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C.D. Árabe Unido

Árabe Unido
Full nameClub Deportivo Árabe Unido
Nickname(s)El Expreso Azul (The Blue Express)
Los Árabes (The Arabs)
DAU
La Furia colonense (The Fury from Colón)
El Más Laureado
Founded28 April 1994; 30 years ago (1994-04-28)
GroundEstadio Armando Dely Valdés
Colón, Panama
Capacity4,000
ChairmanPedro Gordon
ManagerSergio Guzmán
LeagueLiga Panameña de Fútbol
2022 (C)3rd
Current season

Club Deportivo Árabe Unido is a professional football club located in Colón, Panama that plays in Liga Panameña de Fútbol, the top tier of the Panamanian football pyramid. The club plays its games in Estadio Armando Dely Valdés.

Its name, Árabe Unido, means "Arab United" in English, is emphasised from its original Arab root of the club.

History

The club has been one of the most successful in Panama in recent years, winning 15 titles (more than any other team since 1998) and finishing second five times.

It was founded in 1990 by Arab immigrants to Panama, under the name of Club Atlético Argentina, and experienced immediate success. After climbing the Panamanian league system, in 1994 they took advantage of a split in Panama's governing body to move into the top division. What happened was that a rival league (LINFUNA) formed in opposition to the older, existing top flight (ANAPROF). Árabe Unido was almost immediately successful in LINFUNA, winning both championships that the splinter league held in 1994 and 1995.[1]

Their success continued once they re-entered ANAPROF; at that time, Tauro FC was the dominant team in the league and would win three championships in four years between 1996 and 2000. The only club to break that string was Árabe Unido, which won the 1998–99 title by beating Tauro 3–0 in the playoff final.

After the league switched to the Aprtura/Clausura format in the 2001 season, Los Arabes really began winning titles. The original plan was for the winners of the Apertura to meet the Clausura in a "Grand Final" that would determine the year's champion. Árabe rendered this unnecessary by winning both tournaments. They claimed a third straight championship in Apertura 2002, although they did lose that year's grand final to Plaza Amador.

El Expreso Azul (as fans also called Árabe Unido) would go on to add further honors by sweeping the 2003 season, then winning back to back titles in Clausura 2008 and Apertura 2009. They have also won titles in Clausura 2010, Apertura 2012, Clausura 2015, Apertura 2015, and most recently Apertura 2016.l[2]

Honours

National titles

International titles

Players

Current squad

As of 10 February 2023. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Panama PAN Joseph Vargas
2 DF Panama PAN Jamall Dickens
3 DF Colombia COL Diego Fori
5 DF Panama PAN Francisco Vence
6 MF Panama PAN Rubén Baruco
7 FW Panama PAN Efraín Bristan
8 FW Panama PAN Leonel Tejada
9 FW Panama PAN Ángel Sánchez
10 MF Panama PAN Jamel González
11 MF Panama PAN Armando Cooper
13 DF Panama PAN Juan Mosquera
14 MF Panama PAN Leonel Triana
15 DF Panama PAN Gabriel Brown
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF Panama PAN César Reyna
18 FW Panama PAN Sergio Moreno
19 MF Panama PAN Jaime Harrison
20 GK Panama PAN Reynaldo Polo
22 MF Panama PAN Kevin Meneses
24 MF Panama PAN Rafael Emanuel
26 DF Panama PAN Félix Góndola
27 FW Panama PAN Yamar Reed
29 FW Panama PAN Franklin Cordoba
35 DF Panama PAN Jajac Cruz
71 MF Panama PAN Ariel Arroyo
77 MF Panama PAN Víctor Griffith
86 DF Panama PAN Omar Llerena

Retired numbers

21 — Panama Amílcar Henríquez, midfielder (2003–08), (2014),(2016–2017) — posthumous honour.

Historical list of coaches

  • Peru Eliazar Herrera (1998–99)
  • Colombia Richard Parra (2001–03)
  • Colombia Jairo Silva (2003–04)
  • Paraguay Juan Carlos Gómez Cáceres (2004)
  • Spain Ramón Vecinos (2005–06)
  • Colombia Wiston Cifuentes (2006)
  • Panama José Alfredo Poyatos (2007)
  • Colombia Richard Parra (Aug 2009 – Nov 10)
  • Colombia Wilman Conde (Dec 2010 – June 11)[3]
  • Costa Rica Carlos Pérez Porras (June 2011 – Nov 11)[4]
  • Colombia Jair Palacios (Dec 2011 – Aug 14)[5]
  • Panama Julio Dely Valdés (August 2014 – Dec 2014)[6]
  • Colombia Alfonso de Moya (Jan 2015–15)[7]
  • Colombia Sergio Guzmán (February 2015 – December 2017)[8]
  • Colombia Carlos Ruiz (January 2018 – September 2018)
  • Colombia José Ricardo "Chicho" Pérez (September 2018 – June 2019)
  • Colombia Alejandro Mejía (June 2019 – September 2019)
  • Colombia Sergio Guzmán (September 2019 – August 2021)
  • Colombia Sergio Angulo (August 2021–present)

References