🇵🇪 Peru · Lima (Rímac)
Sporting Cristal
Club Sporting Cristal S.A.
Celestes, Cerveceros (The Brewers), Rimenses, El club que nació campeón (The club that was born champion)
Sporting Cristal is a Lima club founded on 13 December 1955 by Ricardo Bentín Mujica and Esther Grande de Bentín, owners of the Backus brewery, which gave it the name of its Cristal beer.
See its shirts ↓Crests
The club
- Name
- Sporting Cristal
- Full name
- Club Sporting Cristal S.A.
- Nickname
- Celestes, Cerveceros (The Brewers), Rimenses, El club que nació campeón (The club that was born champion)
- Founded
- December 13, 1955
- City
- Lima (Rímac)
- Country
- Peru
- Official website
- clubsportingcristal.pe
- Colors
- #6CB4E4, #FFFFFF
- Competitions
- Peruvian Liga 1 (since 1956)
- Copa Libertadores (1962–2026)
- Copa CONMEBOL (1994)
- Copa Sudamericana (2018–2026)
- In the archive
- 1 crest · 30 shirts
Current crest
Since 2026
Shirts
1950s
1990s
2000s
Club history
Sporting Cristal is a Lima club founded on 13 December 1955 by Ricardo Bentín Mujica and Esther Grande de Bentín, owners of the Backus brewery, which gave it the name of its Cristal beer. It won the title in its first year in the top flight (1956), which is why it is known as “el club que nació campeón” (the club that was born champion), and it has 20 national titles. It has never been relegated, reached the final of the 1997 Copa Libertadores and plays its home games at the Estadio Alberto Gallardo.
The full story is for premium members
## A brewery and a club born champion Sporting Cristal was founded on 13 December 1955 in Rímac, Lima, at the initiative of engineer Ricardo Bentín Mujica and his wife, Esther Grande de Bentín, owners of the Backus y Johnston brewery. The club took the name of the company's best-known beer, Cristal, and was originally called Sporting Cristal Backus. To go straight into the Primera División, the new club merged with Sporting Tabaco. Sky blue has been its identifying colour ever since.
Stadium
Estadio Alberto Gallardo
- Location
- San Martín de Porres, Lima
- Capacity
- 11,600 spectators
- Opened
- 1961
- Former names
- Estadio San Martín de Porres (1961-2012)
The Estadio Alberto Gallardo opened in 1961 on the banks of the Rímac river, in the district of San Martín de Porres, under the name Estadio San Martín de Porres. It is state-owned, and Sporting Cristal has used it as its home since the mid-1990s, when the club renovated it. In 2012 it took the name of Alberto Gallardo, the club's greatest idol, and its stands pay tribute to Roberto Palacios, Julio César Uribe and Alfredo Quesada. Today it holds 11,600 people, which is why Cristal plays its derbies and cup matches at the Estadio Nacional.
The fans
Sporting Cristal supporters are known as celestes or cerveceros, and according to an IEP survey the club has the third-largest following in Peru. Its best-known barra is Extremo Celeste, founded in 1991, which backs the team from the popular stand at the Estadio Alberto Gallardo. Its derbies are against Alianza Lima and Universitario de Deportes, the other two big clubs in Lima. The rivalry with Universitario has grown in recent decades, and against Alianza Lima the 2018 final, which Cristal won 7-1 on aggregate, is still remembered.
Matchday Postcards
No postcards here yet. Send the first one!
Sign in with your account (it is free) to send your postcard. Sign in →
Know something about this piece?
If you have a correction, a memory or a period photo, send it: all you need is a free account. Aura reviews every contribution and, if it's published, it carries your credit.