Real Estelí Baloncesto

Real Estelí Baloncesto is a Nicaraguan basketball team based in Estelí. Founded in 2018, it is the basketball section of the Real Estelí FC football club, which was founded in 1959. The team entered the Liga Superior de Baloncesto (LSB) for its debut season in 2018 season.^[1] The team's home arena is the Alexis Arguello Sports Complex, which was opened in 2017 and has a capacity of 8,057 people.^[2]

Real Estelí
Nickname	El Tren del Norte (The Train of the North)
Leagues	Liga Superior de Baloncesto BCL Americas
Founded	2018; 5 years ago (2018)
History	Real Estelí Baloncesto 2018–present
Arena	Alexis Arguello Sports Complex
Capacity	8,057
Location	Estelí, Nicaragua
President	Fidel Moreno
Head coach	David Rosario
Championships	3 (2019, 2020, 2021)
Website	realestelifc.com/basket
Home Away

History

The first game of the team in the LSB was played on 9 February 2018 against Leones de Managua.

In 2019, head coach David Rosario took over the team. Before he joined Estelí, Rosario had been the three-time Baloncesto Superior Nacional champion with Capitanes de Arecibo.^[3] In the same year, Real Estelí played in the inaugural season of the newly founded, Basketball Champions League Americas.^[4] Real reached the quarterfinals. A year later, the team won its first LSB championship after defeating Brumas de Jinotega in the playoff finals.

In April 2021, Real Estelí played in the Final Eight of the 2020–21 BCL Americas and hosted the tournament in Managua. The team managed to reach the final for the first time in club history,^[5] where it narrowly lost to Flamengo 80–84.^[6]

Real Estelí qualified for the 2021–22 BCL Americas season, which was its fourth in a row. El Tren del Norte was allotted into Group A alongside Cangrejeros de Santurce and the Edmonton Stingers.^[3]

On 3 December 2021, the club repeated as LSB champions after beating Brunas de Jinotega in the final.

Honours

National

Liga Superior de Baloncesto

• Champions (4): 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022^[7]

Carlos Ulloa Tournament

• Champions (1): 2022

International

BCL Americas

• Runner-up (1): 2020–21

Liga Centroamericana

• Winners (1): 2018

Players

Main category: Real Estelí Baloncesto players

Current roster

Real Estelí roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 0   De Jesús, Jezreel 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 31 – (1991-05-05)5 May 1991 F/C 1   Robinson, Thomas 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 31 – (1991-03-18)18 March 1991 PG 4   Hodgson, Sharlon 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 28 – (1994-07-01)1 July 1994 PG 7   Holloway, Tu 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 33 – (1989-08-21)21 August 1989 F/C 11   Pérez, Andy 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 23 – (1999-09-23)23 September 1999 SF 22   Andújar, Emmanuel 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 30 – (1993-01-27)27 January 1993 C 23   López, Bartel 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 33 – (1989-10-27)27 October 1989 G 24   Ruíz, Jared 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 30 – (1992-09-14)14 September 1992 F 25   Matías, Ángel 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 30 – (1992-07-16)16 July 1992 G/F 29   Garth, Francisco 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 23 – (1999-03-14)14 March 1999 PG 30   Pizarro, Christian 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 27 – (1995-02-16)16 February 1995 PF 33   Jefferson, Davon 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 36 – (1986-11-03)3 November 1986 PF 35   Campbell, Jensen 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 24 – (1998-02-17)17 February 1998	Head coach   David Rosario Assistant coach(es)   Giovanni Rivera   Jose Rios Legend (C) Team captain   Injured Roster Updated: December 1, 2022

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Thomas Robinson	Bartel López	Andy Pérez
PF	Davon Jefferson	Jensen Campbell
SF	Emmanuel Andújar	Ángel Matías	Francisco Garth
SG	Jezreel De Jesús	Jared Ruíz
PG	Tu Holloway	Christian Pizarro	Sharlon Hodgson

In international competitions

  Champions    Runners-up    Third place    Fourth place  

BCL Americas

Below are all the seasons of Real Estelí in the BCL Americas competition.

Season	Round	W	L	W%	Result
2019–20	Quarter-finals	5	2	.714	Lost to Instituto ACC, 1–2
2021	Runners-up	6	3	.667	Lost to Flamengo in the final
2021–22	Quarter-finals	3	4	.429	Lost to São Paulo, 71-75
2022–23	To be played
Total	0 Titles	14	9	.609

Notable players

- Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

•   Farrell Pauth
•   Andy Perez
•   Jared Ruiz
•   Thomas Vansdell
•   Jaison Valdez
•   Delroy James
•   Renaldo Balkman
•   Alex Franklin
•   De Jesús Jezreel
•   Javier Mojica
•   Christian Pizarro
•   Melsahn Basabe
•   JC Fuller

References

1. "Real Estelí debutará en torneo de baloncesto - Metro". Metro Nicaragua. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
2. Nicaragua largest sports complex^{[dead link]}
3. Real Estelí lleva su sabor boricua a la Basketball Champions League Giovanny Vega (El Vocero), 12 September 2021. Accessed 3 January 2022.(in Spanish)
4. "Basketball Champions League Americas groups and schedule confirmed". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
5. "Real Esteli reaches BCLAmericas Final for first time in club history". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
6. "Flamengo wins 2021 BCLAmericas Championship". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
7. "LSB Round 5 of Finals. Real Esteli capture the title". Latinbasket.com. 2022-12-01. Retrieved 2022-12-18.

External links

• REAL ESTELI profile - Champions League Americas
• Real Estelí Baloncesto on Twitter