Cienciano

Beginnings

Cienciano was founded on 8 July 1901 by a group of students from the National School of Science of Cusco (Colegio Nacional Ciencias del Cusco). It participated in several leagues and tournaments of the region.

In 1966 Hector Ladrón de Guevara was the inaugural Cienciano player to be named captain of the Peru national team. In 1972, it began to play in the Peruvian First Division; however, the club was relegated four years later.

In 1988, the FPF invited the club to play in a tournament of the southern region. In 1991, Cienciano won the tournament and in 1992 it once again played in the First Division.

The Golden age (2000–2007)

First League title

In 2001, Cienciano won its first title with the 2001 Torneo Clausura, although it lost the superfinal (played between the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments) to Alianza Lima.

Copa Sudamericana win

In 2003, Cienciano, led by Peruvian coach Freddy Ternero, qualified to the Copa Sudamericana for the first time in its history, after beating Sporting Cristal in an internal qualifying tournament. The team went through every later knockout round as the clear underdog defeating Peru's Alianza Lima, Chile's Universidad Católica, Colombia's Atlético Nacional (once Copa Libertadores champion) and Brazil's Santos (twice Copa Libertadores champion), to get to the finals. Once at the finals the team faced one of the biggest teams in South American football, River Plate of Argentina (twice Copa Libertadores champion). After a 3–3 draw in Buenos Aires, Cienciano went on to win 1–0 in Peru with a free-kick goal by Paraguayan defender Carlos Lugo, which put the aggregate score at 4–3 in its favor to win the final. The game was played at Estadio de la UNSA in Arequipa (home of Cienciano's rivals Melgar, some of whose fans actually attended the match to root for River Plate) because of the insufficient capacity for a CONMEBOL final of the Estadio Garcilaso (which has been expanded since then).

This was the first international championship for a Peruvian team in history; only two other Peruvian teams had advanced to the finals of an international tournament, which was in the Copa Libertadores (Universitario in 1972 and Sporting Cristal in 1997). Both teams were defeated in the finals. The win was considered a severe upset because Cienciano had never been the Peru national champion (the team did win one half-year tournament in 2001 but lost the national championship title through a penalty shootout to the winner of the second tournament, Alianza Lima, in the year in which both celebrated their centenary. The situation was repeated in 2006, but reversed: Cienciano won the second tournament but lost the final to Alianza Lima on aggregate.

Recopa Sudamericana win

After winning the Copa Sudamericana, Cienciano went on to play against Boca Juniors of Argentina, another South American giant, for the 2004 Recopa Sudamericana, this being just one match, much like the UEFA Super Cup, which was disputed between the winners of both South American Cups of the previous season: the Copa Sudamericana and the Copa Libertadores. After a 1–1 draw, Cienciano went on to win the title 4–2 on penalties. The match was played at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

More league titles and superfinal runner-ups

In 2005, the Cusco-based club won the Torneo Apertura, but lost the superfinal to Sporting Cristal. The following year, it won the 2006 Clausura, but lost the superfinal again to Alianza Lima, the same team that had beaten them in the 2001 national championship final.

Relegation and comeback

In 2015, the club was relegated after finishing in the bottom three of the aggregate table. The club was very close to reaching promotion many times, especially in 2018, where the team lost the final game of its 4 team group. In 2019, it was finally promoted back to the first division after winning the 2019 Liga 2.