–0 final score on aggregate after Home and Away games held at the Juan Ramon Loubriel stadium in Bayamon. Both teams qualified directly to the CFU Championship Tournament for the 2011 edition.

International performance

In the First Round of the 2010 CFU Club Championship River Plate was placed in the same group as Racing des Gonaives, C.S.D. Barber, and Hubentut Fortuna. In the 1st match they defeated Racing 3:1.^[18] The team defeated Hubentut Fortuna 5:1 in the second date.^[19] To close the group's first round they defeated C.S.B. Barber 4:0.^[20] River Plate finished at the top of their group and advanced to the second round along San Juan Jabloteh.

Stadium

• Francisco Montaner Stadium; Ponce, Puerto Rico (2008–2010)
• Roberto Clemente Stadium; Carolina, Puerto Rico (2011–present)

River's original home was in Ponce, and for its first three seasons the team played at Francisco Montaner Stadium. For the 2011 season the team was originally supposed to play in the city of San Juan at Estadio Sixto Escobar,^[21] but because of lack of agreement with the city of San Juan, the team agreed to move to Fajardo instead.^[22] While the city prepares to build a stadium for the team, River signed a short-term agreement to play their 2011 home games at Roberto Clemente Stadium in nearby Carolina.^[23]

Current squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  USA Craig Hill 2 DF  PUR Edwin Cano 3 DF  USA Matías Maroni 4 MF  ARG Jerónimo González 5 DF  ARG Martín Morello 9 FW  CUB Yaikel Pérez 10 MF  PUR Petter Villegas 11 MF  ARG Alejandro Russo 12 GK  USA Yessid Nijim 14 DF  PUR Nélson Torres

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  ARG Gustavo Paruolo 16 MF  GUA José Miguel Montoya 18 FW  PUR Chris Megaloudis 19 FW  CUB Julio Maya 21 DF  CUB Yeniel Bermúdez 23 DF  HAI François Frantz 24 MF  PUR Juan Murillo 26 DF  GUA Pedro Montoya 27 MF  PUR Brian Bayona Becerra

Achievements

• Puerto Rico Soccer League
  • Supercopa DirecTV Champion (1): 2010
  • League Champions (1): 2009
  • Runner-up (1): 2008
• Copa Monteplata
  • Winners (1): 2009
• Liga Premier
  • Winners (1): 2007

Team records

Club Atlético Ponce 2008–2011

Season	PRSL									Overall	CFU Club Championship	Top goalscorer		Managers
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P			Name	League
2008		2nd							28	2nd	Did not enter
2009		1st							-	-	Did not enter
2010		1st	6	6	0	0	29	2	18	1st	Group Stage

Club Atlético Fajardo 2011–present

Season	USL PRO									Overall	CFU Club Championship	Top goalscorer		Managers
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P			Name	League
2011 †											Group Stage

Season	PRSL									Overall	CFU Club Championship	Top goalscorer		Managers
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P			Name	League
2016	Apertura	3rd	13	7	5	1	39	19	26	4th	Did not enter
	Clausura	10th	10	6	0	4	22	23	18

^† The club was removed from USL Pro League on 10 May 2011.

References

1. Franquicia del River Plate se establece en Puerto Rico y jugará en la USL on Medio Tiempo, 17 January 2007
2. "Club: Historia" (in Spanish). Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico. 28 March 2010. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010.
3. Un clon de River que no descendió on 442 (Perfil.com), 24 Sep 2011
4. Rivera, Rafy (28 June 2008). "Nace primera liga profesional de fútbol". El Vocero (in Spanish).
5. Octavio Benítez (29 June 2008). "Ponce River Plate Derrota 2-0 a San Juan en inicio de la PRSL" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 7 July 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
6. Al puntero el Bayamón Sevilla (in Spanish). El Vocero. 14 July 2008.
7. Octavio Benítez (20 July 2008). "En Estreno del Paquito Montaner en la PRSL". Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
8. Octavio Benítez (27 July 2008). "Bayamon Sevilla Solido en la Punta, Despacha a San Juan y se Mantiene Invicto" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 28 July 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
9. "Resultados de Hoy 2 de Agosto de 2008" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Soccer League. 2 August 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
10. Octavio Benítez (10 August 2008). "Ganan Quintana y River, Mientras Bayamón sigue invicto tras empatar sin goles con el Guaynabo Flumi" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
11. "Quintana y Ponce ganan en fútbol". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 25 August 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
12. "Resultados – Matchday (30/08/2008)". Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
13. "Resultados – Matchday (07/09/2008)". Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
14. "Resultados – Matchday (14/09/2008)". Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
15. "Resultados – Matchday (21/09/2008)". Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
16. "Resultados – Matchday (28/09/2008)". Puerto Rico Soccer League. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
17. prsoccer.org https://web.archive.org/web/20200726171823/http://prsoccer.org/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showresults&p=4&Itemid=26&r=1. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
18. Esteban Pagán Rivera (18 March 2010). "El River boricua mantiene el enfoque" (in Spanish). Primera Hora. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
19. Esteban Pagán Rivera (19 March 2010). "River pasó la aplanadora en Curazao". Primera Hora (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
20. Esteban Pagán Rivera (21 March 2010). "River Plate-Puerto Rico adelantó a la segunda ronda". Primera Hora (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
21. "Pagina Oficial de River Plate Puerto Rico". Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
22. "Pagina Oficial de River Plate Puerto Rico". Archived from the original on 10 January 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
23. "Pagina Oficial de River Plate Puerto Rico". Archived from the original on 15 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.

• Puerto Rico portal

External links

• Official website (archived, 26 Jan 2010)

Puerto Rico Soccer League
Preceded by Bayamón FC	Champion 2010 Only title	Succeeded by FC Leones de Ponce