History of Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (football)

At the beginning of the 20th century Gimnasia was taking part, among with other institutions as Facultad de Medicina, Porteño, Belgrano AC and River Plate, in the third division of Argentina.

Some of the players that achieved promotion were Emilio Fernández, Diómedes Bernasconi, Luis Basérico, Ricardo Naón, Roberto Felices, Edmundo Ferreiroa, H. Negri, Angelo Bottaro, Ricardo Gazcón, José Torres Amaral, Manuel Alvarez, Horacio Sancet, José Iglesias, Ernesto Guruciaga, Ignacio Bulla, Pedro Schiaffino, Sebastián Galesio, Clemente Lastra, Sebastián Mansilla, Delfín Derves, Antonio Gismano, Jorge Garbarino, Laureano Spósito Arrieta and Oreste Rutta.

The championship final was played on 9 February 1930 at old River Plate stadium (located on Alvear and Tagle), where Gimnasia defeated Boca Juniors 2–1, winning the title.

The line-up was: Scarpone; Di Giano, Delovo; Ruscitti, Santillán, Belli; Curell, Varallo, Maleanni, Díaz, Morgada.

Gimnasia became the first Argentine club outside Greater Buenos Aires to compete in Europe, and the first ever to play in Portugal, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy.

During the 1933 Argentine championship, Gimnasia y Esgrima made a great campaign with a team that achieved large victories at the beginning of the tournament.

During the match, referee Alberto Rojo Miró favoured so blatantly San Lorenzo that the Gimnasia players refused to continue playing, starting a "went on strike."

[13][14] In 1934, Gimnasia finished in ninth place after securing 14 wins, 10 draws and 15 defeats, with Arturo Naón as top scorer with his 25 goals.

After almost a decade alternating good and bad performances, there were realized restructurations in the accomplishment of the championships organized by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA).

In 1970, Gimnasia y Esgrima managed to qualify to dispute the semi-final of the "Campeonato Nacional" against Rosario Central, who had occupied the first position of the zone "A".

At the same time happened a conflict between the football players and the leaders of the club for economic motives, which led the President Oscar Venturino to presenting the third division.

[30][31] After a forgetful performance in the Campeonato Metropolitano, the wolf must play the quadrangular to determine three decreases of that year against Platense, Chacarita Juniors and Atlanta.

[33][34][35] The base team was: Vidallé; Magallán, Pellegrini, Sergio Castro and Alí; Tutino, Avelino Verón and García Amaijenda; Cerqueiro, Montagnoli and Forgués.

In 1984, Gimnasia achieve the longed return to the First Division after obtaining the third place in the table of positions with 18 victories, 10 ties and 14 defeats, qualifying this way to dispute the Octagonal for the second ascent to First "A".

[37] The team was conformed by football players as Ricardo "el pulpo" Kuzemka, Carlos Carrió and Osvaldo Ingrao, whereas its trainer was Nito Veiga.

In 1992, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata qualified for the first time to an international cup, as it was the Conmebol, organized by the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol.

Gimnasia y Esgrima eliminated its classic rival Estudiantes 1–0 with a goal by Guillermo Barros Schelotto, and qualified for the next round after a 0–0 tie in the return match.

Then, Gimnasia successively eliminated Newell's Old Boys, Argentinos Juniors and Belgrano de Córdoba to win the "round of winners".

[40] The match was played in the National Stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and ended regular time with a 2–2 tie, and was decided with penalties, where Verdy Kawasaki won 4–2.

With veteran coach Carlos Timoteo Griguol at the helm, Gimnasia took second place in the 1995 Clausura tournament, repeating the performance in 1996 and 1998.

After the match, Troglio and some of the players hinted that the team had received death threats from a fraction of their own supporters, who wanted to benefit Boca in its championship bid against Gimnasia's archrivals Estudiantes.

[52] La Plata District Attorney Marcelo Romero opened a criminal case and cited some club players and officers to testify.

Under new coach Leonardo Madelón, team results improved markedly, and as of the beginning of the 2009 Clausura tournament, Gimnasia is better positioned to stay in the Primera level.

[57] In June 2008, Gimnasia was allowed to play again at El Bosque; the return took place in a match against Lanús, the last game of the Clausura 2008 championship.

[57] Gimnasia y Esgrima secured promotion to Primera División in May, 2013, after defeating Instituto de Córdoba by 2–0 with three fixtures remaining for the end of the championship.

After ascending to the First Division, Gimnasia played the Initial Tournament 2013 in which, together with its coach, Pedro Troglio, managed to stay at the top of the table, highlighting its great 1-0 victory over River Plate at home in the first However, his level dropped during the course of the championship and he finished in 11th position.

In the 2014 Final Tournament, Gimnasia remained in the middle of the table for a large part of the championship, but at the end of this it improved its level considerably, reaching a streak of 6 consecutive victories.

Gimnasia finished fifth in that tournament, a position that led to his qualification for the Copa Sudamericana 2014, which was eliminated in the first phase against his classic rival Estudiantes de La Plata.

But due to the results obtained in the Professional League Cup 2021, Gimnasia re-entered the hot zone of averages, which were suspended by the AFA, since 2020.

At present, after the steering committee headed by Gisande arrangements made at the security agency Co.Pro.Se.De enabled the stadium for matches of minor visitor attendance.