Internacional de Bogotá · History

Internacional de Bogotá is a club from the Colombian capital that has played in the Categoría Primera A under that name since 2026. It is the successor to La Equidad, the club founded in 1982 that reached the top flight in 2007 and spent nineteen seasons there before a change of ownership brought a new name, new colours and a new crest. Home matches are played at the Estadio Metropolitano de Techo, in the Kennedy district in the south-west of the city.

Origins as an insurer’s club

The club was founded on 1 December 1982 as a youth and amateur side backed by the insurance company Seguros La Equidad, which gave it its name. Its first competition was the Torneo del Olaya, the long-running amateur tournament in Bogotá. In 1992 it was formally recognised as Club La Equidad Seguros, and from 1993 it competed in the Primera C. The step into professional football came in 2003, when the club obtained its Dimayor affiliation, took the name Club Deportivo La Equidad and entered the Categoría Primera B. Its green kit and its link to the insurer earned it nicknames such as “Los Aseguradores” and “El Verde Capitalino”.

Promotion and the first finals

Fáber López coached the side through the 2004 and 2005 second-division campaigns, and Alexis García took over for the push that followed. La Equidad won the 2006 Primera B title, sealing promotion on 4 November 2006 with a 1-1 draw against Centauros in Villavicencio. Its first top-flight season, 2007, swung between extremes: the team finished bottom of the Apertura and then reached the final of the Finalización, where it lost to Atlético Nacional (0-3 at El Campín and 0-0 in Medellín). In 2008, still under García, it won the Copa Colombia, beating Once Caldas 1-0 at Techo and drawing 3-3 in Manizales for a 4-3 aggregate win, the first national trophy in its history.

A regular in the top half

La Equidad established itself in the Primera A over the following years and reached two more league finals. In the 2010 Apertura it beat Junior 1-0 in Bogotá but lost 3-1 in Barranquilla. In the 2011 Apertura it again met Atlético Nacional: a 2-1 home win was cancelled out by a 2-1 defeat in Medellín, and Nacional took the title 3-2 on penalties. Those three runner-up finishes, in 2007, 2010 and 2011, remained the club’s best league results. Coaches such as Santiago Escobar, Arturo Boyacá, Luis Fernando Suárez and Humberto Sierra also led the team during its years in the first division.

Continental campaigns

League and cup results took the club into the Copa Sudamericana several times. In 2009 it fell in the first round to Unión Española of Chile, and in 2011 it beat Juan Aurich of Peru before losing to Libertad of Paraguay. In 2013 it knocked out Trujillanos and Cobreloa and reached the round of 16, where Vélez Sarsfield eliminated it 4-2 on aggregate. Its deepest run came in 2019: after getting past Independiente of Paraguay on penalties, Deportivo Santaní and Royal Pari, La Equidad reached the quarter-finals and lost to Atlético Mineiro, 2-1 in Belo Horizonte on 20 August and 3-1 in Bogotá on 27 August. It also took part in the 2021 edition, finishing third in its group, and in 2022.

Sale and the new name

On 16 January 2025 Seguros La Equidad announced the sale of the club to an American investment group led by Al Tylis and Sam Porter, linked to Mexico’s Club Necaxa. The insurer kept the rights to the La Equidad name and identity, so the new owners had to rebrand. The 2025 season was the last under the old name: the team finished bottom of the aggregate table and said goodbye in November 2025 with a 4-0 win over Deportivo Pereira. On 10 December 2025 the club presented its new identity as Internacional de Bogotá, with white, black and gold replacing the traditional green, “Los Cóndores” as its nickname and Argentine coach Ricardo Valiño on the bench.

First season as Internacional

Internacional de Bogotá played its first league match on 17 January 2026, a 3-0 defeat away to América de Cali. Its first win came on 23 January, 2-1 at home against Cúcuta Deportivo, with Dereck Moncada scoring the club’s first Primera A goal under the new name. On 26 April 2026 it beat Boyacá Chicó 4-0, and it qualified for the play-offs of the 2026 Apertura with 28 points from 21 matches. In the quarter-finals it met Atlético Nacional, losing 2-1 in Bogotá and 7-1 in Medellín on 12 May 2026. In October 2026 it beat Llaneros 4-1 at Techo to reach the semi-finals of the Copa Colombia.