Independiente

The club was founded in 1904 when some members from another Buenos Aires club, Maipú FC, decided to start an own club. The name Independiente was picked to emphasize their independent from that club.

History

During the first years, the team used blue and white colors in the kit and logo. The red color, that the club are foremost associated with, was adopted in 1907 in the logo and in the kit the following year. It is said that Nottingham Forest was the influence to the shift of team colors.

The first trophy was lifted in 1909 after winning Copa Bullrich, a cup played between clubs in the second division. In the following years they would also win Copa de Competencia La Nación (1914), Copa de Competencia Jockey Club (1917) and Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires (1918).

First Primera División title

Manuel Seoane was a gifted goalscorer and his goal production culminated in the 1922 season with 55 goals in 40 games. It was a new league record and Independiente won its first the Primera División (AAmF) that season.The next prime goalscorer of the club was Arsenio Erico who became the second player after Seones to score over 40 goals during a season. He was one of the reasons to that Independiente could claim their third and fourth league titles in 1938 and 1939. At this time were also Antonio Sastre a key player of the team. He played in the club from 1931 to 1942 and scored more than hundred times as a midfielder. Sastre is regarded as one of the best Argentine players of all time.

South American champions

In South American football, Copa Libertadores has historically been regarded as the cream of the cream. The competition had been founded in 1960 and was during the four first years dominated by Uruguyan and Brazilian teams. In the semi-final of the fifth Copa Libertadores edition, Independiente was facing Santos that had Pelé in the team and had won the cup three times in a row. Independiente was the underdog but managed to win twice in the two-legged match. In the final, they faced Nacional from Uruguay and won after 1-0 in aggregation.

In the following year, Independiente made it again. After beating Boca Juniors in the semi-final they defended their title by defeating Peñarol in the final.

International recognition

Independiente was obviously already known by huge amount of football fans before the 1960. But the international recognition did probably increase a lot further that and the following decade.

Independiente had reached the final in the Intercontinental Cup for the first time in 1964, which was a result of winning the Copa Libertadores. They have, however, been defeated by Inter that year and the same thing happened the next.

The third chance to win the prestigious match came in 1972, but the European side, this time represented by Ajax, would prevail. But in 1973, Independiente took the chance when playing against Juventus. Ricardo Bochini scored with only ten minutes left in the game played in Rome. Juventus neglect to play the second match and Independiente was declared winner. The reason for Juventus action was due to the hostilities that had taking place the last year than Ajax played in Buenos Aires.  

By Georgios Moralis

References:
Jonathan Wilson, Angels with Dirty Faces (2016)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Atl%C3%A9tico_Independiente