Club Atlético Independiente (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkluβ aˈtletiko jndepenˈdjente]) is an Argentine professional sports club, which has its headquarters and stadium in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. The club is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División and is considered one of Argentina's Big Five football clubs.
Independiente was officially founded on 1 January 1904 as Independiente Foot-Ball Club, although the institution had been formed on 4 August 1904. Originally from Monserrat, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires city, the club moved to Crucecita in 1907 and then to Avellaneda in 1928. The football team achieved promotion to the Argentine Primera División for the first time in 1911, and has participated there ever since, except for the 2013–14 season, when they were relegated.
Inaugurated in 2009, the Estadio Libertadores de América serves as homeground for the men's football team and, on special occasions, for the women's team. It has a capacity of 49,500. Their fanbase is the third largest in the country.
Over time Independiente has won 16 Primera División titles (14 of them in the professional era) and 9 first-tier and one second-tier National cups, being the fourth most decorated club on the national stage. They also have the most victories at the Avellaneda derby, the second most important derby in the country behind the Superclásico.
Despite the national success, Independiente is mainly recognized for its continental titles, having won a record seven Copa Libertadores (1964, 1965, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1984, including a four-title-in-a-row record), two Intercontinental Cups (1973 v. Juventus in Rome and 1984 v. Liverpool in Tokyo), two Copa Sudamericana (2010 and 2017) and the 1995 Recopa Sudamericana.
They also achieved now defunct competitions such as two Copa Aldao, a record three Copa Interamericana, two Supercopa Libertadores and the 2018 Suruga Bank Championship. Over time these achievements made Independiente win the nicknames of "Rey de Copas" (King of Cups) and "Orgullo Nacional" (National Pride), the latter after the team won, at the 1984 Intercontinental, the first encounter between an Argentine and British teams after the Falklands War. With 18 FIFA-recognized international titles, Independiente is the most successful club at this category in the Americas, alongside Boca Juniors, and third in the world.
Apart from football, other activities practised at the club are athletics, basketball, boxing, chess, field hockey, futsal, handball, gymnastics, martial arts, Pilates, roller skating, scuba diving, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo, and yoga.
Also, the club has its own school, with Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Elementary, Secondary school levels and Tertiary education (with, for now, only two careers, being physical education teacher and football coach).
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