There is a huge number of awards and records that the historic Club Sport Emelec is setting as one of the most important football institutions in Ecuador. In addition, it enjoys immense popularity, so great that it stars together with Barcelona SC in the national soccer classic.

For example, his fame includes fourteen national championship titles, he was the first monarch of the Ecuadorian tournament (1957), he won the tournament in 1965 without defeat, he is the only three-time champion that Guayas can boast of, he was the first to equal the mark of El National as quadruple crowned in a span of five years (1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, military; 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, electrical). And he also shows a record that he does not share with anyone: the longest consecutive time as the protagonist of the competition, always placing on the podium between 2009 and 2018 (first, second or third).

However, despite so much wealth, “Emelec played in 2023 disguised as a small team,” said Patriciio Cornejo, a radio commentator, in recent days. Caravan. The season that the Blues have already finished is numerically – after 1980 and relegation to Series B – the worst for the Electricians in the state championship.

No one explains what happened

And this does not go unnoticed among his many fans or among journalists for the reasons mentioned in the opening paragraph. But also for others, such as the deep-rooted tradition from Buenos Aires represented by the club founded by George Capwell. What happened in the campaign that has already ended for Emelec? There is still no official balance sheet or official explanation of its board of directors, chaired by José Pileggi from November 2022.

There are, however, a number of statistics, chilling in their negative nature, which were updated after the farewell to Deportivo Cuenza and which, like those of the disastrous year 1980, are already in blue history. The figures for 2023 reflect several reasons for the failure of one of Ecuador’s giants. “Truth is never sad, what it has is medicine”, sings Joan Manuel Serrat.

1. With only eight wins in the Pro League – the same as Mushuc Runa -, Emelec is among the six teams with the fewest wins in the championship. Libertad FC and Gualaceo fired six each. Cumbayá and Guayaquil City, who were also relegated, won five each.

2. Emelec won only 40% of the points it played in 30 games (36 points, out of a possible 90).

3. In 25 out of 30 dates, Emelec (83.33% of the championship) was in the middle of the table or below, or among the bottom three, four or five teams in the table in the first and second stages of the Pro League.

4. So, Emelec was never among the teams that fought for victory in the first and second stages.

5. For Emelec, a consecutive streak of 15 consecutive qualifications for Conmebol tournaments (Copa Libertadores or Sudamericana) was ended.

6. As eleventh in the combined table, 2023 is Emelec’s worst ranking, with 16 teams in the competition, since in 2019 it was eighth (in 2008, seventh among twelve, and in 2007, seventh among ten).

7. Emelec had a streak of nine consecutive games without a win, as happened in 1983. The 2023 drought occurred in the first phase and the 1983 drought was during the second phase.

8. It was the worst place in the first phase of the 2023 Pro League, with only two wins in Capwell (the same as Libertad, as hosts, but the southerners have drawn many times at home and, unlike Emelec, they have never lost their stadium in the first level).

9. In the first six rounds, Emelec recorded the worst start to the championship in the new millennium, losing as many as four times in the Pro League, and in that period they lost to El Nacional, Orense, Delfín and Aucas.

10. 2023 was Emelec’s worst start in the history of the national championship, with only two wins in twelve games played. (D)