FBC Melgar has had a huge long-standing rivalry with Cienciano of Cusco, known as the Clásico del Sur.

In recent years, Melgar have been considered the fourth best team in Peru, after the big three, Universitario, Alianza Lima and Sporting Cristal.

In the same decade, changes were made on the football of Arequipa, some of which reduced the amount of teams participated in the Primera Division and relegations.

It was in that scenario where the match was played, Melgar's first at the IV Centenario neighborhood Stadium, and culminated with a victory by the minimum of the red-and-blacks who took revenge against the San Lázaro team and returned to the top flight.

The permanence in the First Division would not last long as they would be relegated again after finishing last in the 1941 tournaments, falling by the minimum in the promotion match against Deportivo Mistiano.

In 1946 and 1947, already in the First Division of the Provincial League of Arequipa, the red-and-black club had outstanding performances reaching fourth place in the table in both seasons, in addition the club was again able to play matches against capital teams such as Sport Boys and Ciclista Association, and international ones such as the one that beat the Litoral de Bolivia by the score of 4 to 2.

Their good run through the tournament began with a victory over San Cristóbal by 3 to 1, achieving promotion by defeating Deportivo Bolivariano by 5 to 1.

They were also champions of the Liga Departamental de Arequipa for 3 consecutive years since 1967 and won the Copa Perú in 1971.

He signed players like Piero Alva, Nelinho Quina, Minzum Quina, Luis Hernández, Alejandro Hohberg, Lampros Kontogiannis and Edgar Villamarín to make an impressive campaign where Melgar was the best team during the whole season finishing 1st in the accumulated table, but due to some bad results in the final matches and the poor organization of the tournament they weren't able to dispute the Play-off for the championship and only qualified for the Copa Sudamericana, where there was an intense match with Deportivo Pasto, winning by four goals in the first game, but lost by five in the second, being eliminated in the qualifying round.

In 2015, the year of Melgar's centenary, and still with Reynoso as the manager, the team signed important players like Raúl Ruidíaz, Carlos Ascues, Johnnier Montaño, Rainer Torres and Daniel Ferreyra to make an impressive team and fight for the title.

Then, Melgar won the national championship, besting Sporting Cristal with a score in the final minute by Bernardo Cuesta.

They topped their group and went on to the Round of 16 and Quarter-finals, defeating large South american clubs such as Deportivo Cali of Colombia and SC Internacional of Brazil.

In the 2022 season, Melgar won the Torneo Aperture, classifying for the semi-finals, defeating Sporting Cristal and advancing to the final.

Among all the other teams in Peru, Melgar is ranked fifth in strongest fanbase of the Peruvian Primera División along with rivals Cienciano of Cusco, in 2020.

[11] In 2017, the team was ranked number one in all of Peru, surpassing giants Alianza Lima and Universitario through digital fanbase.

Currently, the team is ranked fourth in terms of the largest fan base in 2023, after Alianza Lima, Universitario, and Sporting Cristal.

The first official duel took place on date 3 of the final hexagonal of the 1967 Copa Perú, where Melgar won 2-1 in Lima.

They have faced each other 139 times to date, with Melgar being the biggest winner with 66 duels won against the Cusco team's 39.

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