History
Ricardo Bentín Mujica, with the support of his wife, co-owners of Backus and Johnston brewery, was the man who is credited with achieving the company's goal. A club from Rímac ward, known as Sporting Tabaco founded in 1926 and originally belonging to the tobacco growers' union, was already playing in the professional Peruvian First Division. Never having won a national championship, the club was in dire economic straits. Bentín decided to buy the club and search for a playing ground, so that the club could develop and be able to play better at the professional level. The club found a lot in the neighborhood of La Florida of 137,000 m².
On December 13, 1955 the club was founded as Sporting Cristal, after Backus' best-known beer brand, Cristal. The new club from Rímac ward debuted in 1956 in the professional Primera Division and won their first national title that same year. Journalists thus called them the club born a champion (nació campeon). The team managed to win more titles over the years and was known as one of the best football clubs in Peru after Universitario de Deportes and Alianza Lima. A few years later, the club eliminated the word Backus from their name to demonstrate their economic independence.
Sporting Cristal changed its shirt color from blue to light blue. During a brief period between 1978 and 1981, they again used blue shirts. In 1982 they returned to light blue as the color of the club.
The 1990s was the most succeful decade, 4 national titles (3 in a row) with coaches as Juan Carlos Oblitas, Cristal won 1991, 1994 and 1995 domestic league. And with Sergio Markarián head coach they won 1996 league. By 1997, the team, led by Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarián, reached the finals of the Copa Libertadores, where they faced the Brazilian club Cruzeiro. The first leg was a home game, in which they ended in a scoreless draw; in the second leg, they lost 1-0. This is the closest a Peruvian team has come to the Copa Libertadores Final since 1972, when Universitario de Deportes had a similar fate playing against Club Atlético Independiente.
In the last years Cristal haven´t done so well in the national championship. The last title was obtain in 2005 with Jose del Solar as head coach and many notable players as Sergio Leal, Jorge Soto and Luis Alberto Bonnet.
Read more about this topic: Sporting Cristal
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