Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known as Defensa y Justicia, is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935. The senior squad currently plays in the Primera División, the top division of the Argentine football league system. The team plays its home games at Estadio Norberto Tomaghello, with a capacity of approximately 20,000. Defensa y Justicia is one of the clubs with most seasons in Primera B Nacional, also having played in all the divisions of the Argentine league system since their debut in Primera D Metropolitana in 1978. In 2016, Defensa y Justicia qualified to play their first international tournament, the 2017 Copa Sudamericana. The team advanced to second stage but then lost to Chapecoense on penalties. In 2021, the club achieved their first international titles after having won both, 2020 Copa Sudamericana to Lanús and 2021 Recopa Sudamericana beating Palmeiras on penalties. Along with Boca Juniors, Defensa y Justicia is one of the clubs that have not been relegated since their promotion to Primera División. History The institution was founded on 20 March 1935 by a group of friends who wanted to form a local team. There are no sources explaining how the name was given to the club. Presided by Norberto Tomaghello, Defensa y Justicia affiliated to Argentine Football Association, built its stadium, which was opened in occasion of a friendly match against Boca Juniors reserve team in December 1977. The club's original colors were blue with white collars and cuffs, which were changed to yellow with green details. These were the colors of the bus line "El Halcón", a company that belonged to the club president at the time. This company used its buses to bring the fans to away games, and thus received the nickname "Los Halcones de Varela". Even though the club was founded as early as 1935, Defensa y Justicia did not play in official tournaments until 1978, when the team debuted in Primera D, defeating Cañuelas 2–1. The starting line-up was: Ramón Correa; Benito López, Roberto Lucarini, Raúl Bustos, Alberto Cortez; Horacio Roselli, Jorge Giache, César Echeverry; Luis Briega, Héctor Cardozo, Oscar Bruno. Defensa y Justicia played in Primera D until 1982 when the team won the championship and promoted to the upper division, Primera C. Only three years after, Defensa promoted again (this time to Primera B, the second division by then) after winning