![]() | ||||
Full name | Club Nacional de Football | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Bolso Tricolor Bolsilludo Decano[1] | |||
Founded | 14 May 1899 | |||
Ground | Gran Parque Central | |||
Capacity | 38,000[2] | |||
Chairman | Alejandro Balbi | |||
Manager | Martín Lasarte | |||
League | Primera División | |||
2023 | Primera División, 3rd of 16 | |||
Website | Club website | |||
| ||||
Club Nacional de Football (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkluβ nasjoˈnal de ˈfuðβol], National Football Club) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo.
The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between Uruguay Athletic Club and Montevideo Fútbol Club.[3] Although its main focus is football, the club hosts many other activities, including basketball, futsal, tennis, cycling, volleyball, and chess.
In domestic tournaments, Nacional has won the Primera División title 49 times, most recently in the 2022 season. Domestic cups honors include Copa de Competencia (8 times) and Copa de Honor (7 times), among others.
At international level, Nacional has won 9 titles recognized by FIFA and CONMEBOL,[4] including three Copa Libertadores. In this tournament, Nacional is the 2nd best club all-time with 618 points.[5] Nacional has also won all three Copa Intercontinental it has competed in, becoming the second three time world champion in 1988. In addition, Nacional is the only Uruguayan team to have won the Copa Interamericana (two times)[6] and the Recopa Sudamericana. In the latter competition Nacional won the inaugural edition in 1989.[7] Besides, Nacional won a record four Copa de Honor Cousenier,[8] three Copa Aldao,[9] two Tie Cups,[10] and one Copa Escobar-Gerona,[11] all of them organized jointly by the Argentine and Uruguayan Associations. Nacional is the most titled club in the world, with over 166 official titles.
Nacional is identified with the white, blue and red colours inspired by the flag of Uruguay's national hero José Gervasio Artigas.[12] While the club hosts some games at Montevideo's Estadio Centenario, Nacional plays most of its home matches at the Parque Central, located in the La Blanqueada neighborhood and popularly known as El Parque, where on 13 July 1930 Belgium and the United States played one of the two opening games of the 1930 FIFA World Cup, and where Argentina and Brazil, among others, made their debut in the FIFA World Cup. Parque Central was also the only venue in the 1923 and 1924 edition of the Copa América.[13]
Nacional has fierce rivalries with many clubs, notably with cross-town team Peñarol, in clashes known as El clásico del fútbol uruguayo.[14] Along with Peñarol, Nacional has never been relegated from the top flight of Uruguayan football.
According to CONMEBOL, Nacional was the Uruguayan team with the best international performance in the 2007–2012 period.[15] IFFHS named it as the best Uruguayan team of the 2001–2010 period and the seventh best team in South America.[16]
In February 2013, Nacional reached 60,000 associates.[17]