Club Sport Emelec

History

The club originated from an assembly of employees at the Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador in Guayaquil who decided to start an amateur sports league, led by the company's American executive officer George Capwell. Initially, the club offered baseball, basketball, boxing, swimming, handball, and football, though Capwell did not enjoy football and only supported it unofficially. In the 1940s, Capwell lent his support, leading to official local championships, the construction of a stadium, and hosting the 1947 South American Championship entirely at that venue.

In 1957, Emelec became the first national champions in football with a squad coached by Eduardo "Tano" Spandre. Since then, the club has accumulated thirteen more national titles, placing second in the national title count behind Barcelona with 15 titles and followed by El Nacional with 13. Internationally, in 1995 the team reached the Copa Libertadores semi-finals, losing to eventual champions Grêmio. In 2001, they were finalists in the Copa Merconorte, losing to Millionarios 3–1 on penalty kicks after a 2–2 aggregate tie.

Facilities

After the club's founding, George Lewis Capwell decided the club needed its own baseball stadium. In 1942, Guayaquil's municipal authorities donated four city blocks for the first private sports stadium in Ecuador. In 1943, staff named and began construction of the George Capwell Stadium, which opened on 21 October 1945 with a baseball match between Emelec and Oriente, where Capwell played catcher for Emelec. The first football match soon followed, with Emelec winning 5–4 against an all-stars team from Manta and Bahia.

The 1947 Copa America was held exclusively at this stadium, where an undefeated Argentina became champion with players including Alfredo Di Stéfano, Félix Loustau, and Norberto Doroteo Méndez; Ecuador finished sixth, and Brazil did not participate. After the Estadio Modelo opened in 1959, the George Capwell Stadium became obsolete and closed for many years, nearly being destroyed for various projects that were never completed. In 1991, under Nassib Nehme's leadership, the stadium reopened and has since been enlarged twice, with a final change scheduled for 2014 to reach 45,000 spectators by March 2016.

The official FEF capacity remains 18,000 spectators, though after a thorough overhaul and expansion completed in 2017, the stadium holds 40,000 spectators. The training ground, Complejo Deportivo de Los Samanes, is located in the Los Samanes neighborhood in northern Guayaquil; construction began in 1984 and finished in 1986, built by Filanbanco.

Players

Three players became top-scorers of the Costa champion, with Carlos Alberto Raffo achieving this five times and Bolívar Merizalde twice. Enrique Rayondi was the club's only Copa Libertadores top-scorer, in 1962. Several players represented Ecuador at the FIFA World Cup while contracted to Emelec: Walter Ayoví, Augusto Jesús Poroso, Wellington Sánchez, and Daniel Viteri in 2002; and Gabriel Achilier, Óscar Bagüí, and Jorge Guagua in 2014.