Deportivo Cuenca

Cuenca's civic leaders wanted a professional side to represent the city, and in 1971 mayor Alejandro Serrano Aguilar joined forces with Polibio Vásquez and Alfredo Peña to build one. Club Deportivo Cuenca took shape on 4 March that year, wearing red shirts that earned the team its early name, Franela Roja.

The club wasted no time finding the top flight: in its debut season it won the Serie B title and moved straight into Ecuador's elite. What followed was decades of swings between the divisions — a first relegation in 1980, a slide as far as provincial football later that decade, a return through Serie B in 1995, and a last drop to the second tier in 1999 brought on by an economic and institutional crisis. Cuenca climbed back by winning the second division in 2001 and returned to Serie A in 2002.

Two years later came the club's only top-flight crown. Daniel Córdova built the squad that carried Cuenca through 2004, and Argentine coach Julio Asad took it over the line, with goalkeeper Javier Klimovich and defender Marcelo Velasco marshalling the back line. The years that followed held their own: runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2009 under Gabriel Perrone, and in 2009 a Copa Libertadores win over Boca Juniors — the first time an Ecuadorian club had beaten the Argentines in the competition.

The Morlacos, as they're known around Cuenca, play at the Estadio Alejandro Serrano Aguilar, named for the mayor who set the club in motion. The club's women's team has added two Superliga titles, in 2019 and 2021.

No player has left a deeper mark than Ángel Luis Lisiardi, who took Ecuadorian nationality and finished as the country's top scorer three years running, in 1974, 1975 and 1976. He remains Deportivo Cuenca's record scorer, with 132 goals.