El Nacional

Serie A hasn't seen El Nacional since 2018. The 2024 Copa Ecuador win was the clearest sign yet that a return to the top flight remains the target.

The club was founded on 1 June 1964 by members of the Ecuadorian armed forces, and for nearly fifty years its presidents were serving military officers — a civilian, Jorge Yunda, took the role for the first time only in 2013. The nickname El Equipo Militar traces to that origin, though the one that says more about how the club actually played is Los Puros Criollos, earned by a long-standing policy of fielding only Ecuadorian-born players.

Thirteen national championships sit in the record book, and three of them came in successive years twice over — 1976 to 1978, then 1982 to 1984 — which is where El Bi-Tri comes from. The red shirt gave the side its best-known tag, La Máquina Roja, though the grey kit worn in earlier years produced its own, La Máquina Gris, and the club still carries both colours.

Home matches are played at the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, known locally as El Coloso del Batán, 2,782 metres above sea level in Quito and holding 35,258. Across the city, LDU Quito provides the opposition for the Clásico Quiteño, the capital's derby.

Of the players who came through, Óswaldo Ibarra stayed rather than left, a title winner in 1992, 1996, 2005 and 2006.