Club Santa Fe

Club Santa Fe

Independiente Santa Fe is a professional Colombian First Division football club based in Bogotá. It has won seven First Division titles and two Copa Colombia titles. On July 15, 2012, Santa Fé won their seventh championship after a 37 year-long wait.

Santa Fe was the first team in Colombia that entered professionalism, though America de Cali, Independiente Medellin, Deportivo Cali and Cucuta Deportivo were founded before but didn't become professional until later tournaments. Independiente Santa Fé was founded on 28 February 1941 in the traditional "Café Rhin" in downtown Bogotá. It started its activities as a club in March 23, 1941 and won the first edition of the Colombian First Division held in 1948, for that the club is commonly named "The First Champion": El Primer Campeón.

It is widely regarded in Colombia that the younger Santa Fe fans "inherited" the fandom from their parents and grandparents, since most of them had actually never seen the team win a championship. The previous championship titles occurred in 1948, 1958, 1960, 1966, 1971, 1975 and 2012-I. Some blamed the lack of success to achieve a seventh star on bad management and lack of commitment from both players and directives. Nevertheless, the team has always remained popular and has been finalist on other occasions. Because of the loyalty of their fans the Club is regarded as a major presence in the Colombian professional league.

Due to their recent title, and alongside Independiente Medellin with their 2002 title (their previous win was on 1957, a 45 year gap) and Once Caldas with a 53 year wait between championships, Santa Fe ceased to be one of the Colombian clubs with longest gaps between championships.