Club Alianza Lima, popularly known as Alianza Lima or simply Alianza, is a Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. The club was founded under the name of Sport Alianza on 15 February 1901 by working-class youth in the Chacaritas neighborhood of Lima. It is widely known for having one of the most historical and successful football teams in Peru; they have won a total of twenty-five league titles of the Peruvian Primera División and are currently the oldest team playing in that competition, since the club was founded in 1901. Alianza's home stadium is the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva, named after Alejandro Villanueva, one of the most important players in the club's history. The stadium is also popularly known as Matute, name of the neighbourhood in which it is located. Alianza enjoyed success throughout the first decades of their professional era. Their best international performance came in 1976 when they won the Copa Simón Bolívar. In that same year, the team reached the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores, repeating the feat in 1978. In 1987, tragedy struck Alianza when the entire squad and coaching staff died in an airplane crash as the team returned from an away fixture. Alianza Lima has had a huge, long-standing rivalry with Universitario de Deportes, another popular team in Lima. Other traditional rivals include Sporting Cristal, Deportivo Municipal, and Sport Boys. The club has a women's volleyball team that participates in the Liga Nacional Superior de Voleibol. History Foundation & early years The club was founded under the name of Sport Alianza on 15 February 1901 by working-class youth in the Chacaritas neighborhood of Lima. The Alianza name was in reference to the Alianza Racing Horse Stud, where their first matches were played. The stud was located on the same street, Cotabambas, in Lima The club is one of the oldest professional football teams in Peru. It was founded on 15 February 1901, as Sport Alianza, named for the stable that hosted its first games. It is the only surviving founding member of the Peruvian Football League, created as an amateur level league in 1912. The club's first kit was green and white, honoring founding member Eduardo Pedreschi's Italian heritage. Beginning in that first season, the colors of the Alianza stables, blue, white and black were used, and by the 1920s the classic vertically-striped jersey had become the definitive kit.