Uruguay’s 130-year Albion FC reach top tier for 1st time

Montevideo, Nov 24 (EFE).- Uruguay’s 130-year-old Albion FC, part of a global network of the world’s oldest surviving soccer clubs, have made history after they booked a place in the first-tier league for the first time ever.

At a small training complex, their players run free-kick drills under the watchful gaze of a coaching staff that leaves nothing to chance.

On the other end of the field, goalkeepers are put through their paces ahead of the finale of the second division scheduled for Wednesday, their sights firmly set on the challenges next season will bring.

PIONEER, FOUNDER

Albion is a member of the Club of Pioneers alongside institutions such as England’s Sheffield FC, Spain’s Recreativo Huelva, Portugal’s Académica and Italy’s Genoa.

The club, founded by Henry Lichtenberger, was one of four clubs that created Uruguay’s soccer federation in 1900.

“We are the kickoff of the greatest passion that Uruguay breathes, we are the dream of an immigrant, British modernity and oriental courage,” the club said to mark its 130th anniversary on 1 June.

PAVING THE WAY

Albion kicked off their second-division season with a 2-1 home defeat to Cerro, but that disappointment would eventually turn into joy and celebration.

“In the beginning, we weren’t on almost anyone’s radar,” the coach Darlyn Gayol tells Efe.