Situated between the vast blue waters of the Pacific ocean and the sands of the Atacama desert, Antofagasta is the largest city in northern Chile. The city’s economy is dependent on mining (mostly copper and lithium), and is the main port by which these mineral reach the international market. Known as “The Pearl of the North”, this fascinating city is where my FM23 journey begins.
In the footballing world, Antofagasta is represented by Club de Deportes Antofagasta S.A.D.P. (Deportes Antofagasta or CDA for short). Founded in 1966, Deportes Antofagasta have played the majority of their seasons in the Chilean top flight, with occasional dips (including the 2023 season) into the second tier. The Pumas, as they are also known, play in bisected blue and white kits at home and red and black kits away.
Despite decent fan support, the team has never won a top-level domestic or international trophy. My goal in the save was to change that.
An Overview of Chilean Football
Unlike other South American leagues that feature opening and closing stages, the Chilean Primera División is a standard 16 team league. Teams play each other twice and the top 7 qualify for various stages of continental competition. The only rules that set the league apart are:
- A limit of 5 foreign players over the age of 21
- All teams must play a U21 player at least 70% of the minutes in a season
These rules incentive developing young players as well as keeping the market strong for Chilean players over the age of 21. I’ll go into detail on my squad building strategy in a later post, but balancing the age and nationality of the squad was one of the fun challenges of the save.
The Big Three
Like a lot of leagues around the world, Chile has a small number of teams that have dominated the league throughout its history. While not quite as powerful Portugal’s Os Tres Grandes, the three most decorated teams in Chile are Colo-Colo, Universidad Catolica, and Universidad de Chile. All three teams play in the capital city of Santiago and are formidable forces on the international stage. To this date Colo-Colo are the only Chilean team to win the Copa Libertadores and have never been relegated. All three teams also feature professional youth academies that consistently produce talented players.
The Best of the Rest
The middle class of Chilean football is also quite strong, with several teams at a similar level. Clubs like Unión Española, Audax Italiano, and O’Higgins have all won titles in recent years and represent Chile’s multicultural heritage.
So how would the team from La Perla Del Norte fare in such a competitive league? In the next post I’ll go through the highlights of 12 seasons of results that saw Deportes Antofagasta slowly but surely become the top club in Chile.
