Montevideo City
Full nameMontevideo City Torque
Nickname(s)Torque
Celeste
La T
Founded26 December 2007 (2007-12-26) (as Club Atlético Torque)
GroundEstadio Centenario
Capacity60,235
OwnerCity Football Group
PresidentRaúl Aquino
ManagerLeonardo Ramos
LeagueUruguayan Segunda División
2023Primera División, 10th of 16 (relegated by average)
WebsiteClub website
Clubs owned by CFG
Listed in order of acquisition/foundation.
Bold indicates the club was founded by CFG.
* indicates the club was acquired by CFG.
§ indicates the club is co-owned.
2008Manchester City F.C.*
2009–2012
2013New York City FC§
2014Melbourne City FC*
Yokohama F. Marinos*§
2015–2016
2017Montevideo City Torque*
Girona FC*§
2018
2019Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.*§
Mumbai City FC*§
2020Lommel S.K.*
ES Troyes AC*
2021
2022Palermo F.C.*§
2023Bahia*§

Montevideo City Torque is a Uruguayan football club based in Montevideo. The club currently plays in the Uruguayan Segunda División, the Second division of Uruguayan league system, having achieved promotion to the Primera División for the first time ahead of the 2018 season.

Founded in 2007 as Club Atlético Torque, the club has been owned since April 2017 by the City Football Group, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi United Group. Montevideo City Torque shares ties with teams such as Manchester City, New York City and Melbourne City, as clubs that are also owned by CFG.

History

Club crest between 2007 and 2020

Club Atlético Torque were founded on 26 December 2007 by Cancún-based Uruguayan businessman Raúl Aquino Reynoso, building on a vision of achieving glory from scratch.[1] To help him build his dream, Aquino contacted Marcelo Yaurreche, an electromechanic by trade, who had blogged on the concept of sporting ventures. Yaurreche's line of work ultimately went on to inspire the name of the team through the mechanical principle of torque as an indication of strength. The nascent club's first season of competition was played in the local Liga de Punta Carretas.[1]

Segunda División Amateur

Starting from the 2008–09, Torque entered the Uruguayan football league system in the third (and lowest) tier, the Segunda División Amateur. Their first season was very positive, going unbeaten for the 11 games of the Clausura tournament before losing the play-off for the overall league title against Oriental.[2] Oriental opted to turn down their promotion to the Segunda División, prompting Torque to submit an application to take it up in their place, but their application was rejected.

In the following seasons the club continued to place highly, never finishing lower than fifth in either the Apertura or Clausura tournaments. In May 2011 Torque merged with Huracán of the Segunda División to form a new club called Huracán Torque, but by August of the same year the merger was dissolved with the new side having played no games. Torque resumed its place in the Segunda División Amateur and at the fourth time of asking finally finished top of the overall table, winning promotion to the Segunda División for the 2012–13 season.[3]

Segunda División Profesional

Torque's first season in professional football again finished positively with a fifth-place finish, including denying high-flyers Tacuarembó automatic promotion to the Uruguayan top tier and potentially even the league title itself with a 4–0 victory in the final game of the season. Torque themselves qualified for the promotion play-offs, where they again defeated Tacuarembó, but they ultimately lost the play-off final on penalties.[4]

The following season was the club's first season of underachievement with Torque finishing in last place and eight points adrift of their nearest competitor.[5] They were, however, spared the ignominy of relegation as the division expanded to 15 clubs, causing the league's organisers to opt against relegating any clubs. The following seasons offered little improvement, with the club finishing some distance from the promotion places each time.

City Football Group acquisition and promotion to the Primera División

On 20 March 2017, Uruguayan online sports news site Ovacion reported that the City Football Group, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi United Group that also owns teams such as Manchester City and New York City FC, were close to completing negotiations for the purchase of Torque with the aim of using the club to assist in the signing of South American players.[6] Also reported was that CFG had been working with the club for some time in anticipation of the purchase to build it a new sports complex as well as to refurbish the Estadio Juan Antonio Lavalleja in Minas with a view to relocating the side to the city in order to help establish an identity for the club as well as to give it a larger potential fanbase.[6]

Following a series of further rumours of the imminence of the deal, it was publicly announced on 5 April 2017 that the takeover had been completed and ratified by the Uruguayan Football Association.[7]

In 2017, led by Paulo Pezzolano, Torque formed a very strong team for the category and achieved the title with ease. Football players of the stature of Diego Martiñones, Ernesto Goñi, Hernán Figueredo, Martín Bonjour, Jonathan Cubero, Julián Lalinde and Leonardo Pais, among others; added to quality foreign reinforcements such as the Venezuelan Nahuel Ferraresi, the Colombian Javier Calle and the Argentine Valentín Castellanos. As soon as the promotion was confirmed, Pezzolano announced that he would not continue in the next season. Pablo Marini, another Argentine, was brought in to replace him.

In the debut in the Primera División, the team will be directed by the Argentine Pablo Marini.[8]

Qualification for the play-off of the Torneo Intermedio, which Torque lost 3–2 to Nacional, was tempered by a poor run of results in both the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura, and Torque were relegated in 14th place based on average points per game at the end of the 2018 season. The 2019 season saw Torque take the Segunda División title for a second time as they beat Maldonado by three points to win the title on the final day of the season.[9]

Name change and return to the Primera División

On 22 January 2020 it was announced that Club Atletico Torque had changed their club name to Montevideo City Torque, with an accompanying change in team badge.[10] The name and badge were chosen to be reflective of their links to Manchester City and the other clubs of the City Football Group.[10] At the same time it was announced that the club would begin work on the construction of a new academy and administrative complex, intended to be one of the most advanced academy centres in South America.[11] The first phase of the complex was inaugurated in March 2021.[12]

Uniform

  • First uniform: light blue shirt, black pants, black averages.
  • Second uniform: white shirt, black pants, black averages.

All Torque title shirts have been light blue, but from 2016 on, the shirt has included a big blue "T" on the chest on a light blue background. The alternative shirts are generally white, although it was gray in 2013. It is currently white with a big blue "T".

2008-13
2013
Alternative
2008-2013
Alternative
2013
2016
2016
2017
2018
Alternative
2018
2019
Alternative
2019

Kit manufacturers

Years Kit manufacturer
2008-2013Uruguay Mgr sports
2012-2013Uruguay Mategeor
2013-2016Uruguay Fit
2017–2019

Luanvi

2019–

Puma

Players

First team squad

As of 12 January 2023

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 Uruguay URU Francisco Tinaglini
3 DF Uruguay URU Joaquín Pereyra (on loan from Boston River)
4 MF Uruguay URU Octavio Perdomo
5 MF Uruguay URU Franco Pizzichillo
7 FW Argentina ARG Natanael Guzmán
8 MF Uruguay URU Diego Arismendi (vice-captain)
9 FW Uruguay URU Sebastián Guerrero
10 MF Uruguay URU Darío Pereira
11 MF Uruguay URU Ignacio Neira
13 FW Uruguay URU Joaquín Zeballos
14 FW Uruguay URU Nicolás Siri
16 MF Uruguay URU José Álvarez
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 MF Uruguay URU Álvaro Brun (captain)
19 DF Uruguay URU Agustín Peña
20 MF Argentina ARG Tiago Palacios
21 FW Uruguay URU Lucas Rodríguez
23 DF Uruguay URU Franco Maya
24 GK Uruguay URU Francisco Coirolo
25 FW Argentina ARG Bautista Cejas
27 DF Uruguay URU Andrew Teuten
28 MF Uruguay URU Franco Catarozzi
37 FW Colombia COL Luis Caicedo
40 MF Uruguay URU Matías Cabrera
55 GK Uruguay URU Gastón Guruceaga
— FW Argentina ARG Darío Sarmiento (on loan from Manchester City)

Club information

Updated data for the 2018 season

Trajectory

Season Division Position Points
2008–09 2ªB 7º 38
2009–10 2ªB 3º 43
2010–11 2ªB 4º 50
2011–12 2ªB 1º 64
2012–13 2ª 5º 44
2013–14 2ª 14º 15
2014–15 2ª 10º 35
2015–16 2ª 7º 27
2016 2ª 6ª 15
2017 2ª 1° 53
2018 1ª 14° 41
2019 2ª 1° 43
2020 1ª 4° 61
2021 1ª 3° 50
2022 1ª 13° 36
2023 1ª

Honours

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "¡Ándale: en México nació la idea de crear a Torque" [Go! The idea of creating Torque was born in Mexico]. www.ovaciondigital.com.uy (in Spanish). 19 July 2013. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "Clausura: ¡Torque campeón!" [Clausura: Torque are champions!]. www.futbol.com.uy (in Spanish). 26 July 2013. Archived from the original on 28 August 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "Uruguay 2011/12". RSSSF. 21 Nov 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Uruguay 2012/13". RSSSF. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Uruguay 2013/14". RSSSF. 26 Feb 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  6. 1 2 "El City pone un pie en Uruguay" [City sets foot in Uruguay] (in Spanish). 20 March 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "CFG Extends South American Footprint". Manchester City Official Website. 5 April 2017. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Torque para la gran historia de primera en el Complejo con el entrenador argentino Pablo Marini, nuevos jugadores y a soñar…" [Torque for the great first story in the Complex with Argentine coach Pablo Marini, new players and dreaming ...]. tenfield.com.uy (in Spanish). 7 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  9. ↑ "Uruguay 2019". RSSSF. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Con una impronta empresarial, el City Group busca darle un nuevo giro a Torque" [With a business imprint, the City Group seeks to give Torque a new twist]. elobservador.com.uy (in Spanish). 22 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "Torque ahora es Montevideo City Torque y tiene nueva imagen" [Torque is now Montevideo City Torque and has a new image]. elobservador.com.uy (in Spanish). 23 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  12. ↑ "Montevideo City Torque presentó su nueva casa". ESPNdeportes.com (in Spanish). 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  13. ↑ RSSSF - Uruguay Third Level 2008/09
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