Alianza Atletico

A group of brave and enterprising citizens of Sullana met on January 18, 1920 at the home of Don José Taboada More, located on the fourth block of Grau Street in the heart of the Norte neighborhood of Sullana, and founded a sports institution that over time would become one of the best in all of Northern Peru, which they called Club Sport Alianza. The name was the initiative of Don Félix Peralta, who was in charge of calling the meeting. Fernando Herrera Agudo was named the first president of the nascent institution.

The birth of Club Alianza Atlético was greeted with the whistle of the railroads, which later carried in their wagons all the players who made up the Sport Alianza teams when they played matches on the fields of Piura, Paita, Talara, Chiclayo and Trujillo.

On March 12, 1920, it merged with Club Atlético Sullana. Since that date, it began to be known as Club Alianza Atlético Sullana, or Alianza Atlético. This name has prevailed even when in 1986 the institution was registered in Public Records as Asociación Deportiva Alianza Sullana.

The war cry "Long live Alianza de Oro" (Go Golden Alliance), which characterizes the 'Vendaval', was born from the so-called 'Golden Age' of Alianza Atlético, between 1943 and 1949. In this period, according to a compilation made by the newspaper El Tiempo some years ago, the Regional Championship won in Chiclayo in 1946 against the local Juan Aurich, the Alfonso Ugarte de Chiclín and the Octavio Espinoza of Ica, in a quadrangular that could be considered a kind of outline of what two decades later would be consolidated as the Copa Perú.

The golden age of the club came to a close with the title of a departmental quadrangular held in Talara, for the inauguration of the Estadio Campeonísimo, in 1949. The champions of four Piuran provinces participated: Gardel from Talara, Estrella Roja from Piura, Sport Arequipa from Negritos and Alianza Atlético, which won the cup thanks to its great figure of those years: the forward Mercedes Ubillús, better known as 'Negro Meche'.

In 1967, they won the departmental title of champion of the Copa Perú by defeating Juan de Mori from Catacaos at the Estadio Miguel Grau in Piura, which allowed them to reach the Regional Stage of the tournament. However, in the decisive match to qualify for the final, they were eliminated by Juan Aurich after being defeated 1-2.

In 1984, for the first and only time, they reached the final of the Copa Perú played in Lima, after defeating Capitán Clavero from Iquitos 1-0 in the final match. They faced Los Espartanos from Pacasmayo, Universitario from Tacna, Bella Esperanza from Cañete, Guardia Republicana and Deportivo Educación from Abancay. The churres, led by Roberto 'Titín' Drago, won three matches, tied one and lost just one, against the champion Los Espartanos. They were left with the runner-up title and no reward.

Alianza Atlético would achieve promotion to Peruvian Primera División in 1987, after winning the Intermedia Norte. Thus, since 1988, Alianza Atlético played uninterruptedly for 23 years in Primera División, in which it debuted on May 29 of that year with a 2-2 draw against Deportivo Cañaña. Its first victory came a week later in Sullana against Carlos A. Mannucci (1-0), and its first defeat was also against the Carlist team: 1-0 in Trujillo on July 17 of the same year 1988.

In 1989 it was near to classify to the Copa Libertadores of America, falling 2–0 before Sporting Cristal in an extra match that defined the Regional Tournament.

The club has 3 appearances in three international cups. The first one was in the Copa Sudamericana 2004, in the first round they defeated Coronel Bolognesi but in the second round they were eliminated by Atlético Junior. Their second time that they played in an international cup was in the Copa Sudamericana 2005. In the first round they defeated Universitario and then they were eliminated by Universidad Católica. Their third time that they played in an international cup was in the Copa Sudamericana 2009. In the first round they defeated Deportivo Anzoátegui and then they were eliminated by Fluminense.

After the end of the era of regional championships in the First Division, the Churres were generally placed in the last positions, with some exceptions such as when they managed to qualify for the Copa Sudamericana and some others. For this reason, in the 2011 season, after another campaign in which they did not have a good time, in addition to being a rather eventful tournament, the Sullanenses together with Colegio Nacional de Iquitos were relegated to the Peruvian Segunda División. Alianza Atlético was relegated after 23 years and lost the category for the first time.

In 2015, they gained promotion back to the Primera División because of a FIFA Resolution where they still participate.