C.D.S. Vida

Vida

Full name	Club Deportivo y Social Vida
Nickname(s)	Los Cocoteros (The Coconuts) Los Rojiblancos (The Red-and-Whites)
Founded	14 October 1940; 81 years ago (1940-10-14)
Ground	Estadio Nilmo Edwards, La Ceiba, Honduras
Capacity	18,000
Owner	Luis Cruz
Manager	Fernando Mira
League	Liga Nacional
2021 Apertura	Liga Nacional (B), 2nd of 5
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Club Deportivo y Social Vida, or simply Vida, is a Honduran football club based in La Ceiba, Atlántida.

The club has won two domestic league titles and has finished second four times.

History[]

Salvavida[]

The club that is today known as Vida was founded on 14 October 1940, as a result of a split in the board of directors of Atlántida. Gregorio Ramos, one of the Atlántida directors, decided to found his own team. Since it was initially sponsored by the brewery , the club took the name Salvavida, a brand of beer that the brewery produced.^[1]

Later on, the relationship between Cervezería Hondureña and Salvavida was coming to an end. According to club legend, the wife of one of the club directors (Vida Code de Castañeda) fell into a river or a lake while the team was walking by. The cry of "un salvavida para vida" (a lifesaver for Vida) went up. This was supposedly the inspiration for the modern name, Vida.

1940s and 1950s[]

During the 1940s, most of the club's players were employees of team president Gregorio Ramos, who was also owner of Lavanderia Ramos. He also was the president of the team and contributed economically and handled the team affairs. The training was carried out in a small field located that was property of the Standard Fruit Company (DOLE). Another source of players were students from the local public school, Instituto Manuel Bonilla and those from the amateur soccer club Deportes Diablos Negros. The most notable stars of these years were the famous Talon Arzú, Alberto "Campion" Amaya, Héctor "Jet" Castillo McKenzie, Quiro Brooks, Cristóbal Craka Brooks, and the Spaniard Rafael "El Fafa" from Navarre.

Vida's rise to prominence[]

Vida's breakthrough came in the 1960s, with the energy provided by rising stars such as Salvador Hernández, Nilmo Edwards, and the brothers Morris and Junia Garden. In 1961, Vida finished runners-up in the national tournament, losing out only to Olimpia. They won the whole thing in 1964, beating out Salamar of San Lorenzo in Tegucigalpa.

In 1964, when the previously amateur Honduran league officially turned professional, the city of La Ceiba was offered one place. Vida prevailed in a play-off against two local rivals, Victoria and Atlántida, to earn the city's slot in the new top flight. The previously amateur players were awarded salaries drawn from ticket sales, and the old field where Vida used to play was converted into a genuine stadium, the . With the stadium built, Vida moved to Campo Vida located in the neighborhood La Isla as their training ground (which is still preserved to this date, and used for youth league teams in La Ceiba).

CDS Vida: The glory years (1965–1985)[]

From 1965 to 1975, Vida was a frequent finisher in the Top 4 of the Honduran Major League Soccer. Their best season during this stretch was 1971, when they finished 2nd to Olimpia. Their success continued throughout the 1970s, as they were a regular qualifier for the quadrangular playoff, but it was the early 1980s that saw the club's greatest run of success.

It started in 1981, when Vida finished 3rd in the first phase to qualify for the playoffs. In the quadrangular, they finished level with Motagua at the top of the table, and prevailed 2–0. Then, in the championship against regular season winners Atlético Morazán, Vida triumphed 4–1 on aggregate. They won a second title in 1983, then narrowly finished as runners-up to Olimpia and Marathon in 1984 and 1985.

During the 1980s, the team's notable players were Enrique "Palanca" Mendoza, Matilde Lacayo, Dennis "La Bomba" Hinds, Cipriano Dueños (national scoring Champion in 1986) and Roberto "Macho" Figueroa (a key player in the Honduras National team that earned the berth to the World Cup Spain 1982, sold to Real Murcia after the tournament).

Decline and descent into obscurity[]

Vida's decline began in 1986. The club had finished 1st in the regular season and third in the quadrangular play-offs; by most accounts a respectable year. However, shortly after the end of the playoffs, the club was rocked by a match-fixing scandal. Specifically, the accusation was that they deliberately threw the title to Olimpia.

Vida never recovered, and it took many years before they even appeared a top-flight challenger. Even after the Apertura and the Clausura were adopted, Vida has struggled. They have not reached a final since their glory days.

Club rivalries[]

Clásico Ceibeño[]

El Clásico Ceibeño (La Ceiba derby) is a football match played between Victoria and CDS Vida, both teams from La Ceiba, Honduras.

Achievements[]

Domestic

• Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras: 2

1981–82, 1983–84

Runner-up (3): 1971–72, 1984–85, 1985–86

• Liga Amateur de Honduras: 1

1961–62

League and play-off performance (1994–present)[]

All-time table[]

(From 1965/66 to 2007/08)

Performance (1997–98 – present)[]

Team Games Won Drawn Lost Scored Against Points Difference Real España 44 13 21 10 57 60 60 -4 Platense 42 15 10 17 46 50 55 -4 Universidad 34 14 10 10 38 34 52 +4 Victoria 42 11 14 17 46 71 47 -24 Marathón 42 8 10 24 42 83 34 -41 Motagua 44 5 13 26 34 69 28 -35 Atlético Olanchano 16 7 4 5 28 26 25 +2 Olimpia 44 2 16 26 41 85 22 -44 Real Maya / Patepluma 12 5 4 3 17 15 19 +2 Hispano 12 4 4 4 14 16 16 -2 Broncos 10 3 2 5 16 17 11 -1 Deportes Savio 12 2 5 5 8 15 11 -7 Independiente 4 2 2 0 12 4 8 +8 Broncos-UNAH 4 2 2 0 5 4 8 +4 Valencia 8 1 5 2 6 7 8 -1 Honduras Salzburg 4 2 1 1 6 5 7 +1 Federal 4 2 1 1 6 5 7 +1 Palestino 4 2 0 2 7 7 6 +0 Real Comayagua 4 1 2 1 6 6 5 +0 International competition[] CONCACAF Champions' Cup[] 1963 CONCACAF Champions' Cup First Round v. Xelajú MC – 2:2, 0:6 (Xelajú advanced 8:2 on aggregate) 1972 CONCACAF Champions' Cup Final Round v. Toluca – 1:3, 0:1 (Toluca advanced 4:1 on aggregate) 1973 CONCACAF Champions' Cup First Round v. Saprissa – 0:2, 0:1 (Saprissa advanced 3:0 on aggregate) 1982 CONCACAF Champions' Cup First Round v. Brooklyn Dodgers – (Brooklyn Dodgers withdrew) Second Round v. Pumas UNAM – 2:2, 0:5 (Pumas UNAM advance 7:2 on aggregate) 1984 CONCACAF Champions' Cup Third Round v. NY Pancyprian-Freedoms – 1:1, 1:2 (NY Pancyprian-Freedoms advance 3:2 on aggregate) 1985 CONCACAF Champions' Cup First Round v. FAS – 1:1, 2:1 (Vida advance 3:2 on aggregate) Second Round v. América – 1:0, 0:3 (América advance 3:1 on aggregate) Torneo Fraternidad[] 1981 Torneo Fraternidad First Round v. Juventud Retalteca – 0:1, 3:1 (Vida advance 3:2 on aggregate) Second Round v. Marathón – (Marathón advance) 1982 Torneo Fraternidad First Round v. Juventud Independiente – 2:1, 1:0 (Vida advance 3:1 on aggregate) Second Round v. Xelajú MC – 0:0, 0:2 (Xelajú MC advance 2:0 on aggregate) All-time top scorers[] (As of 8 February 2012)[2] Carlos Alvarado (76 goals) (44 goals) (40 goals) (39 goals) (37 goals) Jorge Pineda (37 goals) (36 goals) Current squad[] As of 10 February 2022[3] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  HON 2 DF  HON 3 DF  HON Henry Figueroa 4 DF  HON Juan Pablo Montes 5 MF  HON Sergio Peña 6 MF  HON 8 MF  HON Denis Meléndez 9 FW  COL 10 MF  ESP Victor Blasco 11 FW  HON 12 MF  HON 13 FW  HON 14 MF  HON 15 DF  HON 16 FW  HON 17 DF  HON No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF  HON 19 FW  HON 20 DF  CHI Marcos Velásquez 21 MF  HON (captain) 22 MF  HON 23 GK  HON 25 FW  HON 26 GK  HON 27 FW  HON Carlos Fernández 28 FW  HON 29 FW  HON 30 GK  HON 31 MF  HON Carlos Sánchez 32 FW  HON Marvin Bernárdez — DF  HON — MF  HON Managers[] Aroldo Cordón Carlos Enrique "Ronco" Wellman (1971) Roberto González (1981) Gonzalo Zelaya (1983) Roberto González (1984–85) Mario Ramón Sandoval (1995) Ariel Sena (1995–1996) Enrique Grey Fúnez (1996) Héctor Vargas (1999–00) David Medina (2001) Ricardo Ortiz (2006) (2007 – Dec 12) Jorge Pineda (Dec 2012 – April 14)[4] Ramón Maradiaga (May 2014 – Sept 15) Elvin López (201?–) Carlos Alberto Pavon Plumer (2016 – Dec 19) Old logos[] Affiliated clubs[] Atlético Madrid References[] ^ "A dar guerra" (in Spanish). Diario La Prensa. 2007-08-10. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-11. ^ Desafíe a Ismael – La Prensa (in Spanish) ^ "Vida – Liga Betcris de Honduras". Honduran Liga Nacional. Retrieved 24 November 2021. ^ Jorge Pineda firma con el Vida – La Prensa (in Spanish) External links[] Official website