Today was a good day if your club was called Arsenal because they all won their matches. There are two. The better known Arsenal FC plays for the English Premiership and has been around since 1886. The other Arsenal FC plays in the Argentinian Apertura and was formed in 1957, inspired by their English cousins. The founder Julio Grondona is also the present president of the Argentina Football Association. His son Julio R Grondona is the chairman of Arsenal FC also know as Arsenal di Sarandi.
Their most famous player is Jorge Burruchaga who scored the match winning goal against W. Germany in the World Cup finals in 1986. Apart from that historical moment, Arsenal di Sarandi have not had much success in the domestic and international circuit. They have reached the quarterfinal in the Copa Sudamericana in 2004. They have most recently been in the news with Barcelona FC tieing up with them to promote new talent in the Argentinian league.
Arsenal Di Sarandi
Ground Estadio Julio H. Grondona,
Del Viaducto, Sarandí,
Avellaneda, Buenos Aires
Capacity 16,300
Arsenal FC
Emirates Stadium
Ashburton Grove
London
Capacity 62,300
First Division and Premier League titles: 13
1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1971, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2004
FA Cups: 10
1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005
League Cups: 2
1987, 1993
Charity Shields and Community Shields: 12
1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1991 (shared), 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1
1970
European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1
1994
For the list of famous Arsenal FC players >>
Lode Broekman draws attention to the Arsenal FC in the Netherlands. Thanks Lode! I think the Arsenal FCs should now call themselves The Family Arsenal ( a wonderful book by Paul Theroux, who incidentally I is a supporter of Arsenal FC and Crystal Palace).
One comment on “A tale of two Arsenals: England and Argentina”
Just to let you know, in Holland there is also a club called Arsenal, inspired by our London ‘cousins’. The full name is sc ASV Arsenal, founded in 1956 (yes, we do have some celebrations this year). Our ground is next to the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. More info (in dutch): http://www.asvarsenal.nl.