Club Deportivo El Nacional

Club Deportivo El Nacional

Club Deportivo "El Nacional" is a Ecuadorian sports club from Quito, known best for their professional football team. The team currently plays in the Serie A, the top-flight football league in the country.

El Nacional is tied with Barcelona as the most successful team in Ecuadorian football, with thirteen national championships. They are the only team to have won the national championship three times in a row, having done so twice from 1976–1978 and 1982-1984. The club has participated in more Copa Libertadores than any other club in Ecuador with 22 appearances. Their best performance in the continental tournament was as a semifinalist in 1985.

El Nacional was founded on June 1, 1964 and is administered by the Ecuadorian Military. The club has maintained a tradition of only playing Ecuadorian footballers, which has given them the nickname of Puros Criollos ("Pure Natives"). Rival clubs included crosstown clubs LDU Quito, Deportivo Quito, and to a lesser extent, ESPOLI. Because of ESPOLI's administration by the Ecuadorian Police, matches between them have been unofficially called El Clásico de las Fuerzas del Orden (the forces of order derby). Their home stadium is Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa.

Other sports the organization participates in are gymnastics, table tennis, Ecuavolley, chess, and shooting.