Club Atlético Nacional, best known as Atlético Nacional, or simply Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other two being Millonarios and Santa Fe.
Atlético Nacional was founded in 1947 as Club Atlético Municipal de Medellín by Luis Alberto Villegas López, a former president of the football league of Antioquia. The team adopted its current name in 1950. The current owner, Organización Ardila Lülle, officially acquired the team in 1996. According to CONMEBOL, Atlético Nacional is the club with the largest fan following in Colombia, with more than 15 million fans.
Atlético Nacional plays its home games at the Atanasio Girardot stadium, which has a capacity of 40,043. They share the stadium with their local rivals, Independiente Medellín. The teams face each other in a local derby known as El Clásico Paisa, which is considered one of the most important local derbies in the country. Atlético Nacional also has rivalries with Millonarios and América de Cali, two of the most important rivalries in Colombian football and South America.
Considered to be one of the strongest clubs from Colombia, it is one of the most consistent clubs in the country. Nacional is the only Colombian club that has won the two domestic short-format tournaments in a single year, Apertura and Finalización, since the format was established in 2002, winning the titles of the 2007 and 2013 seasons. The club has won 18 league championships, eight Copa Colombia and four Superliga Colombiana titles, for a total of 30 domestic titles, making it the most successful team within Colombia. It was also the first Colombian club to win the Copa Libertadores in 1989 and, after winning the title again in 2016, the most successful Colombian side in that tournament. It also has the most international titles of any Colombian club, having also won the Copa Merconorte twice, the Copa Interamericana twice, and the Recopa Sudamericana once, for a total of seven international trophies and 37 overall.
In 2016, Atlético Nacional was ranked by IFFHS as the best football club in the world, becoming the first South American club, and the first outside Europe, to receive such an honor in that ranking. It ranks 58th in the world ranking of the best clubs of all time according to the IFFHS, being the second-best-ranked Colombian team on the list. It is also ranked as the second-best Colombian club of the 20th century and as the best Colombian club so far in the 21st century. Nacional is also credited as the best Colombian team in CONMEBOL club tournaments and ranks 17th in the official club ranking of the Copa Libertadores.
As of 1 January 2021, Atlético Nacional had 9.39 million followers on social media, making it the most-followed club in Colombia and one of the most-followed clubs in South America.
Contents
History
Atlético Nacional was founded as Club Atlético Municipal de Medellín on 7 March 1947 by a partnership led by Luis Alberto Villegas López, former president of the football league of Antioquia. The club was created to promote sports in the city, especially football and basketball. It was based on Unión Indulana Foot-Ball Club, an amateur club from the Liga Antioqueña de Fútbol, the local amateur football league. Officially, the founding members were: Luis Alberto Villegas Lopera, Jorge Osorio, Alberto Eastman, Jaime Restrepo, Gilberto Molina, Raúl Zapata Lotero, Jorge Gómez Jaramillo, Arturo Torres Posada and Julio Ortiz.
Atlético Nacional joined the professional league for its first edition in 1948. For that tournament, each club had to pay a fee of 1,000 pesos (at that time, approximately US$1,050). Atlético Nacional played the first match of the history of the tournament, a 2–0 victory over Universidad. The tournament had ten participants that season and Atlético Nacional was 6th with seven victories, four draws and seven defeats.
Atlético Municipal changed to its current name, Atlético Nacional, for the 1951 season. The name change was made as a way to reflect the main philosophy of the club: to encourage the national sportsmanship. That philosophy was also reflected in the club's policy of signing only national players, which held special meaning during Colombia's El Dorado period, a time when most Colombian clubs were aggressively pursuing foreigners. It was not until 1953 that the club signed their first foreign player, Argentine Atilio Miotti.
Atlético Nacional won its first league title in 1954. Manager Fernando Paternoster (who managed the team from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957) guided the team through a season in which they lost just once (to Boca Juniors de Cali). The star was Argentine striker Carlos Gambina, who led the league with 21 goals.
Economic troubles plagued the team in the late 1950s, and during 1958 the club was briefly forced to merge with crosstown rivals Independiente Medellín. These financial problems and occasional returns to the club's policy of only signing Colombian players hampered results, and the club failed to win another title for nineteen years.
The drought was finally broken in 1973. The revival had actually started after the 1970 season, with the hiring of manager José Curti and the signing of midfielder Jorge Hugo Fernández. In 1971, Nacional won the Apertura title and only narrowly lost the national championship to Santa Fe (they fell 3–2 in a second replay of a bitterly fought championship playoff). Following a strong finish in 1972, Nacional won its second league title in 1973. They qualified for the final stage by winning the Torneo Finalización with 34 points, then finished first in a three-way round robin against Millonarios and Deportivo Cali. This championship was followed up by a runner-up finish in 1974.
Rivalries
Atlético Nacional has had a long rivalry with local team Independiente Medellín, known under the name of El Clásico Paisa, with the word "Paisa" referring to something originating in the Antioquia Department. It is considered one of the most important rivalries in Colombia, and recognised by FIFA as one of the most important match-ups in the country, mainly due to the frequent brawls in between both fanbases. Nacional currently leads this rivalry in terms of wins, with a 30+ win margin. They also lead in accolades won, with 33 to Medellín's 9. However, Independiente Medellín beat them in the first final series in which they faced each other in the 2004 Apertura, which is regarded as a great achievement by Medellín given that throughout history Nacional's squads have almost always had a larger market value than that of Medellín's.
The rivalry between Atlético Nacional and Millonarios is one of the most important matches in Colombia, with the two clubs holding the most league titles in Colombia (18 and 16, respectively). Dubbed by Colombian media as well as CONMEBOL as one of the most important clásicos or a "superclásico" of Colombian football, this rivalry is also considered one of the greatest classic matches in South America by the international press. The rivalry is fueled by a social, cultural and regional character, since it evokes the historical rivalry between two of the most developed regions of Colombia: the Antioquia Department (specifically its capital city Medellín) and the nation's capital Bogotá.
Atlético Nacional also has a strong rivalry with América de Cali which involves the two Colombian clubs with the largest fanbases, and has been called by Colombian and international media as one of the most important clásicos or a superclásico of Colombian football, just like the rivalry with Millonarios. This rivalry is considered as an extension of the historical sociocultural and sporting rivalry between the Antioquia and Valle del Cauca departments, represented by Atlético Nacional and América, respectively. This match gained importance starting from the decade of the 1980s, when both América de Cali and Atlético Nacional began to stand out in local competition and continental tournaments. The two teams have faced each other in final stages 15 times and have played five league title-deciders between them: in 1981, 1984, 1991, 1999, and the 2002 Apertura, with Nacional winning three of these (1981, 1991, 1999) and América the remaining two.
Brand
Colours and uniform
The flagship colors of the team, green and white, are derived from the flags of the Antioquia Department and its capital city of Medellín, and the team is known as the cuadro verdes. Black is often also used as a secondary colour by the team. The team previously also utilized red but discontinued it due to its association with the rival team Independiente Medellín.
The team's uniform at home is primarily green while its away colours are white with green accents. The team also has a third jersey utilizing its black secondary colour. The team's main sponsor featured on its jersey since 2024 is the global betting operator Betsson.
Badge
Atlético Nacional's current badge was adopted in 2000. The badge consists of a rectangle elongated downward, with the initials A and N inside, and the tower of a castle above symbolizing "grandeur, tradition, strength and hierarchy", similar to the city's coat of arms.
The club's main nickname, Verdolagas (purslanes) was coined in the 1950s, when the club began using green kits. This plant is endemic to the Paisa region since pre-Columbian times. The plant blooms a diminutive yellow, white or red flower; the white variety is the most common in the region, giving the color scheme to the team. It is also noteworthy that Antioquia has a great tradition regarding the cultivation of flowers, displayed annually during the Festival of Flowers.
Stadium
Atlético Nacional plays its local games at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium, which is part of the Atanasio Girardot Sports Complex and is owned by the Municipality of Medellín. The stadium is shared with crosstown rivals Independiente Medellín. It is located in the northwestern part of the city and has a capacity of 45,087 spectators. It was inaugurated on 19 March 1953 with a game between Nacional and Alianza Lima, which finished in a 2–2 draw.
Before 1948, when the team was known as Unión Indulana Foot-Ball Club, they played its local games at Los Libertadores Racecourse. With the creation of the professional league, they moved to San Fernando Racecourse in Itagüí, where they played until the inauguration of the Atanasio Girardot in 1953.
Honours
s shared record
Runner-up finishes
Categoría Primera A
Runners-up (13): 1955, 1965, 1971, 1974, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2002–I, 2004–I, 2004–II, 2018–I, 2023–I, 2026–I
Superliga Colombiana
Runners-up (3): 2014, 2015, 2018
Copa Libertadores
Runners-up (1): 1995
Semifinals (2): 1990, 1991
Copa Sudamericana
Runners-up (3): 2002, 2014, 2016
Semifinals (1): 2003
Recopa Sudamericana
Runners-up (1): 1990
Intercontinental Cup
Runners-up (1): 1989
Copa Simón Bolívar
Runners-up (1): 1971
FIFA Club World Cup
Third Place (1): 2016
Awards
FIFA Fair Play Award: 2016
IFFHS The World's Club Team of the Year: 2016
Players
Current squad
As of 13 September 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
World Cup players
The following players were chosen to represent their country at the FIFA World Cup while contracted with Atlético Nacional.
Jairo Arias (1962)
Ignacio Calle (1962)
César Cueto (1982)
Guillermo La Rosa (1982)
Geovanis Cassiani (1990)
Luis Fajardo (1990)
Gildardo Biderman Gómez (1990)
René Higuita (1990)
Luis Carlos Perea (1990)
José Ricardo Pérez (1990)
León Fernando Villa (1990)
Leonel Álvarez (1990,1994)
Andrés Escobar (1990,1994)
Luis Fernando Herrera (1990, 1994)
Hernán Gaviria (1994)
Gabriel Jaime Gómez (1994)
Mauricio Serna (1994)
Miguel Calero (1998)
Andrés Estrada (1998)
Ever Palacios (1998)
José Fernando Santa (1998)
Alexander Mejía (2014)
David Ospina (2026)
Women
Atlético Nacional Femenino is the women's football section of Atlético Nacional and they currently play in the Colombian Women's Football League, the top level women's football league in Colombia. Atlético Nacional's women's team was founded as a youth academy on 25 August 2009, with the project being led by Diego Bedoya as manager and supported by Víctor Marulanda. The club entered the women's league for its second season in 2018, in which they ended as runners-up. They also placed third at the 2023 Copa Libertadores Femenina.