Aucas

La Caldera del Sur is the name locals gave Estadio Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda, and the ground still carries it. It seats 18,799 in the Chillogallo district of Quito, named for the player many still call the finest to wear the club's colours — part of the squad that took the field in the club's founding year.

Those colours, yellow and red, came from Royal Dutch Shell. Enrique Illingworth Quevedo, the company's director in Ecuador, put the club together on 6 February 1945 and handed it the palette Shell used to sell its own products. The nickname stuck alongside the colours: El Indio, a reference to the indigenous peoples of the region that the club has carried ever since.

Aucas spent its amateur years running the table in Pichincha province, six provincial titles between 1945 and 1951, before the rivalry that now defines it took shape. LDU Quito met Aucas for the first time on 18 February 1945, a 1-1 draw at Estadio El Ejido, and the Superclásico Quiteño has been played ever since. It took until 2022 for Aucas to answer the imbalance with a first Ecuadorian league title, won under César Farías without a single defeat in the second stage. Captain Hernán Galíndez, fresh off the 2022 World Cup, and defender Ricardo Adé anchored that side.

The club has produced its share of names before and since — Gustavo "Potro" Figueroa scored in every division he played for Aucas, and René Higuita passed through in goal — but the best finish before 2022 had been third place, reached three times and never bettered. Serie B was won three times, in 1974, 1991 and 2014, each time sending the club back up.

The derby record after 184 meetings: LDU Quito has won 93, Aucas 45, the rest drawn.