On 1 January 1910, while Buenos Aires was celebrating New Year's Day, a group of young men set up a football club that would one day become world champion. Vélez Sarsfield turns 117 on 1 January 2027. Let's see how a white shirt with a blue 'V' became the symbol of an entire neighbourhood.

A rainstorm that gave birth to a club

The story starts in late 1909, with an informal game near Vélez Sarsfield railway station. Rain stopped play, and three of the players, Julio Guglielmone, Martín Portillo and Nicolás Marín Moreno, took shelter in the station. There, waiting for the downpour to pass, they decided to start a team of their own.

The club was officially founded a few days later, on New Year's Day 1910, and its first president was Luis Barredo. Sources differ slightly on the house and the people at that first meeting, but they all agree on the date.

A name from a station and a neighbourhood

The club was first called Club Atlético Argentinos de Vélez Sarsfield, and in 1913 the name was shortened to its current form. 'Vélez Sarsfield' comes from the district and the station, which in turn honoured the jurist Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield.

The station was renamed Floresta in 1944, but the name stuck with the team. After moving through Floresta, Mataderos and Villa Luro, Vélez finally put down roots in Liniers, in the west of the city.

From white to the colours of Italy

The first shirt was all white, because it was the easiest one for everybody to get hold of. Navy blue shirts followed, and then the green, red and white stripes of the Italian flag.

It was no accident: many members were Italian immigrants or their children. Sources give different years for the change, with 1916 cited most often, and the first crest also carried green and red stripes.

The lucky 'V'

The best story concerns today's shirt. According to club tradition, when the tricolour kits ran out in the early 1930s, a shopkeeper from Liniers offered the directors cheap shirts that a rugby team had ordered and never collected.

They were white with a big blue 'V' on the chest, and the thrifty board accepted them at once. The design has lasted from 1933 or 1934, depending on the source, until today, and gave the team the nickname 'La V Azulada'.

Contrary to popular belief, the 'V' was not added for the initial of Vélez, as El Gráfico magazine pointed out. The Italian colours were never forgotten and often return on alternate shirts, while the current crest was adopted in 1945.

'El Fortín', the night in Tokyo and the legends

In 1932 a journalist called the team's ground a 'fortín', a small fort, because visiting sides rarely left unscathed. Ever since, Vélez has been 'El Fortín' and its fans 'fortineros'. Today its home is the José Amalfitani stadium, which holds almost 50,000.

The first title came in 1968, but the golden era was the 1990s under coach Carlos Bianchi. In 1994 Vélez won the Copa Libertadores, beating São Paulo on penalties. On 1 December that year they beat AC Milan 2-0 in Tokyo, with goals from Trotta and Asad, and became world champions.

A gold star was added to the crest to mark that triumph. In goal for that team stood the legendary José Luis Chilavert.

Bianchi was not only a coach: as a player he is the club's all-time top scorer with 206 goals. Fabián Cubero holds the appearance record, and the 'V' shirt has also been worn by Diego Simeone, Ricardo Gareca, Nicolás Otamendi and Diego Godín.

Celebrate with us

From a shelter in a railway station to the top of the world, Vélez proved that a forgotten order can become a legend. Happy 117th birthday, Fortín!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Vélez fans at the José Amalfitani Stadium, 2007 – Beatrice Murch, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.