C.D. Universidad Católica is a professional football (soccer) team that is owned and operated by the eponymous university. In several Latin American countries, there are professional football clubs that are owned by and affiliated with a university and that compete in the professional league system . These clubs are not the universities' collegiate football teams, like those competing in, for instance, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which oversees and governs athletic competitions between and amongst colleges and universities in the United States. In the Chilean Campeonato Nacional (National Championship) there are three such clubs: the Club Deportivo Universidad Católica, the Club Universidad de Chile, and U.Concepción.
Alex Garofolo, 22 January 2016
"The Club Deportivo Universidad Católica, CDUC (English: The Catholic University Sports Club) is a multisport club, representative of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. It was established on 21 April 1937. However, it traces back its roots to 1908, when the (then called) Universidad Católica Football Club participated in football matches against other teams. An idea of gather all sport activities within the University emerged in 1925, and on 30 August 1927 this was officially organized as a club, within the University. First, in 1928, it joined the Confederación Universitaria de Deportes (English: University Confederation of Sports) (currently the Federación Nacional Universitaria de Deportes, FENAUDE (English: University National Federation of Sports). Then, on 19 April 1937 it joined the Asociación Central de Fútbol, ACF (English: Central Football Association) (currently the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Chile, ANFP) (English: National Association of Professional Soccer of Chile) starting to play in the Second Division at first, and then two days later, a group of individuals gathered in order to formalize the establishment of the club, as an independent organization from all the other sport clubs (still, within the University). Finally, on 27 January 1982 the football team became totally independent as an organization, establishing the Fundación Club Deportivo Universidad Católica (English: Catholic University Sports Club Foundation) commonly known as "Universidad Católica de Chile" (English: Chile Catholic University) or "La Católica" (English: The Catholic)." Esteban Rivera, 30 August 2018 Sources: http://www.deportesuc.cl/inicios-del-club https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Deportivo_Universidad_Cat%C3%B3lica
![[CD Universidad Católica sport flag]](../images/c/cl@puc.gif)
