Football team

Junior

Club · Colombia · Primera A

«The Sharks»

385 Matches

155 wins

109 draws

121 losses

503–425 Goals

+78 Difference

1.3 Scored per game

Form D D L W W L

Junior grew out of a neighbourhood, Rebolo, where Micaela Lavalle de Mejía gathered a group of local boys in 1924 and gave them a side to play for. The name shifted before it settled: Juventud Infantil first, then Juventud Junior once the team reached the top flight in 1929, and finally just Junior, trimmed down so nobody stumbled over the pronunciation. From 1948, when Colombian football turned professional, the club played as Atlético Junior.

The record since then reads twelve national championships, the last two coming in 2025 and the 2026 Apertura. Two Copa Colombia titles and two Superligas sit alongside them. A Copa Libertadores semi-final in 1994 remains the other high mark. None of it came free of trouble: money problems pushed Junior out of the professional league altogether in 1953, and the club did not return until 1966.

Home is the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, holding 46,692 for league football and now being rebuilt toward 60,000–65,000 seats. Iván Valenciano remains the club's leading scorer, Sebastián Viera its most-capped player, and Carlos Valderrama and Carlos Bacca both wore the shirt before finding wider fame; Luis Díaz came up through the academy. The Char family, led by Fuad Char, has owned and financed the club for years.

Latest results

Fixtures and results

5 Oct	Primera A	Bucaramanga A
1 Oct	Primera A	Atlético Nacional A	1:3	L
27 Sep	Primera A	Independiente Medellin H	2:0	W
20 Sep	Primera A	Fortaleza FC A	4:1	W
13 Sep	Primera A	Alianza Petrolera A	0:1	L
6 Sep	Primera A	Jaguares H	3:3	D

Standing

Primera A

Group stage · Apertura

#	Team	M	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Atlético Nacional	19	13	1	5	35:15	40
2	Junior	19	11	2	6	31:24	35
3	Deportivo Pasto	19	10	4	5	29:25	34
4	America de Cali	19	10	3	6	25:15	33
5	Once Caldas	19	8	9	2	31:22	33

Full table

Team statistics

matches counted in total: 385

385 Matches

155 wins

109 draws

121 losses

503–425 Goals

+78 Difference

1.3 Scored per game

Match outcomes matches counted in total: 385

155 109 121

wins draws losses

Scored and conceded last matches

scored — above the line conceded — below the line

Metric	Total	Home	Away
Matches	385	192	193
Scored	503	314	189
Conceded	425	188	237
Scored per game	1.3	1.6	1.0
Conceded per game	1.1	1.0	1.2
Difference	+78	+126	−48

Key players

by appearances over the last year

Jefersson Justino Martínez Valverde Goalkeeper 41 Matches

Juan David Ríos Henao Midfielder 39 Matches

Mauro Santiago Silveira Lacuesta Goalkeeper 39 Matches

Guillermo Paiva Forward 37 Matches

Luis Muriel Forward 36 Matches

Cristian Darío Barrios Puertas Forward 36 Matches

Yeison Abelardo Súarez Vásquez Defender 35 Matches

Edwin Herrera Defender 35 Matches

Squad of Junior

by appearances over the last year

Number	Player	Position	Age	Matches
30	Jefersson Justino Martínez Valverde	Goalkeeper		41
14	Juan David Ríos Henao	Midfielder		39
1	Mauro Santiago Silveira Lacuesta	Goalkeeper		39
9	Guillermo Paiva	Forward		37
10	Luis Muriel	Forward		36
77	Cristian Darío Barrios Puertas	Forward		36
26	Yeison Abelardo Súarez Vásquez	Defender		35
3	Edwin Herrera	Defender		35
21	Joel Kanchimbo	Forward		35
20	Gianhenson Sarmiento	Midfielder		34
88	Bryan David Castrillón Gómez	Forward		34
29	Teófilo Antonio Gutiérrez Roncancio	Forward		34
22	Jesús David Rivas Hernández	Forward		32
5	Daniel Rivera	Defender		32
24	Jean Carlos Pestaña Hernández	Defender		30
80	Fabián Steven Ángel Bernal	Midfielder		28
34	Jhomier Javier Guerrero González	Defender		25
8	Yimmi Javier Chará Zamora	Midfielder		24
98	H. Pena	Defender		23
34	Daniel Socarras	Defender		22
18	Kevin Andrés Pérez Pérez	Midfielder		22
33	Lucas Gabriel Monzón Lemos	Defender	25	22
28	Guillermo León Celis Montiel	Midfielder		21
6	Dylan Villareal	Midfielder		18
7	Harold Rivera	Midfielder		17
70	Carlos Bacca	Forward		17
38	Andres Schmalbach	Midfielder		14
19	Francisco David Fydriszewski	Forward		8
98	Jermein Peña	Defender		7
25	Déiber Caicedo	Forward		7
27	Jhon Ronny Navia Mina	Defender		7
23	Pablo Antonio Ortíz Cabezas	Defender		5
16	Carlos Perez	Midfielder		4
12	Jaime Acosta	Goalkeeper		2
15	José David Munive Manotas	Defender		1

Show full squad

Fixtures of Junior

5 Oct Bucaramanga A
1 Oct Atlético Nacional A 1:3 L
27 Sep Independiente Medellin H 2:0 W
20 Sep Fortaleza FC A 4:1 W
13 Sep Alianza Petrolera A 0:1 L
6 Sep Jaguares H 3:3 D
30 Aug Santa Fe H 1:1 D
27 Aug America de Cali A 2:4 L

Honours of Junior

Categoría Primera A 1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2025, 2026 12
Copa Colombia 2015, 2017 2
Superliga de Colombia 2019, 2020 2