UMECIT

UMECIT Fútbol Club began as the sporting wing of a university, the Universidad Metropolitana de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología, a way for the institution to field a team of its own.

The club spent its early years in Panama's second tier, the Liga Prom, and turned 2022 into the season that defined it. Under coach Fredy Romero, named the division's best that year, UMECIT won the Eastern Conference in both the Apertura and the Clausura. The Apertura final went to penalties against Sporting San Miguelito; the Clausura final finished 1-1 with Mario Méndez FC before UMECIT won the shootout 4-2. Two tournament titles in the same year made the club Súper Campeón and sent it up to the Liga Panameña de Fútbol, where it made its top-flight debut in 2023 and has yet to add a trophy.

That promotion also gave Panamanian football a rivalry built on a shared model rather than geography: Club Deportivo Universitario, run by the Universidad Latina de Panamá, is the other privately owned university side in the top division, and since 2023 the fixture between the two has been billed as the Clásico Universitario.

The 2022 run is remembered above all through its goalkeeper. Martín Meléndez captained the side, conceded less than anyone else in the division that season, and was named its most valuable player after saving penalties in both finals to see UMECIT through.