Defensa y Justicia

Full name	Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia
Nickname(s)	El Halcón (The Hawk)
Founded	20 March 1935; 89 years ago (1935-03-20)
Ground	Estadio Norberto "Tito" Tomaghello
Capacity	20,000[1]
Chairman	José Lemme
Manager	Pablo De Muner
League	Primera División
2023	6th
Website	http://www.defensayjusticia.org.ar/
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known as Defensa y Justicia, is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935.^[2] The senior squad currently plays in the Primera División, the top division of the Argentine football league system.

The team plays its home games at Estadio Norberto Tomaghello, with a capacity of approximately 20,000. Defensa y Justicia is one of the clubs with most seasons in Primera B Nacional, also having played in all the divisions of the Argentine league system since their debut in Primera D Metropolitana in 1978.^[3]

In 2016, Defensa y Justicia qualified to play their first international tournament, the 2017 Copa Sudamericana.^[4] The team advanced to second stage but then lost to Chapecoense on penalties.^[5]

In 2021, the club achieved their first international titles after having won both, 2020 Copa Sudamericana to Lanús and 2021 Recopa Sudamericana beating Palmeiras on penalties.^[6] Along with Boca Juniors, Defensa y Justicia is one of the clubs that have not been relegated since their promotion to Primera División.

The institution was founded on 20 March 1935 by a group of friends who wanted to form a local team. There are no sources explaining how the name was given to the club.^[7] Presided by Norberto Tomaghello, Defensa y Justicia affiliated to Argentine Football Association, built its stadium, which was opened with a friendly match against Boca Juniors reserve team in December 1977.

The club's original colors were blue with white collars and cuffs, which were changed to yellow with green details. These were the colors of the bus line "El Halcón", a company that belonged to the club president at the time. This company used its buses to bring the fans to away games, and thus received the nickname "Los Halcones de Varela".^[7]

Even though the club was founded as early as 1935, Defensa y Justicia did not play in official tournaments until 1978, when the team debuted in Primera D, defeating Cañuelas 2–1.^[7] The starting line-up was: Ramón Correa; Benito López, Roberto Lucarini, Raúl Bustos, Alberto Cortez; Horacio Roselli, Jorge Giache, César Echeverry; Luis Briega, Héctor Cardozo, Oscar Bruno.

Defensa y Justicia played in Primera D until 1982 when the team won the championship and promoted to the upper division, Primera C. Only three years after, Defensa promoted again (this time to Primera B, the second division by then) after winning their second title. Defensa achieved promotion after beating Barracas Central 7–0. That same year, Defensa y Justicia played an "Octogonal", an 8-team tournament which winner promoted to Primera División.

After a 1–1 draw v Atlanta, the club promoted to recently created Primera B Nacional on 1 June 1986, achieving their second promotion within six months. In the first Primera B Nacional season, 1986–87, the team finished 10th. The following years Defensa would be relegated again, but the club returned to Primera B Nacional when winning the 1996–97 title in B Metro.

In 1998–99 season and coached by Ricardo Villa, Defensa was near to promote after eliminating Arsenal de Sarandí and Cipolletti, then losing to Chacarita Juniors (which would then promote along with champion Instituto) 4–2 on aggregate. In the 1999–2000 season, Defensa was coached by Jorge Burruchaga but could not qualify to "Torneo Reducido" (promotion and relegation playoff).

On 14 May 2014, coached by Diego Cocca, Defensa y Justicia reached promotion to Primera División for the first time in its history when they beat San Martín de San Juan 1–0 with the only goal of the match scored by Brian Fernández.^[8][9]

Defensa y Justicia debuted in the 2014 Primera División on 9 August 9, 2014 v Racing Club, being defeated 3–1. The team did not make a good performance, finishing 18th out of 20 teams.^[10] On the other hand, Defensa had a better performance in Copa Argentina where they eliminated Godoy Cruz and San Lorenzo, but lost to Atlético de Rafaela in quarterfinals.^[11] In the next season, 2015 (contested by 30 teams due a restructuring of the tournament), Defensa y Justicia finished in the 21st position, with only 8 games won.

In June 2015, Ariel Holan was appointed as coach in replacement of José Oscar Flores. It was the first tenure of Holan at a professional club in Primera Division after having worked in several coaching positions at Arsenal de Sarandí, Independiente, and Estudiantes de La Plata. He had also worked with Matías Almeyda in River Plate. In 2015–16 Copa Argentina, Defensa eliminated Talleres de Córdoba and then Independiente in the second stage before losing to Belgrano. Nevertheless, in the 2016 Primera División season it was one of the six teams to qualify to 2017 Copa Sudamericana, the first international competition where the club participated.^[4] The team advanced to the second stage after eliminating Brazilian side São Paulo on away goal rule but then lost to Chapecoense on penalties after the series ended 1–1 on aggregate.^[5]

Being coached by Sebastián Beccacece, Defensa y Justicia made their first performance in 2018–19 Primera División season finishing 2nd. to champion Racing therefore qualifying for the 2020 Copa Libertadores group stage. Defensa completed the season with 15 wins, 8 draws and only 2 loses over 25 matches played with 33 goals scored and 18 against. In 2018 Copa Sudamericana, the club eliminated América de Cali and El Nacional qualifying to group stages, where it eliminated Banfield being then beat by Colombian side Junior on away goal rule after a 3–3 on aggregate.^[12]

As of 17 September 2024^[13]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ARG Lucas Escobar 3 DF  ARG Alexis Soto 4 DF  ARG Tiago Ferreyra (on loan from Juventud Unida Universitario) 5 MF  ARG Facundo Gutiérrez 6 DF  URU Lucas Ferreira 7 FW  ARG Abiel Osorio 8 MF  ARG Julián López 9 FW  ARG Juan Miritello 10 MF  PAR Rodrigo Bogarín 11 FW  ARG Gastón Togni 13 DF  ARG Samuel Lucero 14 DF  ARG Ezequiel Cannavo 15 GK  ARG Ramiro García (on loan from Boca Juniors) 16 MF  ARG Aaron Molinas 17 MF  ARG Gabriel Alanís 18 DF  ARG Ignacio Galván (on loan from Racing Club) 19 FW  ARG David Barbona

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  ARG Ayrton Portillo 21 DF  ARG Santiago Ramos Mingo 22 GK  URU Cristopher Fiermarin 23 GK  ARG Enrique Bologna 24 MF  ARG Maxi González (on loan from Lanús) 25 MF  CHI César Pérez 26 DF  PAR Darío Cáceres 27 FW  ARG Luciano Herrera 28 DF  ARG Emanuel Aguilera 30 MF  ARG Kevin López (on loan from Independiente) 32 FW  ARG Matías Sosa 33 MF  ARG Nicolás Palavecino (on loan from Estudiantes de La Plata) 35 MF  ARG Benjamín Schamine 36 FW  ARG Facundo Echevarría 37 FW  ARG Matías Ramírez (on loan from Godoy Cruz) 38 DF  ARG Tobías Rubio (on loan from Racing Club)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ARG Lautaro Amadé (at Estudiantes until 31 December 2024) — GK  ARG Marcos Ledesma (at Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) until 31 December 2024) — DF  ARG Francisco Marco (at Boston River until 30 June 2025) — DF  ARG Alan Morinigo (at Olimpia until 31 December 2024) — DF  ARG Pedro Ramírez (at Deportivo Riestra until 31 December 2024) — DF  ARG Thiago Schiavulli (at Miramar Misiones until 31 December 2024) — DF  ARG Lucas Souto (at Huracán until 31 December 2024) — DF  ARG Hernán Zuliani (at Deportivo Madryn until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Gabriel Altamirano (at Nueva Chicago until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Manuel Duarte (at Barracas Central until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Lautaro Escalante (at San Martín de San Juan until 31 December 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ARG Rodrigo Herrera (at Barracas Central until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Valentín Larralde (at Aldosivi until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Tomás Ortiz (at Arsenal de Sarandí until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Braian Rivero (at Platense until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Franco Romero (at Independiente Rivadavia until 31 December 2024) — MF  ARG Tomás Sives (at Brown (Adrogué) until 31 December 2024) — FW  ARG Leandro Espejo (at Olimpo until 31 December 2024) — FW  ARG Lautaro Fedele (at San Martín (T) until 31 December 2024) — FW  ARG Luca Franco (at Alvarado until 31 December 2024) — FW  ARG Thomas Oliveri (at Diagoras until 30 June 2025) — FW  ARG Federico Versaci (at Tristán Suárez until 31 December 2024)

• Official website (in Spanish)