Unión Magdalena

Unión Magdalena (Spanish pronunciation: [uˈnjom maɣðaˈlena]) commonly known as El Unión, and nicknamed as El Ciclón Bananero (The Banana Cyclone) and also Los Samarios (The Samarios), is a Colombian football club from the city of Santa Marta, capital of the department of Magdalena, founded on April 19 1953. They will compete in the Categoría Primera A, the first division of the Colombian football league system, starting from 2025.^[1]

Unión Magdalena

Full name	Unión Magdalena
Nickname(s)	El Ciclón Bananero (The Banana Cyclone) Los Samarios (The Samarios)
Founded	10 March 1951; 74 years ago (1951-03-10) (as Deportivo Samarios) 19 April 1953; 71 years ago (1953-04-19) (officially)
Ground	Estadio Sierra Nevada
Capacity	16,162
Owner	Eduardo Dávila Armenta
Chairman	Alberto Garzón
Manager	Alexis García
League	Categoría Primera A
2024	Primera B, 2nd of 16 (champions and promoted)
Website	unionmagdalena.co
Home colours Away colours

The club's home ground is the Estadio Sierra Nevada, since 2018.

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.^[2]

History

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. It was formed by the Hungaria FbC Roma squad when it was disbanded after a tour in South America.^[2] The first team consisted of 10 Colombians, 8 Hungarians, 2 Yugoslavs, 1 Austrian, 1 Argentine, 1 Italian and 1 Romanian. Deportivo Samarios debuted in the league that same year and placed 14th. That season, the team achieved the record of the biggest win in the Colombian league against Universidad, scoring 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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".^[6][7][8]

In response to the growing backlash, as well as calls from Fortaleza to get the match annulled and Unión Magdalena's promotion reversed,^[9] 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,^[10][11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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.^[14]

Stadiums

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 agreed with the mayor of Santa Marta official to return to the city from the 2018 season.^{[citation needed]}

Periode	Stadium
1951 - 1991	Estadio Eduardo Santos
1991	Estadio Jaime Morón León
1992 - 2013	Estadio Eduardo Santos
2013	Estadio Federico Serrano Soto
2014	Estadio Cortes Campomanes (Julia Turbay Samur)
2014 - 2015	Estadio Municipal "Luis Tete Samper"
2016	Estadio Federico Serrano Soto
2017	Estadio Diego de Carvajal
2018–present	Estadio Sierra Nevada

Players

Current squad

As of 12 February 2025^[15]

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  COL Eduar Esteban 3 DF  COL Daniel Mera 5 DF  COL Martín Payares 6 DF  COL Dilan Ortiz 7 FW  COL Andrés Carreño 8 FW  ARG Valentín Sánchez (on loan from Huracán) 9 FW  COL Santiago Gómez 10 MF  COL Jannenson Sarmiento 11 FW  COL Orles Aragón 13 FW  COL Janeth Alemán 14 DF  COL Jhoan Pinto 15 MF  URU Eric Krame 16 MF  URU Cristian Sención (captain) 17 FW  COL Ruyeri Blanco

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF  COL Darwin Palomeque 19 FW  COL Gustavo Mosquera 21 MF  COL Juan Diego Giraldo 22 MF  COL Oscar Barreto 24 MF  COL Fabián Cantillo 26 DF  COL David Murillo 28 MF  COL José Mercado 29 MF  COL Arneth González 30 DF  COL Dairon Mosquera 33 DF  COL Óscar Vanegas 34 GK  COL Guillermo Gómez 99 MF  COL Franklin Navarro — DF  VEN Freddy Molina — FW  COL Gabriel Arrieta

Out on loan

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 — MF  COL Roberto Hinojosa (at Llaneros) — FW  COL Isaac Camargo (at Alianza)

First Team (Deportivo Samarios – 1951)

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 — 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

Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama

• Gyula Zsengellér (1951–53)
• Jiří 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)
• Carlos Bejarano (2022-2023)
• Alexander Mejía (2023)

Honours

Domestic

Campeonato Profesional trophy replica from 1968

• Categoría Primera A
  • Winners (1): 1968
• Categoría Primera B
  • Winners (2): 2021–II, 2024
  • Runners-up (2): 2000, 2018
• Copa Colombia
  • Runners-up (1): 1989

Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Pen.
1969	Copa Libertadores	GS	Deportivo Cali	2–2	1–3	—
			Deportivo Italia	3–0	0–2	—
			Deportivo Canarias	0–1	1–0	—

Personnel

Current technical staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Jorge Luis Pinto
Assistant manager	Melquisedec Navarro Vidal
Physical Trainer	Gilberto Arenas Monsalve
Doctor	Edgar Sanchez Comas Orlando Moreno Barriga
Kinesiologist	Fabian Andres Bedoya Dairo Granados Labarces
Field Delegated	Orlando Zuniga Sanchez Christian Orozco Oliveros
Property master	Manuel Alvarez Ariza

Last updated: 27 August 2024
Source: Dimayor

Notable managers

The following managers won at least one trophy when in charge of Union Magdalena:

Name	Period	Trophies
Antonio Julio de la Hoz	1968	1968 Campeonato Profesional
Carlos Silva	2019–2022	2021–II Categoría Primera B
Jorge Luis Pinto	2024–2025	2024 Categoría Primera B