Independiente del Valle

A group of friends around José Terán started it in Sangolquí as a neighbourhood side, nothing more than a barrio club under the name Club Deportivo Independiente. When Terán died in 1977 the members renamed it after him. The break came in 2007: promotion out of the Segunda Categoría brought a new name, Independiente del Valle, and a new kit in black and blue. Two years later the club won Serie B and reached Ecuador's top flight for the first time.

What followed set it apart from Ecuadorian football's usual order. Independiente del Valle built its academy into a productive talent pipeline, and the nickname El Matagigantes — Giant Killer — was earned rather than chosen, through results against South American clubs many times its size. Moisés Caicedo left for Brighton in 2021 and moved on to Chelsea in 2023; Piero Hincapié went through Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen before Arsenal signed him in September 2025; Willian Pacho followed a similar route through Germany to Paris Saint-Germain in 2024. Kendry Páez has since become the academy's next reference point.

The senior side matched the academy's output. In 2019 Independiente del Valle beat Colón to win the Copa Sudamericana, and repeated the feat against São Paulo in 2022; Flamengo fell to them in the 2023 Recopa Sudamericana. A Copa Libertadores final was lost to Atlético Nacional in 2016, and Flamengo returned the favour in the 2020 Recopa. At home, the club has never had a natural rival in the way Quito's established trio do — Liga de Quito has become the closest thing, met repeatedly in title deciders, with Mushuc Runa emerging more recently as a competing force in academy development. The domestic breakthrough arrived in 2021, when Independiente del Valle won its first Ecuadorian championship, adding the Copa Ecuador the following year.

Estadio Banco Guayaquil, the club's ground in Sangolquí since it opened on 20 March 2021.