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Independiente Medellín
Full name	Corporación Deportiva Independiente Medellín
Nickname(s)	El Poderoso de la Montaña; DIM; Medallo
Founded	April 15, 1913
Ground	Estadio Atanasio Girardot,; Medellín, Colombia; (Capacity: 52,872)
Chairman	Jorge Osorio Ciro
Manager	Leonel Álvarez
League	Fútbol Profesional Colombiano
2009 - II	Champion
Home colours	Away colours

Corporación Deportiva Independiente Medellín is a professional Colombian football (soccer) team competing in Fútbol Profesional Colombiano, the Colombian first division. The club is based in the city of Medellín and founded in 1913. It has won the league's national tournament known as Copa Mustang four times: in 1955, 1957, 2002-II, 2004-I and 2009-II. Its best performance at international level was in 2003, when the team achieved the third place in the Copa Libertadores de América.

[edit] Rivalries

Medellín's greatest rival is with the city's other major club Atlético Nacional, with whom they share the home stadium Atanasio Girardot. The team is dubbed "El Poderoso de la Montaña" or the powerful of the mountain due to Medellín's geographical location high in the Andean mountains. The rivalry is especially strong due to each team's main support club, Rexixtenxia Norte for Medellín and Los Del Sur for Atlético Nacional. The two clubs are named with the location that they occupy in the stadium where Rexixtenxia occupies the section behind the northern goal and Los Del Sur occupy the section behind the southern goal.

In 2004 Medellín and Nacional classified to the final of the Mustang Cup; in Antioquia everybody was very excited because this was the first "Paisa" final of the history of the short tournaments. This system requires 2 games to be the champion, in the first game, Medellín won 2-1 with a goal of Rafael Castillo in the 87 minute after the goals of Jorge Serna (DIM) and Carlos "Chumi" Alvarez in the first half. The final game was in the 27 of June, and it ended 0-0 and Medellín became the champion of the Colombian National League.

[edit] Controversies

Medellín won its third league title after 45 years of agony. However, there were two seasons where Medellín had the title within its reach only to lose it amid great controversy. From its foundation until 2002, the Colombian First Division League had adopted a league format commonly used in European leagues. The format was a year long tournament where the team at then end of the year in best standing was declared the winner. This format was changed in 2002 to an Apertura-Clausura format where two separate seasons are played during the year to determine two winners. In 1993 during the last game of the year, Medellín and Atlético Junior were fighting for a tight first place. Junior was playing América de Cali at home in Baranquilla while simultaneously Medellín played hometown rivals Atlético Nacional. The games were to start and end at the same time. A Medellín win with a Junior loss or draw would have given Medellín the title. Medellín beat Nacional 1-0 while awaiting the goalless game in Baranquilla to end. Medellín players were celebrating with a victory lap and giving interviews with reporters waiting for the final whistle in Baranquilla. However, the referee allowed an unprecedented amount of injury time which enabled Oswaldo Mackenzie to score an extremely late goal giving Junior the win and the title. This was not the first time Medellín had a heartbreaking season, in 1989 a year where Medellín had the best team in the league and was expected to win the title, a tragic event occurred in Colombian soccer. During the final games of the season, Medellín tied América de Cali 0-0 at home. During the game, the linesman Álvaro Ortega made a mistake and annulled a Medellín goal. Afterwards, a Medellín sympathizer hunted down the linesman and assassinated him. In response, the Colombian Soccer Federation decided to cancel the rest of the season leaving the 1989 league without a winner.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Amateur

Copa Jimenez Jaramillo: 1923^[1]
Campeonato Nacional: 1938^[1]
Campeonato Departamental : 1937,1938,1939,1940,1942,1943,1944 y 1945^[2]

[edit] National Honours

Fútbol Profesional Colombiano
- Winners (5): 1955, 1957, 2002-II, 2004-I, 2009-II
- Runners-Up (6): 1959, 1961, 1966, 1993, 2001, 2008-II
Copa Colombia
- Winners (1): 1981

[edit] International Honours

Copa Libertadores
- 3rd Place (1): 2003

Copa del Pacifico
- Winner (1): 2009

[edit] Internationals Participations

[edit] Copa Libertadores

1967 1st Round
1994 Quarterfinals
2003 Semifinals
2005 Round of 16
2009 2nd Round

[edit] Copa Sudamericana

2006 1st Round

[edit] Copa Conmebol

1995 1st Round

[edit] Current roster

As of July 28, 2009

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Aldo Bobadilla
2	DF	Ricardo Calle
3	DF	Andrés Felipe Ortiz
4	DF	Hernán Pertúz
5	MF	Juan Esteban Ortiz
6	DF	Juan David Valencia
7	FW	Luis Carlos Arias
8	MF	Roger Cañas
9	FW	Jackson Martínez
10	MF	Luis Fernando Mosquera
11	MF	Rafael Castillo
17	FW	Cesar Rivas Chará
18	MF	Giovanni Lopez
21	MF	John Javier Restrepo

No.	Position	Player
24	DF	Samuel Vanegas
25	DF	Leiton Jiménez
	GK	Brayan López
	GK	Bairon García
	DF	Juan David Muriel
	DF	Andrés Felipe Mosquera
	DF	Marino García
	DF	Elkin Mosquera
	DF	Cesar Quintero
	MF	William Arboleda
	MF	Yohn Geiller Mosquera
	FW	Diego Valdés
	FW	Brunet Hay
	FW	César Valoyes