Platense F.C.

Officially Platense Sport Club was founded on July 4, 1960, in the neighborhood of Campo Rojo, Puerto Cortés. The initial founders were Roger Riera, Roberto Mejía, Roosevelt Garbut, and Rene Paiz. They were later joined by Manuel Flores, Héctor Sánchez, Rolando Méndez, Samuel Williams, Rudolph Williams, Ricardo Fúnez, Julio Linares, Óscar Pineda, Raúl Betancourt, Francisco Maldonado, Humberto Dole, Rolando Zavala and Reginaldo Guevara. The founders looked to emulate a successful international club, and ultimately settled on Platense, inspired by Platense of Argentina. In its early years, the club was supported by the Tela Railroad Company. When amateurism was still in effect, Tela provided jobs and a salary for club athletes, and helped Platense establish itself on a solid financial footing. After the Honduran National Soccer League was founded in 1964; Club Deportivo Platense became one of its 10 original members. They would also become its first champions, winning the league 27–26 over Olimpia. The key players on that team were: Gilberto Zavala, Tomas Maximo, Ricardo 'Cañon' Fúnez, Felix 'Mantequilla' Guerra, Raúl Betancourt, Santos 'Kubala' Díaz, Miguel 'El Chino' Hernandez, 'Pichingo' Croasdaile, Francisco Brocatto, Carlos "Care" Alvarado, "Chita" Arzú, León Victor "Escalera" Jallú, among others. Having won the very first title, however, Platense had to wait another thirty-six years for its second. They were close twice, finishing runners-up in 1996–97 and Apertura…