Meet Rayo Zuliano, Athletico’s opponent in the South American Championship

O Athletico home debut in the South American against the unknown Zuliano Ray, from Venezuela. The duel between the teams will be this Tuesday (9), at 9:30 pm, at the Ligga Arena, for the second round of the tournament.

The Venezuelan team is from the city of Maracaibo, in the state of Zuli, almost 700 km from the capital Caracas. The club was founded in 2005 and played in the third division until 2010. Then, it was refounded in 2021 and started to play in the second division. In 2023, he inherited his place in the local elite after merging with Zulia, a club from the same city.

Zulia was better known internationally, having already reached the quarter-finals of the South American Championship in 2019 and even faced Chapecoense in the group stage of the 2017 Libertadores. Zuliano is going into its first clash with a Brazilian in its short history.

Classification for the current edition of Sula was achieved after finishing the Venezuelan Championship in eighth place overall, with 36 points in 28 games – the last in the classified area.

+ Athletico x Rayo Zuliano: see lineups and how to watch

Campaign in season

Rayo Zuliano is going through a crisis in 2024 and only has one win in 13 games. In the opening tournament of the Venezuelan, in 11 games, the team only won one, had three draws and another seven defeats. With just six points, Zuliano is 12th out of 14 teams – only one team falls. In the last round, on Saturday (6), the team finished 2-2 with Carabobo.

In the South American Championship, the club beat Deportivo La Guaira 4-2 on penalties (0-0 draw in normal time). In the group stage debut, they were defeated 2-0 by Danubio, in Venezuela. In total, 13 goals were scored and 21 conceded.

The team has its own recently renovated stadium, José Encarnación Romero, with capacity for more than 45 thousand fans and which was the venue for the 2007 Copa América, but is playing at the Brígido Iriarte National Olympic Stadium, in Caracas, as required by Conmebol.

Cast, coach and base team

Rayo Zuliano’s squad is made up only of players from the country – there is Colombian José Hurtado, but he only played two games in 2023 and has not been involved this season.

The team’s top scorer is Armando Araque, 35 years old, with three goals in 10 games. Another name that stands out is 21-year-old winger Gerardo Padron, who has two goals and one assist in eight games and was hired this season from Academia Puerto Cabello.

The team’s coach is also Venezuelan Elvis Martínez, 53 years old. The commander started as an assistant at Estudiantes de Mérida, spent time at ULA FC and TFC Maracaibo, both in Venezuela, before taking over at Rayo in 2023.

A base team for Athletico’s opponent has: Valdés; Angel Faria, Hermes Rodríguez, Melean and Albert Barboza; Edwin Castro and Andrusw Araujo; Padrón, Gilmar Martínez and Saimon Ramírez; Arak.