Atlético Huila was a professional Colombian football team based in Neiva, that last played in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded in 1990, making it one of the youngest professional football clubs in Colombia.
The club's best seasons came in the late 2000s; they finished runners-up in 2007 and again in 2009. They played their home games at the Estadio Guillermo Plazas Alcid, which has a capacity of 27,000. The club entered into a hiatus at the end of the 2025 season, following infrastructure issues with its home stadium that led its owners to move the squad to Yumbo, Valle del Cauca Department along with their membership in Dimayor, while its brand stayed in Neiva after it was transferred to a new owner.
Huila had a long-standing rivalry with Deportes Tolima, known as the Tolima Grande derby. The club also had a futsal team named Ultrahuilca Coomotor.
Contents
History
The club was founded on 29 November 1990 and was admitted into the Categoría Primera B tournament the following year. In 1992, Alberto Rujana was appointed as manager. That same season, the club purchased midfielder Guillermo Berrío from América de Cali; Rujana named him captain and made him the centerpiece of the squad. As a result, promotion to the top flight followed. The club managed to last in the top flight until the end of the 1996–97 season, when they finished last in the relegation table and were sent back to Primera B.
Rafael Corrales took over the club in 1997, and led them to an immediate promotion back to the top flight. The club managed to consolidate itself in the league, although relegation was a constant danger. Huila escaped relegation only on goal differential in 2002 and had to win a relegation playoff against Valledupar in 2006. This was why the club's performance in 2007 was almost entirely unexpected.
Under the management of Néstor Otero for the 2007 season, the club finished third in the Apertura and qualified for the semifinal phase. They further surprised by winning their semifinal group (beating Millonarios on the final day of the round robin) to reach the Apertura finals, where they were beaten by Atlético Nacional 2–1 over two legs. A similarly unexpected result came in the second half of the 2009 season (Finalización tournament), when the club finished third in the first stage and topped its semifinal group. Once again they were beaten in the finals, this time by Independiente Medellín by a 3–2 aggregate score. The strong performance in the 2009 season allowed Atlético Huila to qualify for the following year's Copa Sudamericana for the first time in history, in which they beat Venezuelan team Trujillanos in the first stage, but were knocked out by San José from Bolivia in the second stage.
The club placed first in the first stage of the 2015 Torneo Apertura, however they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Deportes Tolima.
After 22 years in the top flight, Atlético Huila were relegated back to the second tier at the end of the 2019 season, finishing in last place of both the relegation table and the year's aggregate table. Their relegation was confirmed on the last day of the regular season with a 1–0 defeat against Jaguares, who were also involved in the relegation struggle.
Honours
Domestic
Categoría Primera A
Runners-up (2): 2007–I, 2009–II
Categoría Primera B
Winners (3): 1992, 1997, 2020
Performance in CONMEBOL competitions
Copa CONMEBOL: 1 appearance
1999: First round
Copa Sudamericana: 1 appearance
2010: Second round
Players
Managers
Source:
Women
Atlético Huila Femenino was the women's section of Atlético Huila. They participated in the Colombian Women's Football League organized by Dimayor, the top level women's football league in Colombia.
Atlético Huila won the league championship in 2018, having finished runner-up in the previous season. That same year, they also won the Copa Libertadores Femenina, thus becoming the first Colombian team to win the continental club competition. In 2020, the team entered a hiatus when it withdrew from the domestic league owing to financial reasons. Although they returned to the league for the 2022 season, the team did not enter the league since 2024 as the club's owners opted to focus on the men's and youth teams.