Valentín Suárez again as president (having been elected in 1991 for the fifth time), Banfield appointed Carlos Babington as coach and acquired experienced players such as former River Plate goalkeeper Gabriel Puentedura, midfielder Fabio Lenguita and defender Ivar Stafuza (who had had a long tenure on Boca Juniors in the 1980s). Those footballers, plus some homegrown players such as Javier Sanguinetti (who has played the largest number of games with the club to date, with more than 450 games) and midfielder Jorge Jiménez, helped Banfield win the title and promotion to Primera División, after beating Colón de Santa Fe 5–4 on penalty shoot-out in the final. Once the team returned to Primera, Banfield hired the duo Oscar López and Oscar Cavallero as coaches, reinforcing the squad with players such as former Ferro Carril Oeste's Oscar Acosta and the experienced goalkeeper Ángel Comizzo (who had been dismissed from River Plate by then-coach Daniel Passarella). But it was a young Javier Zanetti who would be the revelation of the team at the end of the season. Banfield made good campaigns during his first years in the top division, although the team could not repeat those good performances in successive tournaments, being finally relegated in 1997. That same year Banfield hired Patricio Hernández as manager, but the team could not achieve good results under his coaching. The following year, businessman Carlos Portel took office as the new president of the institution, prevailing over the other candidate, Horacio Sola (son of Florencio Sola). The club was reported to be in a critical situation, so Portel announced that the main goal would be to reduce the club's debts. The Falcioni era In 2001, Banfield returned to the Primera División after winning promotion playoff series v Quilmes, with playmaker José Luis Garrafa Sánchez as the most valuable player. The team was coached by Ramón Héctor Ponce. The first years in the top division of Argentine football, the club was frequently in the relegation zone, although it achieved some historic results such as 5–0 over River Plate in the 2002 Apertura. Uruguayan Luis Garisto was the team's coach during that period. At the beginning of the 2003 Apertura, Julio César Falcioni was appointed as coach of the team. Falcioni promoted some players that would then be key players for the club, such as Daniel Bilos and Rodrigo Palacio. Banfield got 62 points in the 2003 Clausura, finishing