Colombian Football Federation

Foundation

The initiative to create an organised football body was taken in Barranquilla, where the Liga de Football Atlántico was founded on 12 October 1924. The organisation received formal recognition from the national government only in 1927, through Resolution 34 signed by President Miguel Abadía Méndez. Carlos Lafaurie Roncallo, as president of the Liga de Foot-ball del Atlántico, convened an extraordinary assembly in Barranquilla on 8 June 1936 to reform the statutes of the organisation, broadening its membership to include clubs from Santa Marta, Cartagena, and other Caribbean cities.^[4]

The organisation was subsequently renamed the Asociación Colombiana de Fútbol (Adefútbol). With national recognition granted by Resolution 72 of 1936, signed by President Alfonso López Pumarejo, Lafaurie submitted the paperwork to FIFA for international recognition. On 14 August 1936, at the FIFA Congress held in Berlin on the occasion of the 1936 Summer Olympics, Colombia's membership was approved in principle. In a letter dated 17 October 1936, FIFA Secretary-General D.J. Schuther informed Adefútbol of its acceptance as a new member.

El Dorado and readmission to FIFA

The 1940s saw the rise of professional football in Colombia, leading to the creation of the professional league in 1948 and the División Mayor del Fútbol Colombiano (Dimayor). This coincided with strikes by players in other South American countries, particularly Argentina, prompting Colombian clubs to sign foreign stars outside of FIFA's transfer regulations, a period known as El Dorado (from 1949). As a result, Colombian football was suspended from FIFA, accused of "piracy". Colombia was readmitted on 24 October 1951 through the so-called Pacto de Lima, under which it agreed to return foreign players by no later than 15 September 1954.^[5][6]

Formation of the FCF

In 1958, twelve regional leagues led by Antioquia, Cundinamarca and Valle del Cauca organised a rival national championship and created a body called Codefútbol, but the movement failed to gain traction. Tensions between Adefútbol and Dimayor came to a head in 1961 ahead of the 1962 FIFA World Cup qualifiers; CONMEBOL eventually ruled in December 1961 in favour of Dimayor.^[7]

In 1964, while Adefútbol appointed Eduardo Carbonell Insignares as its president, Dimayor and a number of leagues met in Villa del Rosario on 19 June to create the Federación Colombiana de Fútbol (Fedebol), electing Alfonso Senior Quevedo as president. FIFA recognised Fedebol at its 1966 Congress in London, granting it provisional status to reorganise football in Colombia. On 15 June 1971, a general assembly formally established the Federación Colombiana de Fútbol under the acronym Colfútbol, with Eduardo Carbonell Insignares as its first president.^[8]

1986 World Cup bid and later decades

In 1974, FIFA awarded Colombia the right to host the 1986 FIFA World Cup, but President Belisario Betancur announced in November 1982 that the country would relinquish the hosting rights due to its inability to meet FIFA's infrastructure requirements. In 1987, CONMEBOL presidents agreed to rotate Copa América hosting rights, and Colombia was assigned the 2001 Copa América.^[9][10]