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La Paz F.C.
La Paz Futbol Club, also known as La Paz F.C., is a professional football (soccer) team from La Paz, currently playing in the Bolivian First Division Liga de Futbol Profesional Boliviano. Formerly known as Atletico Gonzalez, the team gained promotion to the First Division in 2003 (there are twelve teams in the Bolivian First Division).
History
La Paz F.C. is the third most important professional football/soccer team in the city of La Paz, Bolivia behind Club Bolivar and The Strongest, both of which have much longer histories, more numerous followings, and larger payrolls than La Paz F.C. Nevertheless, the team has been able to be competitive with the bigger, more established clubs by virtue of its humility, work ethic, and tenacity under pressure.
The team's motto is Plus Altus, meaning "something higher"-- a reference both to the team's aspirations as well as to the team's high altitude home. The team colors are blue, red and white. Blue symbolizes the perennial cobalt skies over the City of La Paz and the loyalty of its fans; red symbolizes the passion and love of football; and white symbolizes the snow cap of Mt. Illimani (the symbol of the City of La Paz) and the purity of Our Lady of Peace, patroness of the team. The uniform design is similar to that of Barcelona F.C. (Spain) and San Lorenzo de Almagro (Argentina). La Paz F.C. plays its home matches at Estadio Hernando Siles, informally known as the "nest of condors".
The founder, owner and president of La Paz F.C. is Mauricio Gonzalez (also known as Mauricio Gonzalez Sfeir). The original name of the team is in honor of Mr. Gonzalez's late father Ing. Walter Gonzalez (see also "Premio Academico Ing. Walter Gonzalez"), a past president of the Bolivian Society of Engineers. Educated at DePaul, Yale, Oxford and Harvard Universities, Mauricio Gonzalez has had a life-long involvement in sports (he represented Bolivia in junior Davis Cup tennis competition at the South American level) and is a charismatic promoter of Bolivan football/soccer, including youth and women's programs. Moreover, he is an articulate advocate for the proposition that Bolivia has the right--based on history, medical science, and fairness--to play international matches in its high altitude cities of La Paz, Potosi and Oruro. He is a leading member of an ad hoc committee of prominent Bolivians formed to design a strategy to campaign against the FIFA altitude ban. Finally, Mr. Gonzalez has shown a shrewd ability to combine young, unproven players of high potential together with seasoned veteran players making the most of their last opportunities for athletic glory. This is one of the key reasons for the surprising success of La Paz F.C. despite its minuscule budget.
The manager ("Director Tecnico") of La Paz F.C. is Sergio Apaza. 2007 was Mr. Apaza's first season as manager of the team; however, in 2004 he served as assistant manager of the team under Felix Berdeja. Mr. Berdeja subsequently managed Club Bamin Real Potosi to the Copa Libertadores 2007. Mr. Apaza played semi-professionally in the 1970s and 1980s with Club 31 de Octubre, a second division club from La Paz sponsored by the Bolivian national mining company ("Corporacion Minera de Bolivia"--COMIBOL), a team he also managed in the 1990s. A co-founder of the Instituto Superior de Entrenadores de Futbol, Mr. Apaza is a devotee of the attacking style of Rinus Michels, the manager of Holland in the FIFA World Cup 1974. Mr. Apaza is a strict disciplinarian who strongly believes in team ensemble (rather than individual brillance), top physical conditioning and positive mental attitudes. With his barrel chest, Fu Manchu moustache, and piercing glare, he strikes an imposing presence on the sideline.
La Paz F.C. fields mostly Bolivian players; however, it has also benefited from the services of Argentinean, Brazilian,Colombian, Peruvian and United States players. In addition, several La Paz F.C. players have played in Europe and China.
La Paz F.C.'s fan base is concentrated in the City of La Paz and the City of El Alto. However, it also has a small but spirited following in the United States within the Bolivian expatriate community, especially among medical doctors.
2007 Season
During the entire year of 2007, La Paz F.C. was consistently the best professional team in Bolivia. It started the year by winning the six-team pre season round robin called Copa Aerosur del Sur, finished third in Apertura 2007 and second in Clausura 2007. Had Apertura 2007 and Clausura 2007 been combined into one tournament, La Paz F.C. would have been the absolute champion. The team almost delivered a thrilling year-end surprise, as they nearly won the Clausura 2007 tournament, losing 1-0 in the final match against San Jose, a feat never achieved by such a minor team. San Jose had the benefit of receiving substantial financial and moral support from the President of Boliva, Evo Morales. La Paz F.C. has become a favorite of local sports journalists, who have dubbed the team "bueno, bonito y barato" .
During the 2007 season, the standouts on La Paz F.C. were its attacking midfielder Ronald Gutierrez, team leader in goals scored with eight, forward Augusto Andaveris, with seven goals scored, and its goalkeeper Mauro Machado, who had the least-scored-upon goal in the Bolivian First Division. Gutierrez and Andaveris have been selected to play for the Bolivian national team. Machado is Brazilian.
La Paz F.C. is one of three Bolivian representatives in the Copa Libertadores 2008 South American champions league. La Paz F.C. played in the preliminary round, with away and home legs in Guadalajara, Mexico on January 30, 2008 and La Paz, Bolivia on February 6, 2008, respectively. The team's opponent was F.C. Atlas, which was one of the winners of the Mexican Interliga 2008 tournament. On January 30th in Guadalajara, F.C. Atlas defeated La Paz F.C. 2-0. La Paz F.C. was disadvantaged by the fact that its star player Ronald Gutierrez did not play. He signed with Turkish First Division team Bursaspor only days before the game against F.C. Atlas. On February 6th in La Paz, La Paz F.C. avenged its loss in Guadalajara, defeating F.C. Atlas 1-0. However, Atlas F.C. advances to the next round because of its favorable goal differential.
Achievements
National Honours
Copa Simon Bolivar Second Division:
*Champions: 1 (2003)
Copa AeroSur del Sur Pre-season Round Robin:
*Champions: 1 (2007)
Media Coverage
Los goles de Augusto se van al futbol chino [*]
Fin del sueno "azulgrana" [*]
La Paz FC viaja el lunes a Guadalajara [*]
Vivas (Atlas) analiza a La Paz [*]
La Paz F.C. invertira 600 mil dolares [*]
El futbol de hoy exige correr y marcar [*]
El chaqueno que brillo en la Liga del 2007--Ronald Gutierrez [*]
"La Paz FC hara historia en la Libertadores"--Entrevista a Mauricio Gonzalez Sfeir [*]
El joven subcampeon
Se consolido un patrimonio de los pacenos [*]
En el Siles se ovaciona al plantel azulgrana [*]
La Paz y San Jose van por el titulo [*]
Al grano. "Dirijo a gente que quiere ganar"--Entrevista a Sergio Apaza [*]
Historica clasificacion de La Paz FC [*]
La Paz FC no deja de sonar con el titulo [*]
La Paz FC retomo la punta [*]
La Paz FC sigue imparable en el torneo liguero [*]
La Paz FC "apaleo" al Tigre [*]
La Paz FC fue mucho mas que Bolivar [*]
El ascenso vertiginoso de La Paz FC [*]
La Paz FC suena con construir su propio complejo [*]
External Links
Team Website: http://www.lapazfutbolclub.com
League Standings: http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=bol/nationalleague/standings.html
Premio Academico Ing. Walter Gonzalez: http://ingenieria.umsa.edu.bo/carreras/civ/reshis.htm
Numerous articles regarding Mr. Gonzalez's advocacy in defense of Bolivian high-altitude football/soccer [*]
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article La Paz F.C.
