[FM23] Wonderkid Factory | Envigado FC

[robilaz]

In my series of "teams to manage" guides across various guises of Football Manager, one team has consistently popped up as the best team to manage in South America. So now, having failed in my first FM23 challenge, it's time to take my own advice and take control of production at South America's greatest wonderkid factory.

During a previous incarnation, Robinho Lazaró had led a successful campaign dominating South American and European football. But now he had his eye very much on honing the promising youth in his homeland of Colombia. In that former life, Lazaró had excelled in spotting and developing wonderkids from all over the world. Now, he wanted to bring that expertise to one specific club. Decades into his previous adventure, Colombia became World Champions and Wonderkid Factory Envigado became one of the best teams in the country.

So Lazaró's new challenge was to take control of the ultimate Wonderkid Factory, oversee the production of their prodigious youth development and snap up wonderkids from all around the world. The overarching mission is to take Envigado to the top of Colombian football, challenge in South America's continental competitions and build Colombia to become the best league and nation in the world. All of the above may be a tough ask, but it was a challenge Lazaró was very passionate about.

Who are Envigado?

Envigado Fútbol Club is a top-tier Colombian side based in the town of Envigado, which is located in the southeast of Medellín. The city is widely regarded for having some of the highest standards of living in Colombia and low levels of "people with unmet basic needs."

Envigado FC was founded on 14 October 1989 and became the first team to be promoted to Colombia's top tier, Liga BetPlay, in 1991. The club suffered relegation from the top tier in 2006 but bounced back a year later led by the talents of a certain James Rodríguez. And it has remained in the top tier ever since. Envigado has never been champion of Colombia, with a record-high finish of 4th in Liga BetPlay in 2005.

The club is best known for its strong youth development, bringing through the likes of Colombian internationals like James Rodríguez, Fredy Guarín, Juan Fernando Quintero and Mateus Uribe, which has led to it becoming known as Cantera de Héroes, or the Quarry of Heroes. But it also boasts eye-catching orange kits, for which it is referred to as El Equipo Naranja or The Orange Team.

Envigado play at the 14,000-capacity Polideportivo Sur, which was built in 1978 before the club even existed! It also has a fierce local rivalry with fellow Liga BetPlay side Águilas Dorados and other rivalries with tier two side Leones FC and fellow top tier clubs Independiente Medellín and Atlético Nacional.

In terms of club records, the highest fee received was the £2.58m fee that saw Yaser Asprilla move to Watford in January. But now a new regime is upon Envigado as they welcomed manager Robinho Lazaró, who hoped to rewrite the club's record books.

Envigado in Football Manager 2023

Starting a save in Colombia in FM23 takes us all the way back to 20 December 2021, with Liga BetPlay Dimayor beginning on 23 January 2022. Envigado are massive favourites to be relegated from the top tier, with odds of 2000/1 to win the title compared to the next lowest odds of 1000/1 for newly promoted Unión Magdalena.

Lazaró's board expect to become an established Liga BetPlay team, which seems a little vague. But, crucially, they expect him to work towards developing the best youth system in Colombia with the aim of having the country's best youth system by 2026. And that's the whole reason we find ourselves in Envigado.

From a supporter point of view, the club has a core following of 38% and family following of 22% and casual supporter base of 15%. The fans also expect Lazaró to develop homegrown players and become an established Liga BetPlay team, but also want to forge a higher reputation that Águilas Dorados and better Leones FC when they play them.

Envigado have limited finances for Lazaró to work with, as there was just £1.7m in the bank balance, an £87k transfer budget and £84,324-per-week wage budget, of which they were spending £83,542.

Meet the Envigado squad

The best player at Envigado is 24-year-old defensive midfielder Iván Rojas, along with midfielder Diego Moreno, Venezuelan winger Jesús Hernández, Paraguayan centre-back Francisco Báez and 21-year-old midfielder Juan Manuel Zapata. Other players to look out for are full-backs Santiago Jiménez and Daniel Londono, goalkeeper Santiago Londono and 20-year-old striker Diego Rodríguez. Bizarrely, the oldest player at the club is 32-year-old Englishman George Saunders, who's had a strange career that began at Villarreal in 2004 before moving to América de Cali in 2013 and staying in Colombia. He's not very good though.

But what we all want to know is how good the young players are at Envigado. Well, the first-team squad has two more top talents in winger Déiler Córdoba and goalkeeper Felipe Parra. While the under 20s squad has six players with 5-star potential, 11 with 4.5-star potential and six with 4-star potential. The pick of those is 15-year-old goalkeeper Andrés Tovar, along with winger/striker Bryan Sinisterra, three 17-year-olds in centre-back Jhon Banguera, winger Luis Ángel Díaz and goalkeeper Santiago Asprilla, and 6ft 5in winger Diego Betancourth.

 

Having assessed the players available to him, Lazaró opted to go with a 4-3-3 with a holding midfielder to protect his probably not overly strong defence. The key men in this team are likely to be Moreno, who Lazaró was hoping would bring goals from midfield, and Hernández playing as an inverted winger from the left.

Life at the Wonderkid Factory begins

If you're new to the Colombian leagues then strap yourself in for an almighty feast of football! Liga BetPlay begins with the 20-game Apertura stage between 23 January and 15 May, from which the top eight qualify for a six-game round-robin semi-final then the top two compete in a two-game final. That's followed by another 20-game Finalización tournament, which also ends in a six-game round-robin and two-legged final. So to win both competitions, a team would have to play 56 league matches!

Lazaró's Football Manager career began with a trip to reigning champions Deportivo Cali, who had a player sent off for a shocking challenge then handed Envigado the lead with an own goal. Lazaró introduced a couple of youngsters and one of them delivered as Sinisterra scored on his senior debut after a brilliant run and cross by left-back Yeferson Rodallega to seal a strong 2-0 win.

His first game at Polideportivo Sur saw Atlético Bucaramanga come to town. Envigado bossed the game with 59% possession and 15 shots to four but couldn't finish their chances and settled for a slightly disappointing 0-0. Then nothing happened except Deprtivo Pereira scoring a screamer in away day two, to complete the 1-1-1 start to the campaign.

The second home game was a huge one against rivals Águilas Doradas. Striker Rodríguez made his first start of the season and scored 25 minutes into his debut, cue cries of "Diego, Diego, Diego!" erupting around Polideportivo Sur. They bossed the game and deservedly added a second as Zapata curled home a delicious 25-yarder before the midfielder created a third for Hernández, who'd also created the first two goals. And a 3-0 win quickly endeared Lazaró and his young team with the supporters.

The solid start continued with 0-0s at Patriotas and at home to Independiente Medellín, predicted to finish 5th in the league. But a big test saw league favorites and early leaders Atlético Nacional, who took an undeserved lead only for Rodríguez to immediately equaliser. The visitors scored again after an hour and won 3-1 but Lazaró was fairly impressed with his team's efforts.

Rojas nicked a point at Petrolera before Báez's injury-time winner nicked a 2-1 win at home to Cortuluá and Hernández scored the only goal in a tight affair at Junior FC, who were the media's fourth favourites for the title! The winger was also on form in a thriller at Deportivo Pasto, creating the opener for Rodríguez then scoring himself. Pasto equalised both times but Rodríguez stepped up again to nick the winner after 79 minutes.

That lifted Envigado into an impressive sixth place with five wins, two defeats and 19 points from Lazaró's first 11 games in charge. Hernández has the joint-most assists (5) and the joint-best average rating (7.43) while Londono leads the way with six clean sheets.

Could Lazaró continue Envigado's impressive overachievement into the second half of the season? And will any good youth prospects come his way in the first youth intake?

[robilaz]

Robinho Lazaró enjoyed a solid start to life in charge of Colombia's leading Wonderkid Factory. He'd led a young team fancied for relegation - which he thought was very much misguided on the media's part - into the top six halfway through Liga BetPlay Dimayor Apertura.

Tricky conclusion to Apertura

The good form continued with the best performance of Lazaró's tenure so far as 21-year-old striker Diego Rodríguez bagged a brace in a 3-0 win over fourth-place Independiente Santa Fe. English midfielder George Saunders scored in that game and did so again to claim a point at Once Caldas before a pretty dire 0-0 with Patriotas FC. They were much improved as Rodríguez scored the winner in a 2-1 success at Unión Magdalena, which lifted them up to 5th in an increasingly tight table.

A really tough run followed, starting at home to fellow overachievers Jaguares de Córdoba, who were predicted to finish 15th but currently sat in 4th. But it was the visitors who edged a tight game 1-0 despite Lazaró throwing everything at them and getting no reward in the later stages. Another tight game saw Envigado go to one of Colombia's big boys and only lose 3-2 to an injury-time winner at Millonarios, which saw winger Juan Daniel Tegue score his first goal for the club. The goals flowed again in a wild 4-3 defeat to second-place Tolima, who'd led 4-0 after 51 minutes, before snapping a three-game losing streak with a stunning 5-1 win at struggling América de Cali led by a Rodríguez hat-trick.

That lifted Envigado into the top eight heading into the final game of the Apertura stage, so a point at home to mid-table La Equidad would send them into the post-season semis. The visitors obviously scored their first shot, Envigado responded through two goals in a minute before the break from Saunders and Jesús Hernández then somehow managed to concede immediately. Rodríguez restored the lead just after half-time and swiftly doubled his tally to secure a huge victory.

That victory secured a surprise 7th-place finish in the Apertura stage. Only Tolima scored more than Envigado's 33 goals and they only finished six points off 2nd place, which is quite the performance for a team massively fancied for relegation! Hernández was the league's best player with a 7.47 average rating and a league-high 11 assists.

Exciting Apertura post-season

Envigado got a semi-final draw alongside league toppers Atlético Nacional, Junior FC and rivals Águilas Doradas. They began at Atlético and played out of their skins to outshoot the league favourites by 13 shots to 9 and draw 2-2. The same result followed at home to Junior, who obviously scored both their shots on target to lead 2-0 before Rodríguez and exciting winger Déiler Córdoba's first senior goal grabbed a deserved point. And a late Hernández goal nicked a 1-0 win at home to Águilas Doradas to send Envigado top of the group at the halfway stage!

Five days separated three games so Lazaró had to fully rotate for the trip to Junior, which they were unlucky to lose 3-2 to a brace from Carlos Bacca. THE Carlos Bacca of 52 Colombia caps fame, which Lazaró thought was a bit unfair! The first 11 returned at home to Atlético and a quiet game saw nothing happen until the 81st minute when Hernández won a penalty. Substitute Saunders took responsibility and calmly slammed it home before young striker Bryan Sinisterra sealed a famous victory.

Junior drew at Doradas, who scored twice in the last three minutes, to put Envigado top of the pile heading into the final game at their rivals. Annoyingly, star defender Francisco Báez was suspended and it showed as Envigado lost 3-1. But luckily, Junior lost 3-1 at home to Atlético so Envigado just about won the tightest of semi-final groups!

That took them into a massively unexpected first Apertura Final in club history against Tolima, who won all six games in their group. The home leg was up first and Envigado started well but got blown away by two goals in a minute before Hernández swiftly gave them some hope. And nothing happened in the second half! They played superbly in the second half to hold a dominant Tolima to 0-0 but couldn't find a way through as Lazaró went attacking late on. And Tolima won Liga BetPlay Apertura.

 

First transfers ahead of Finalización stage

The first transfer of Lazaró's reign saw holding midfielder Ivan Rojas join Pachuca for £1.2m, which just about cleared the club's rapidly accumulating debt. While Saunders' contract was one of many whose contract was expiring, he received offers from England and moved to Derby for £27k. But there were still no arrivals at the club.

That was because Lazaró placed even greater focus on youth, having already seen exciting goalkeeper Andrés Tovar become the club's youngest-ever player aged just 16 years 12 days in a cup game. 18-year-old midfielder William Hurtado stepped up to the first team along with 19-year-old Santiago Duque.

Envigado were still overwhelming favourites to be relegated going into Torneo Finalización. But they started well as Rodríguez's penalty nicked a 1-0 at home to Deportivo Cali before a 0-0 at Bucaramanga and another 1-0 at rivals Doradas thanks to Hernández's first-half strike.

The games were coming thick and fast but Envigado continued to excel with a 4-1 win at home to Pereira led by a Hernández brace and both Duque and Hurtado scoring their first senior goals. Hurtado swiftly added his second to inspire a 1-0 win over Patriotas to temporarily take his team top of the league for the first time!

But that didn't last as they lost for the first time 1-0 at Independiente Medellín and 3-1 at leaders Atlético. Rodíguez bagged a hat-trick to down Petrolaro 3-2 but then a fully rotated side lost 3-2 at Cortulúa with his replacement Sinisterra scoring both. But they largely relied on Rodríguez's goals, as the striker scored in three consecutive games in 1-0 home wins over Pasto and Once Caldas and a 1-1 at Patriotas. That began a run of six successive draws, including solid 1-1s at home to Millonarios then 2nd-place Tolima and a 2-2 at home to América thanks to a Rodríguez brace.

That left Envigado clinging on to 8th place going into the final game of the season. But a Hurtado goal ended their six-game winless streak at La Equidad and sealed a 7th-place finish.

Finalización post-season

Envigado lost main striker Rodríguez to a torn calf muscle that ruled him out for four months in the final game of the season. They got a tough semi-final group alongside Tolima, Junior and Millonarios. They again fell foul to Bacca in game one as his brace secured a 2-1 win with Sinisterra scoring in place of Rodríguez. Star player Hernández also got injured and they struggled with the relentless games every three days. But 18-year-olds Hurtado and Josep Mejía earned a surprise 2-1 win at Millonarios, who went on to win the group and beat Independiente in the Final.

Rodríguez finished third-top scorer in the league with 26 in 44 across both tournaments, trailing Bacca by four goals. That saw Rodríguez named the league's Young Player of the Year. While Hernández came second in Player of the Year and Lazaró picked up Manager of the Year!

2022 Season Review

Lazaró was pretty happy with his first season in charge, claiming Manager of the Year and performing well beyond all expectations. As a result, he was already ticking off board objectives, establishing the club as a top-tier side and developing the best youth system in Colombia four years ahead of schedule after the board agreed to his request for new youth facilities.

The star man this season has probably been Hernández, who scored 13 and got 16 assists from the left wing. But 21-year-old striker Rodríguez has led the line impressively, racking up a new club record 26 goals in 44 games. He was ably supported by Sinisterra, who scored seven in 44, of which just 10 were starts, while Hurtado scored five from midfield and Tegue got a decent nine assists.

Developing youth is the main aim of this save and young players have been key this season. Three teenagers are already first-team regulars and more than half the first-team squad is 21 or under and several of the older players are leaving in the summer. While there's also supposedly an exciting first youth intake to look forward to.

The challenge now was for Lazaró to continue developing his young prospects and he'd probably be promoting a few more from the under 20s over the summer break. Could he match the overachievement of season one?

[robilaz]

Robinho Lazaró massively exceeded all expectations in his first season at the helm of Colombian wonderkid factory Envigado FC. His massive overachievement saw one of Colombia's top teams Junior FC offer him an interview in the summer of 2022, which he swiftly rejected.

His first proper summer at Envigado saw several older players depart the club with Lazaró promoting a host of prospects to replace them, including winger Diego Betancourth, right-back Julián Palacio, midfielder Julián Reyes and 17-year-old left-back Emanuel Londono. He also focused on signing up top prospects like goalkeeper Andrés Tovar, centre-back Jhon Banguera and midfielder Josep Mejía to their first professional contracts.

 

 

That youth focus was boosted by a stunning first youth intake containing 11 "elite talents," of which at least six had 5-star potential and five had 4.5-star potential. The pick of those players was apparently 6ft 3in striker Marcelo Guzmán, along with wingers Juan Carlos Sierra and Yohani Sequera, centre-backs Juan Luis Ortiz and Heidy Juliao and full-back Malcom Mina Camacho.

 

 

Second Apertura kicks off

The bookies no longer have Envigado as the favourites to go down, lifting their odds to 800/1 and predicting an 18th-place finish. Atlético remain favourites at 12/5 followed by Tolima (10/3), Millonarios (5/1), Junior FC (8/1) and América de Cali and Independiente (11/1).

The season began very nicely as Lazaró showed Junior what they were missing out on with Mejía, striker Bryan Sinisterra and centre-back Santiago Norena sealing a 3-0 win. However, they then lost three on the bounce at Independiente, Petrolera and Pereira, although Mejía scored two more and striker Diego Rodríguez scored on his comeback from a four-month layoff at Pereira. And another defeat followed at home to Tolima with Mejía making it four in five from midfield.

A late Rodríguez brace stopped the rot to earn a point at Once Caldas and they went one better at home to Bogotá as Betancourth's first senior goal and a Norena header sealed a 2-0 victory. That was backed up with a rival victory at Águilas Doradas then a solid 3-0 win over Santa Fe thanks to Majía, Rodríguez and Reyes' first senior goal.

Envigado's form was a little all over the place but a 2-0 win on Lazaró's 40th birthday lifted them into 7th place heading into the final two games of Apertura. They nicked a point at underperforming Atlético then welcomed Pasto to town on the final day. Envigado dominated and took a deserved lead through a sensational William Hurtado goal, running from the halfway line to tuck the ball past the keeper. Lazaró made a big call with 20 minutes to go, bringing 15-year-old Guzmán on for his debut - and it worked as the striker scored the second goal! That saw Guzmán become both the youngest ever Envigado player and goalscorer aged 15 years and 338 days.

That saw Envigado just about secure a third successive post-season semi-final group stage under Lazaró, finishing in 7th place with 31 points from their 20 games.

Copa Sudamericana

Envigado's overachievement last season saw them qualify for the Copa Sudamericana preliminary round. A massive rival clash with Independiente Medellín began with a 2-1 defeat in the away leg, but an early Rodríguez double was enough for a 2-0 win and progress to the group stage. And they got drawn in a group with Brazilian giants Santos, Peruvian team Cienciano and Bolivian side Oriente Petrolero.

They began at home to Cienciano, who dominated the game and seemed to be cruising to a 1-0 win only for a defender to divert winger Jesús Hernández's cross into his own net and earn Envigado's first continental point. They did well to only lose 2-0 at Santos then a brilliant turnaround in Bolivia saw Rodríguez bag a hat-trick to inspire a 3-2 victory. But the squad was exhausted and Lazaró had to rotate, which saw them fall to a defeat at Cienciano then lose 4-1 at home to Santos to unsurprisingly be knocked out.

Apertura Post-Season

Possibly the toughest post-season draw so far saw Envigado take on Apertura league winner Tolima, Deportivo Cali and Millonarios. But they started well as Rodríguez's penalty edged a 1-0 win at home to Cali. They then had two games in three days against Tolima and lost both 2-1 but Guzmán and Mina Camacho made their full debuts in the second game, which saw Camacho usurp his fellow academy graduate as the club's youngest player aged 15 years and 220 days.

A hugely rotated side pulled off a huge result by beating Millonarios 2-1 at home with late goals from Sinisterra and Mina Camacho, who scored a 93rd-minute penalty to also usurp Guzmán as the club's youngest goalscorer! But a 2-1 defeat at Cali and a 1-0 loss at Millonarios saw Envigado prop up the group.

Promising youth to the forefront

Lazaró's overachievements saw the Envigado board hand him a new three-year contract worth £2.5k-per-week, keeping him at the Wonderkid Factory until December 2025. They also agreed to send him on a course to study for his Continental Pro Licence for the next 12 months.

The squad had quietly seen a decent overhaul in the last 18 months with Hernández, who just turned 30 and has been less impressive this season, now the only player aged over 25. 16 of the 24-man squad are now 21 or under and 10 are teenagers. While the club now has 14 players with 5-star potential, 21 with up to 4.5-star potential and nine more with up to 4-star potential. Now that's what Lazaró called a Wonderkid Factory!

Could Lazaró's youthful squad continue to impress in the second half of the 2023 campaign?

[robilaz]

Despite not signing any players, Robinho Lazaró was quietly building a squad brimming with potential at Colombian wonderkid factory Envigado FC. His young squad continued to defy expectations, securing a third successive post-season in the 2023 Apertura stage. But after 18 months in charge, the first signing of Lazaró's reign - and still the only one - was a controversial one as midfielder Juan Pablo Martínez arrived on a free transfer from rivals Águilas Doradas.

Straight into Finalización

Envigado had a one-week break to pick themselves up for the Finalización stage of the 2023 campaign. They began well with a solid 1-1 at Junior FC thanks to a penalty by striker Diego Rodríguez, who then scored back-to-back braces in home wins over Independiente Medellín and Petrolera. Rodríguez scored again in a 2-1 win in another home game against Pereira, in which Jesús Hernández nicked all three points with a 95th-minute strike.

The strong start ended with a 2-0 loss at Tolima, who Envigado still hadn't beaten in 10 meetings! Hernández's early brace inspired a 2-1 win over Once Caldas then exciting striker Marcelo Guzmán scored and assisted the other on his second start in a 2-0 win at Bogotá. He's also scored 42 in 16 games for the under-20s and looks like being a special talent.

Strong form against rivals Águilas Doradas continued with a 2-0 win that sent Envigado top of the league. And that inspired the young team onto a stunning run of form, beating Bucaramanga 1-0 then Cali and Patriotas 2-0 before a 2-2 at Águilas took them 10 games unbeaten - one short of the all-time club record. And they equalled the record with another 2-0 win over bottom side Quindío with winger Diego Betancourth and Rodríguez scoring the goals. But they faced a tough task to break it as they travelled to Millonarios and lost 1-0.

That left Envigado 2nd with four games remaining, with four points separating the top four. They got back to winning ways as midfielder Carlos Paternina scored his first goal for the club as Rodríguez bagged his 30th of the season to down La Equidad 2-0. In that game, they set a new club record low attendance of 2,504 - but that doesn't come close to the league record low of 18 when Real Cartagena played Doradas in April 2011!

A 4-0 hammering of América led by a Betancourth brace saw Envigado return to the top of the league with two games to go. Guzmán nicked a 1-1 at home to Atlético to tee up an exciting final day with Tolima leading the way on goal difference and Millonarios two points back - but those two played against each other.

Envigado held up their end of the bargain by hammering Pasto 4-0 away led by a Rodríguez brace. While Millonarios did them a favour by beating Tolima 3-1, so Envigado finished top of the Finalización table! However, this being Colombia, that of course means absolutely nothing! However, this massive overachievement should mean that Envigado qualify for next season's Copa Libertadores for the first time in club history.

Finalización post-season

Envigado got a group with Junior, Independiente and, yet again, Tolima! They began with a 0-0 at home to Junior before the unthinkable happened - they beat Tolima 2-0 away with goals from Hernández and Guzmán scoring late off the bench. However, their final four games took place over eight days!

First up was a big 2-0 win over Independiente with both goals scored by Rodríguez and assisted by Betancourth. Three days later, Carlos Bacca led Junior to a 3-0 win, but two days later 10-man Independiente were defeated by a Santiago Norena header and Rodríguez penalty. That put Envigado and Junior level on 10 points heading into the final game, but Junior had a superior goal difference. Another two days later (with one day of rest!) an exhausted team started terribly as Tolima scored after seven minutes. An angry team talk fired the boys up and Mejía got them level just after the break but they couldn't find a winner and Tolima scored anyway to win the group. Junior went on to lose to Millonarios in the Final.

Envigado also finished the overall Colombian league in third place, some way behind Tolima - who presumably were absolutely knackered by the end of the season as they didn't win any of their final five games - and Millonarios, who both racked up over 100 points. However, the first-place finish in Finalización represented an all-time record high for Envigado, which is pretty impressive!

Rodríguez finished the campaign as the second-top scorer in the league, with his 27 in 47 only bettered by Tolima's Rentería bagging 28 in 47. However, he won the second phase top goalscorer award with 19 in 23. Goalkeeper Felipe Parra topped the clean sheets chart with 25 and midfielder Juan Manuel Zapata got the second-most player of the match awards with six.

 

Season Review

For some reason, we don't get the end of year season review feature in Colombia, which is a little bit annoying. But this has been a fantastic season for Envigado - finishing in the top three overall and winning the second phase league tournament (which obviously doesn't count as a trophy success!)

Rodríguez led the way with a new club record 36 goals in 56 appearances plus 6 assists and a 7.20 average rating. He was followed by Hernández scoring 9 and assisting a club-high 13 with a 7.11 average rating from 55 games.

Behind them, midfielder Josep Mejía scored and assisted 7, most of which were in the first few games of the season, Hurtado scored 7 but only got 1 assist, Guzmán and Norena scored 5, and 6ft 5in winger Betancourth got 7 assists and scored 4. Guzmán, by the way, bagged 59 goals in 27 starts for the under-20s and will be pushing for more first-team minutes next season to try and fulfil his massive talent.

Could Lazaró continue to overachieve with this exciting Envigado squad? And will there be even more promising youngsters following in Guzmán's footsteps?

Edited December 5, 2022 by robilaz

[robilaz]

The depth of talent at Envigado FC could not be argued against. Robinho Lazaró's young charges qualified for Copa Libertadores for the first time in club history by winning the Liga BetPlay Finalización league stage in 2023 - but, crucially, not the playoff stage that sees the trophies handed out.

The summer of 2024 saw plenty of change, starting with the club's oldest player Jesús Hernández departing as his contract demands were astronomical and swiftly retiring aged just 31. Six more players left along with a host of backroom staff, while River Plate came in with a £2m offer for right-back Santiago Jiménez, who only had 18 months on his contract. That, combined with bagging £2.6m for competing in Copa Libertadores, boosted the bank balance to a healthy £7m and slashed a further £10k off the weekly wage spend of £40k - which was half the £78k wage budget. 

Centre-back Santiago Norena is now the oldest player at the club at the ripe old age of 25, followed by three 23-year-olds in Juan Manuel Zapata, Felipe Parra and Diego Rodríguez. 20 of the 25-man squad are 21 or under, 11 are teenagers and there are four 16-year-olds in the first-team! For context, 3 stars is a good Liga BetPlay player and most of the first 11 have at least 3-star ability barring the full-backs. All of the first-team squad have at least 4-star potential, 13 have 5-stars and 11 have 4.5-stars.

That promise was added to by another superb youth intake containing six 5-star potential "elite talents." The star prospect is supposedly midfielder Jafe Ostos but striker Jhoao Trivino bagged a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over the under-20s. Other names to keep an eye on are strikers José Ruiz and Carlos Mosquera, attacking midfielder Randi Redín and goalkeeper Jorge Bocanegra.

 

Considering four 5-star strikers have come through the academy in the last two seasons, there could be a change of tactic required in the future. But for now, the tactic remains the same with Rodríguez flanked by 6ft 5in winger Diego Betancourth and newly promoted Luis Ángel Díaz. There's also new full-backs in 18-year-old Emanuel Londono backed up by Heiler Mosquera on the left and 16-year-old Malcom Mina Camacho supported by Julián Palacio on the right. But the key to the team is probably the rock Zapata in the Anchor role.

Third Liga BetPlay Apertura begins

Envigado's chances have improved with the bookies now backing them to finish 15th and 500/1 to top the league. Millonarios are title favourites at 15/8 followed by Tolima (5/1), Atlético (11/2), Junior fC (6/1) and Independiente Medellín (11/1).

The new season began with a thriller at La Equidad, who twice led in the first half only for Josep Mejía to equalise both times. The impressive midfielder laid on Rodríguez to put Envigado ahead but the hosts quickly equalised and it finished 3-3. But they picked up a first win in their first home game as Mejía crossed for the giant Betancourth to head the opener then Díaz scored his first senior goal to seal a dominant 2-0 win over Santa Fe.

Rodríguez picked up an injury but no worries as 16-year-old sensation Marcelo Guzmán replaced him and scored in a 2-0 win at Pereira. The strong start continued with consecutive 3-0 home wins against newly promoted Real Cartagena with goals from both centre-backs Norena and Jhon Banguera then Pasto inspired by Mejía's hat-trick. The midfielder continued his stellar form by scoring his seventh goal in seven games in a 2-1 win at Bogotá before a 2-2 with Cúcuta took Envigado to a new club record 12 games unbeaten in all competitions.

But they weren't happy with that, extending the run with a 3-0 win at Petrolera then Mejía and midfielder Daniel Zapata's first senior goal sealed a 2-0 victory over rivals Águilas Doradas. They claimed a credible 2-2 at Atlético Nacional then Mejía scored the only goal at home to Jaguares de Córdoba and D Zapata and exciting winger Felipe Toro nicked a 2-0 win at Patriotas. After 13 games, Envigado were still unbeaten but behind Millonarios, who were in inspired form. Two big home games in three days tested their credentials as they earned a 2-2 with 3rd-place Tolima then fell to a first defeat 2-1 against Millonarios, who basically wrapped up first place in the league.

Rodríguez ended the campaign in inspired form, scoring consecutive braces in a draw at Junior and a 2-1 home win over Cali then scoring the winner at Once Caldas. The league stage concluded with a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to 19th-place Patriotas, in which they rebroke their low attendance record as just 2,500 people showed up, but recovered with a 2-1 win at Independiente with goals from both wingers Betancourth and Toro.

That sealed an impressive third-place finish behind the dominant Millonarios and Tolima. Mejía was the best player in the league with an outstanding 7.48 average rating from 18 games, in which he scored 12 and got seven assists.

Apertura post-season

The post-season group saw Envigado take on Millonarios, Independiente and Pasto, which looked tricky. It began with a tough test at home to league winners Millonarios but Lazaró's chicos did well to hold on for a 0-0 despite 38% possession. Guzmán scored the winner in a 3-2 win at Pasto as Lazaró rested Rodríguez, but the main man returned to bag a hat-trick at Independiente and send Envigado top of the group at the halfway mark. Rodríguez also came up with a huge goal to nick a 1-0 win at Millonarios. And that strike saw the 23-year-old become Envigado's record league goalscorer with 67 in his three seasons at the club.

But he wasn't done there as he again bagged a hat-trick at home to Pasto to clinch the group with a game to spare! So Lazaró fully rotated for the final game and they lost 3-0 to Independiente. But topping this group was a massive achievement - while Millonarios' board was so incensed by finishing third that they sacked their manager after four years in charge!

That took Envigado into the Apertura Final against Tolima, who they'd still only beaten once in 13 meetings under Lazaró. That streak continued as they drew the home leg 1-1 thanks to Rodríguez's late equaliser then lost 2-0 away, so the title continued to elude Lazaró. But they did earn £500k for reaching the Final. Meanwhile, Rodríguez's post-season goals saw become the leading league goalscorer with 18 in 26 and move top of the average rating (7.41) and player of the match award (7) charts.

First-ever Copa Libertadores campaign

Envigado went into the Copa Libertadores group stage draw in Pot 1, which saw a relatively favorable group alongside Peruvian team Municipal, Bolivian side Jorge Wilstermann and a qualifier that turned out to be Ecuadorian side Barcelona SC.

Their first-ever Copa Libertadores game was at home to Municipal and they started well as a brace from midfielder Carlos Paternina and a late Guzmán goal sealed a 3-1 victory. They then had wingers Betancourth and Díaz to thank for goals that sealed a 2-1 win in Bolivia before midfielder William Hurtado and Betancourth claimed a point in Ecuador. That had Envigado topping their group at the midway point with two home games to come. And a dominant performance in the first of those sent them through, beating Barcelona 4-1 - although they had to wait as three goals came after the 88th minute!

Envigado were one point away from qualification heading into the final two games, and they completed it at the first time of asking as Hurtado and Rodríguez downed Jorge Wilstermann 2-1. Lazaró rotated the side fully to give the first 11 a much-needed rest and it backfired with a 4-0 defeat at Municipal! But it didn't matter as they'd already wrapped up the group.

The Future Is Bright At Envigado

Midway through his third season at Envigado, there was plenty of exciting talent for Lazaró to work with. His first team was packed with prospects like the exciting Mina Camacho, Betancourth, Díaz, Mejía and Toro all getting regular football with even more to come. But the best prospect of the lot had to be Guzmán, who became Envigado's first player to be named on the NxGn list, making it to number 42 in NxGn 2024.

Could Envigado take their good performances in Apertura into Finalización 2024?

[robilaz]

Robinho Lazaró and his young Colombian superstars paraded the Liga BetPlay Finalización trophy through the streets of Envigado as they celebrated the club's first-ever piece of silverware with their adoring fans. The club's young stars had done the unthinkable and won the league playoffs in the second half of the 2024 campaign.

That success also saw Envigado qualify for Copa Libertadores for the second time, fresh from qualifying for the second round in what was a truly historic 2024 season.

For the second summer in a row, Envigado's oldest player departed as 26-year-old centre-back Santiago Norena, who had less than 12 months on his contract, joined LA Galaxy for £1.3m. That took Envigado's bank balance past £10m for the first time and left Lazaró with a squad average age of just 19. 11 of the 25-man squad are teenagers, 22 of them are 21 or younger and 21 of those players have at least 4.5-star potential.

That doesn't include the mass of talent in the under-20s squad, which was added to by a third stellar youth intake. The pick of this intake was attacking midfielder Ronaldo Bermudez, along with three further 5-star potential talents in striker Álvaro Pena, midfielder José María Romero and right-back Ubaldo Venecia. As a result, the youth team now has 23 players with at least 4.5-star potential and 14 of those have 5-star potential!

Lazaró was sticking with his 4-3-3 formation that had worked so nicely through his first three seasons. Marcelo Guzmán is now firmly the first-choice striker with 4-star ability compared to Diego Rodríguez's 3.5-stars and he looks like a really special 17-year-old. New captain Juan Manuel Zapata and midfielder Josep Mejía, who's now the best player at the club, remain the crucial pieces that make this team tick.

First-Ever Súperliga Final

Envigado's Finalización title sent them into their first Súperliga BetPlay Dimayor Final against Apertura winners and bogey side Tolima. Ludicrously, but absolutely typical of Colombian football, the two-legged final was forced into the early Apertura fixtures with two days off between matches. The first leg saw Envigado at home and Rodríguez's late penalty earned a 1-1 draw from a tight game.

Lazaró had to rotate for the return leg but they did well to hold Tolima to another 1-1 draw, largely thanks to 12 saves from Felipe Parra! So, for the second time in a few months, the two teams went to penalties. And again it was Envigado who held their nerve with Parra the fitting hero with two penalty saves.

Envigado FC won their first-ever Súperliga BetPlay Dimayor!

Liga BetPlay Apertura Season 4 Kicks Off

Envigado are now predicted to finish ninth with odds of 50/1 to win Liga BetPlay Dimayor. While Guzmán and Parra are included in the media's dream 11.

They began Apertura with a tough test at Nacional, who won the Finalización league last season. But their star strikers delivered as Guzmán scored the opener then Rodríguez nicked a late winner, with both goals created by 6ft 5in winger Diego Betancourth.

Envigado's first chance to celebrate their maiden title at Polideportivo Sur came against Pasto. And they did so in style with a 3-1 win, which Zapata started with an early strike before Guzmán and Mejía wrapped up all three points. But they hit new levels at Bogotá as, despite going 1-0 down after 30 seconds, Guzmán bagged a hat-trick and Betancourth scored two and made another in a 7-2 away victory.

That set Envigado up for a great start, which continued by beating Junior 2-1 and Guzmán scoring both in a 2-0 win at Deportivo Cali. Lazaró had to fully rotate for Tolima at home, which came three days after the Súperliga success, and another young starlet stepped up as striker Jhoao Trivino's hat-trick inspired an exceptional 4-3 win. But the unbeaten start ended as a rotated side lost 2-0 at home to rivals Águilas Doradas.

Lazaró marked 200 games in charge of Envigado - in nearly three-and-a-half seasons! - with a pretty tame 0-0 at home to Cúcuta. And he was getting concerned that match overload was starting to catch up with the team. But Rodríguez returned to form by bagging a hat-trick and creating the other for Mejía in a 4-2 win over Cortuluá, in which last season's intake star midfielder Jafe Ostos impressed on his debut.

They suffered their annual defeat at Millonarios but recovered with an easy 2-0 win over bottom-side Petrolera. Ostos scored his first career goal to nick a 2-2 at Once Caldas before a disappointing 3-1 loss at Patriotas. Nevertheless, Envigado had managed to hold onto top spot and led surprise package Cúcuta by four points and Millonarios by six points with five games remaining.

A massively rotated side drew 0-0 at Cartagena before a terrible 3-0 defeat at home to América. But they recovered thanks to a Guzmán double to win 3-0 at Pereira, which left them two points clear with two games to go. Guzmán was the hero again as he scored the only goal to down Once Caldas 1-0 while Cúcuta and América drew, which handed first place to Envigado! Lazaró threw in the kids for the final game at Santa Fe and they still won 2-1 with Trivino scoring again.

That saw them eventually finish a comfortable seven points clear of América with easily the lowest league-winning points total so far in this save. 17-year-old Guzmán was second-top scorer with 13 in 17 and got the highest average rating of 7.37 - what a player this kid is!

Copa Libertadores Group Stage

Envigado were in Pot 2 this time, which saw them drawn alongside holders Botafogo, Ecuadorian side Emelec and a qualifier that turned out to be Venezuelan team Deportivo Táchira.

Their campaign began in Ecuador, where they absolutely destroyed Emelec with a club record 6-0 victory led by a Guzmán hat-trick! They backed that up with a 2-0 win at home to Táchira with goals by Mejía and winger Felipe Toro. Possibly the most high-profile game in Envigado history saw the South American champions visit Polideportivo Sur as Botafogo came to town. Could they win? Nope, Botafogo thumped them 4-1, with a brace from former Man UFC left-back Alex Telles and a goal from their £26m striker, then beat them 3-0 in Brazil.

But with two games remaining, Envigado were four points clear of both Táchira and Emelec. Their qualification hopes took a blow with a 3-1 defeat in at Táchira. But they booked their place in the knockouts by defeating Emelec 2-0 with a Betancourth strike and homegrown centre-back Heidy Juliao's first-ever goal.

Apertura post-season

Envigado got a tough-looking post-season group of Millonarios, Nacional and Cartagena. They started it well by thrashing Cartagena 4-0 led by a Guzmán brace and Mejía and Juliao goals but the squad would be tested by some ridiculous scheduling. they claimed a surprise 4-0 win at Millonarios then two days later Toro's goal nicked a 1-1 at home to Millonarios.

The first team got a few days off as Lazaró threw the youth team into a two-legged cup tie that was crazily scheduled in the middle of the post-season! And that helped them nick a 1-0 win at Nacional thanks to Toro's late strike, which moved them six points clear with two games to play. Another two days later they welcomed Nacional to town and a fully rotated side lost 1-0. The final game took them to Cartagena and a Guzmán double ensured they topped Group A.

This time there was no final against Tolima, but only because they lost to in-form Independiente on the final day of Group B. The team was absolutely exhausted but Lazaró decided to go with his strongest available 11 for the away first leg. But it didn't work as they got dominated and lost 3-1. They couldn't get going at home and eventually lost 1-0 to a late goal, so Independiente claimed the Apertura title.

Massive Youth Promise At Envigado

The poster boy of Envigado's youth development efforts is Guzmán, who's already bagged 23 goals in 29 games this season. And he only celebrated his 18th birthday three days before the Apertura Final second leg! Wingers Luis Ángel Díaz and Toro have impressed, with the former getting 10 assists and the latter eight goals and six assists, while Mejía has seven goals and nine assists.

Juliao joined Guzmán on the NxGn 2025 list, with Guzmán in 25th and Juliao 34th and the award won by 18-year-old Endrick. And the youth excellence is highlighted by Envigado topping talent production in Liga BetPlay Dimayor.

[robilaz]

The brutal nature of the Colombian football season had seen Envigado FC play 38 matches at the halfway mark of the 2025 campaign. Robinho Lazaró's young squad was exhausted, so he gave them a week off training between the Apertura and Finalización stages.

Unfortunately, the Finalización league began four days after the second leg of the Apertura final, which they lost to Independiente. Their preparations were further affected by losing goalkeeper Felipe Parra, who wanted outrageous money to renew his contract, for £550k to Mexican side Toluca. That saw 19-year-old Andrés Tovar become the club's number one and 16-year-old Jorge Bocanegra, who came through this season's youth intake, promoted to the first team.

The entire first-choice 11 is now fully homegrown at Envigado with record goalscorer Diego Rodríguez and midfielders Julián Reyes, Agustín Obregón and Lorenzo Brun the only squad members who developed at different clubs.

Finalización Defence Begins

Lazaró hugely rotated his side for the first few games of Finalización to address the massive exhaustion. That saw them get battered 5-1 at home to Nacional with four players making debuts, including midfielder José María Romero becoming the youngest player in Envigado history aged 15 years and 220 days.

The first team returned at home to Cali and won 2-0 thanks to youth academy graduates star striker Marcelo Guzmán and exciting midfielder Randi Redín's first career goal. The graduates were at it again at Pasto as midfielder Jafe Ostos opened the scoring, Guzmán doubled the lead and winger Felipe Toro - who was proving the value of 20 determination - bagged two in a 4-0 victory.

Lazaró rested players for a big continental game (see below), which led to two more defeats including a mad 6-3 defeat at Tolima. And that left Envigado 15th after six games. But Heidy Juliao's goal earned a 1-0 win over Apertura champions Independiente and the centre-back scored again in a 3-2 win at rivals Águilas Doradas. And winger Luis Ángel Díaz scored the only goal at home to bottom side Patriotas, which swiftly had Envigado back into the top eight. But a defeat at Cúcuta, draw at Curtuluá and defeat at home to Millonarios saw them drop to 11th after 12 games.

Tricky Copa Libertadores Draw

Having qualified from their group for the second successive season, Envigado got another tough draw in the second round. This time, they were up against a South American giant in Boca Juniors.

The home leg was up first and Envigado started superbly with Guzmán missing two decent chances. He made one count after half an hour, only for the ref to gift Boca a dubious penalty. Envigado continued to be much the better team but Boca moved 2-1 ahead against the run of play with a long-range strike. But an unlikely hero dragged them level as Jhon Banguera stabbed home. Lazaró made five subs and one of them delivered as Redín ran down the wing and put a second goal on a plate for Guzmán in the 89th minute. They went defensive and held on for what has to be the biggest win in club history!

However, any kind of result at La Bombonera would far outstrip that victory. Lazaró rested the first 11 for the league game in between to keep them fresh. He took a more cautious approach that saw Boca have lots of shots but no major chances, while Díaz hit the post from a rare Envigado attack. But Boca eventually made the breakthrough, courtesy of a suspicious VAR call, quickly added another and got a third as Lazaró pushed for a late goal. But Lazaró was massively proud of his player's efforts against a far superior Boca, who have 17 players earning more than Envigado's top-paid player.

James Rodríguez Comes Home

Envigado hero James Rodríguez was repeatedly praising the club's youngsters, so when he was released by Inter Milan, Lazaró jumped at the chance to offer him a trial. And, for some reason, James was actually interested in signing. So Lazaró ripped up his youth development approach to bring him in as an inspirational mentor to the club's exciting youngsters. However, a slight admin issue due to signing outside the transfer window meant that Rodríguez couldn't be registered for the Finalización campaign!

Rodríguez's presence alone had an instant impact as Envigado won 3-1 at Petrolera then a Guzmán brace led a 3-0 win at home to Once Caldas. That took the striker two goals behind D Rodríguez's club record of 36 goals in a season. He edged one goal closer with the second in a 2-0 win at Quindío but then picked up an ankle ligament injury that ruled him out for seven weeks.

His replacement D Rodríguez reminded the fans what they were missing as he bagged a new club record four-goal haul in a 4-0 thumping of Cartagena that lifted Envigado back into the top eight. He scored again as Josep Mejía bagged a brace in a 3-1 win over Pereira, which suddenly lifted Envigado into a title race! A draw at Once Caldas left Envigado two points off leaders Tolima going into a thrilling final-day battle for top spot. Envigado were at home to Santa Fe and nicked a 2-2 in the last few minutes, which saw them drop to fifth place in the Finalización table.

Finalización Post-Season

Envigado got a tough post-season group alongside Tolima, Millonarios and Junior, which wasn't helped by several defensive injuries. They began by drawing 1-1 at home to Junior then lost 1-0 at Tolima and 2-1 at Junior, in which Guzmán scored on his comeback to equal Rodríguez's record. He scored his record-breaking 37th of the season at Millonarios, despite the team falling to a 3-1 defeat, then extended it with the opener in a 2-2 draw at home to Millonarios, which saw Envigado set a new club record seven games without winning.

That streak was snapped as D Rodríguez came off the bench to bag a late brace that downed Tolima 3-2, in what could be his final game for the club. But Envigado finished bottom of their semi-final group as the Colombian season caught up with a young squad.

However, they did top the overall Liga BetPlay Dimayor table for the first time, racking up 95 points and 106 goals from 54 games. And with 77 conceded, there's no denying that Envigado were a fun watch. Guzmán set a new league record with an average rating of 7.34 followed by Toro's 7.32, which equalled Mejía's previous record. Guzmán was second-top scorer with 32 in 41 and, as a result, was named Colombian Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year. While Díaz topped the assists with 17.

Academy Products Reaching New Levels

Lazaró's achievements in developing his youth players were rewarded as Juan Manuel Zapata became the first Envigado player to be called up to the Colombia squad in August. And he made his Colombia debut as a substitute in a 2-2 draw at Bolivia. Prior to that, Guzmán had been linked with a call-up, but at 18 it seems a little soon for him.

That said, the striker has been exceptional this season. He scored a new club record 38 goals in 48 appearances in all competitions along with six assists and a 7.36 average rating. Not bad for an 18-year-old!

D Rodríguez also did well with 23 goals in 43 games. While other key performers included Toro getting 16 goals and 12 assists, Mejía scoring 12 with 13 assists and Díaz a club-high 19 assists with five goals. William Hurtado got 11 assists from midfield and winger Diego Betancourth scored six and got eight assists, but was poor in the second half of the campaign.

This was another slid season for Envigado, topping the Apertura league and coming runner-up in the post-season and reaching an eighth successive post-season in Finalización. Lazaró's efforts saw Envigado hand him a new three-year contract worth £2.5k a week until 2028. But, in a strange set of circumstances, the club President immediately began takeover talks with a local entrepreneur that swiftly collapsed.

Would a takeover happen in the summer? And could Lazaró build on this success in 2026?

[robilaz]

Robinho Lazaró's focus on youth development at Colombian wonderkid factory Envigado FC was undeniably yielding results. After four years in charge, he'd led the club to its first Colombian title with a Finalización win, three Apertura runner-up finishes, a Súperliga success and three straight Copa Libertadores campaigns.

The main man behind that success to date had been striker Diego Rodríguez, who'd become the club's all-time leading goalscorer with 99 goals in 167 appearances. However, with one year on his contract, he was off to pastures new as he joined Brazilian side Fortaleza for £775k.

The main reason for allowing that move was homegrown superstar Marcelo Guzmán. At the age of 18, Guzmán had already scored 56 goals in 90 league games and beat Rodríguez's club record for goals in a season with 38 in 2025. He was now considered the best player at the club along with fellow homegrown players Josep Mejía and Colombia international Juan Manuel Zapata. However, he began dropping hints that he wanted to play in a strong squad, while his agent keeps locking a minimum fee release clause of just £1.6m into his contract negotiations. So it looks like he won't be here much longer.

Good news was that James Rodríguez, who began his career at Envigado and rejoined last season, could now be registered for what would be the final season of his career as he announced he'll retire in November. And the potential around Rodríguez was clear as 14 players had 5-star potential led by newly promoted José María Romero, who's being retrained as a centre-back, Ronaldo Bermudez and Ubaldo Venecia.

That potential was added to by a fourth-successive stellar youth intake with seven elite talents! The pick of this intake is goalkeeper Roberto Torres, who comes in as possibly the best keeper at the club at the age of 15. Other players to keep an eye out for are striker Fernando Carvajal, who scored a hat-trick against the U20s, and midfielder Diego Mena, along with two more strikers in Jhon Rodríguez and Francisco Ocampo and two wingers in Michel Vélez and William Guzmán. That means Envigado have produced eight 5-star potential strikers in four years! It also takes the club to 29 players with 5-star potential and eight more with 4.5-star potential.

Copa Libertadores Qualifiers

Last season's efforts apparently weren't enough to reach Copa Libertadores proper as Envigado had to enter the qualification phase. Lazaró still had no idea how it worked, but his team began with a two-legged second qualifying round tie against Argentine side Alte. Brown. They started well as a brace from exciting 17-year-old striker Jhoao Trivino earned a 2-0 home win. And a 3-2 loss in Argentina, courtesy of a Rodríguez penalty, was enough to sneak through 4-3 on aggregate.

Next up was Universidad de Chile with a place in the group stage up for grabs. They again started well, winning 3-2 away thanks to goals by Zapata, Rodríguez and winger Diego Betancourth. And they backed it up with an impressive 4-1 thumping at home with braces from Mejía and Trivino - although it was 1-1 until the 84th minute! In other news, Envigado U20s reached the Copa Libertadores Final but lost to O'Higgins 3-2. And promising striker Lucas Florez was top goalscorer and player of the tournament.

Súperliga Defence

In amongst the continental qualification and the league starting, Envigado had the two-legged defence of their Súperliga title, which is effectively the Colombian supercup, against Independiente. Lazaró had to rotate his exhausted side and they lost the home leg 2-1 then he threw all the kids in away and lost 3-0, but Mena became the club's youngest player aged 15 years and 148 days.

Fixture Backlog As Apertura Season 5 Begins

James Rodríguez's sensational return to Envigado kicked off properly as he made his second debut on Apertura opening day against Millonarios. He had a solid return, making four key passes, but Guzmán stole the show with a brace to seal a 2-0 win before Millonarios kicked him out of the game. And Rodríguez scored his first goal back at the club in a 4-3 win at Cortuluá led by another Trivino double.

Lazaró handed Torres his debut at home to Tolima and they won 3-2, with centre-back Juan Luis Ortiz scoring his first senior goal. But the good start ended as Lazaró rotated players for the continental games and lost 2-0 at Cúcuta and 2-1 at home to Junior before a Trivino double both assisted by Luis Ángel Díaz earned a 2-2 at Deportivo Cali and a wild 3-3 at Magdalena.

But fixture overload and fixture rearrangements due to international call-ups caused a massive backlog as while Envigado had played seven games, most other teams in the league had played 11! The plus side was that most of the squad got a 10-day break, which saw them return to action refreshed and Díaz and Mejía earned a 2-0 win at home to Pasto.

That rare time off inevitably came back to haunt them as their final 11 games (and two continental games) were shoehorned into a six-week period. Díaz was in the best form of his career, and a brace in a 3-0 win over Bogotá saw him already surpass his goalscoring tally of last season. The fixture congestion forced Lazaró to rotate for three games in five days. A young rotated side drew 1-1 with rivals Águilas Doradas before the first 11 returned to win their game in hand 2-0 at home to Cartagena. That suddenly lifted Envigado to 5th in a busy mid-table. A backup 11 lost 2-0 at Bogotá, and they only dropped to 8th going into the final game. A week-long gap gave Lazaró a chance to rest players and that worked nicely as Guzmán, Mejía and Rodríguez downed América 3-0. That sealed a respectable 6th-place finish, while Envigado were second-top scorers with 34 goals.

Copa Libertadores Group

Simply qualifying for the group was a massive achievement but further progression might be tough as they drew Argentinian champions Talleres, Fluminense and Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle.

They kicked off with a great 2-0 win at Valle thanks as Díaz scored then put in the cross for Jhon Banguera to head home. They couldn't compete with Fluminense, losing 2-0 at home then only 2-1 at Maracana, but did earn a strong 2-2 at home to Talleres with Florez grabbing a late equaliser and an even more impressive 1-1 in Argentina.

A tight group saw Talleres draw at home and lose away to Valle, leaving Envigado second and level with Valle as the two teams met in a decider at Polideportivo Sur. Valle were the better team until the hour mark, when Lazaró made four changes that swung the game. They eventually made a chance count as centre-back Heidy Juliao turned home amid a goalmouth scramble late on. That was enough to send Envigado through to the knockout stages for the third year in a row. Considering they knocked out the champions of Argentina, that's some going, and Lazaró was chuffed to bits with his players' efforts.

Apertura Post-Season

Having snuck into the post-season, Envigado got a group alongside Tolima, Independiente and Petrolera. They started well as Guzmán scored the only goal at Petrolera and at home to Independiente before being denied by a late equaliser at Tolima. Two days later, William Hurtado, who'd scored one goal all season, smashed a hat-trick to inspire a 4-1 win over Petrolera. And Envigado wrapped up the group win with a game to spare as Díaz and Guzmán strikes defeated Tolima 2-1 at home. So Lazaró threw the kids in for the trip to Independiente and got thumped by a club-record 8-0!

That teed up an unexpected Apertura Final against Junior. The first leg was at home and Envigado took full advantage, racking up 14 shots to six and Guzmán and Mejía sealed a 2-0 victory. Envigado started the away leg well and moved in front as Juliao headed home Rodríguez's corner. Junior came back into it after thje break but Lazaró went defensive to hold them off. And a 1-1 was enough to win their first-ever Apertura title.

FC Envigado were Liga BetPlay Apertura Champions!!

 

First Academy Colombia Call-Up

Guzmán earned his first call-up to the Colombia squad in March alongside club captain Zapata, who now had three caps. However, he didn't earn his first cap. As a result, Envigado was now responsible for producing more Colombia players than any other club, with Zapata and Guzmán joining Yaser Asprilla and Parra, who's also just been called up.

Other interesting news saw former club director Andrés Figueroa complete a long-rumoured takeover, replacing former president Ramiro Ruíz. And, predictably, he didn't offer any further investment. Gracias, Andrés. Lazaró was hoping for some kind of tycoon takeover as the club was losing money hand over first every month through no fault of his own but, alas, it wasn't to be.

Could Lazaró's exciting young Envigado team carry their form into Finalización 2026? And who will they face in the Libertadores knockouts?

We're taking a little break over the festive season (as I'll be away then flying to South America) so this will be the last in this series until 9 January! But enjoy your holidays and we'll be back with more Wonderkid Factory soon.