Beginnings (1915–1939) FBC Melgar was founded on 25 March 1915 as
Juventud Melgar by a group of young football fans in Arequipa. The name was chosen in honor of the poet
Mariano Melgar. The club would take part in their first championship in 1918, the Liga Provincial de Arequipa. In 1919, the club traveled to Lima to participate in friendlies where their performance was widespread across the city. Melgar won their first title in the 1921
Liga Distrital de Arequipa, defeating
Independencia. They would win the championship again in 1923, 1925 and 1926. They later would be champions of Arequipa in 1928. In 1930, Melgar would begin a tour across Chile, being their first international appearance. Their debut would be against
Valparaíso which resulted in a draw. They would later meet again which resulted in a 5–0 loss. Melgar would later play against clubs such as
Colo-Colo,
Audax Italiano,
Coquimbo Unido, and Antofagasta. A year later, the Bolivian club
Club Bolívar would visit Arequipa to play matches with the local clubs and clubs of nearby
Mollendo. Melgar faced Bolivar and won for the first time against a foreign club. The win resulted in a rivalry between the two clubs. In the same decade, changes were made on the football of Arequipa, some of which reduced the amount of teams participated in the Primera Division and relegations. Melgar suffered from these reforms, not winning any titles and were relegated to the Segunda Division of Arequipa. They missed promotion in 1933 to
Deportivo Ciclón. In the same years, Melgar sparked a rivalry with another club in Arequipa known as
FBC Aurora. In 1939, Melgar got promoted back to the first division but did not win any titles.
The Lost Years (1940–1956) In the 1939 Second Category tournament, Melgar knew how to impose itself on all its rivals by drawing only one game, in this way, the red-and-blacks earned the right to play again the promotion match that should have taken place at the end of that year against Deportivo Ciclón that occupied the last place in the first division; however, the match would be played a year later, at the end of 1940, as the old Melgar Stadium was demolished and the new Melgar Stadium would only be inaugurated for the IV Centennial festivities in October. It was in that scenario where the match was played, Melgar's first at the IV Centenario neighborhood Stadium, and culminated with a victory by the minimum of the red-and-blacks who took revenge against the San Lázaro team and returned to the top flight. The permanence in the First Division would not last long as they would be relegated again after finishing last in the 1941 tournaments, falling by the minimum in the promotion match against Deportivo Mistiano. In 1944, still in the Second Division, they finished second in their series when they were defeated by Deportivo Juvenil Arequipa, preventing them from reaching the final and therefore the possibility of accessing the First Division again. In 1945, the red-and-black team would win the Second Division championship comfortably, accessing the First Division directly. In 1946 and 1947, already in the First Division of the Provincial League of Arequipa, the red-and-black club had outstanding performances reaching fourth place in the table in both seasons, in addition the club was again able to play matches against capital teams such as
Sport Boys and Ciclista Association, and international ones such as the one that beat the Litoral de Bolivia by the score of 4 to 2.
First successes (1957–1981) After staying several years in the second division of the city since they were relegated on 4 August 1957 in a match against Independiente de Miraflores, FBC Melgar would be promoted to the first division after winning the tournament of the year 1961 (played from November to that year until July 1962) by finishing first with 22 points undefeated by winning 9 games and drawing another 4, being above other classic teams such as Deportivo Mistiano and Victoria del Huayco. Their good run through the tournament began with a victory over San Cristóbal by 3 to 1, achieving promotion by defeating Deportivo Bolivariano by 5 to 1. In that match, Carlos Paredes scored at 8 minutes of the first half, the opponent tied at 12 minutes, then the rout began with goals from Óscar Márquez at 20 minutes and then Walter Zúñiga at 25 minutes increased on the scoreboard and in the final stage Carlos Márquez scored in the 7th and 27th minutes of the second half decreeing the 5–1 victory. Melgar would go on to win the Liga Distrital de Arequipa in 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970. They were also champions of the
Liga Departamental de Arequipa for 3 consecutive years since 1967 and won the
Copa Perú in 1971. This championship allowed them to return to the First Division Campeonato Descentralizado where they currently remain. Melgar won the
National Championship in 1981 for the first time, and Melgar was the
runner-up of the national championship in 1983. They would beat giants such as
Alianza Lima,
Universitario and
Sporting Cristal in the final. It was the first southern team of Peru to win the national championship. In both these years this qualified them to play in the
Copa Libertadores of 1982 and 1984, where they got eliminated in the Group stage in both editions.
Recent years (2014–present) In 2014,
Juan Reynoso, who came from
Mexico, was appointed as the new manager. He signed players like
Piero Alva,
Nelinho Quina,
Minzum Quina,
Luis Hernández,
Alejandro Hohberg,
Lampros Kontogiannis and
Edgar Villamarín to make an impressive campaign where Melgar was the best team during the whole season finishing 1st in the accumulated table, but due to some bad results in the final matches and the poor organization of the tournament they weren't able to dispute the Play-off for the championship and only qualified for the
Copa Sudamericana, where there was an intense match with
Deportivo Pasto, winning by four goals in the first game, but lost by five in the second, being eliminated in the qualifying round. In 2015, the year of Melgar's centenary, and still with Reynoso as the manager, the team signed important players like
Raúl Ruidíaz,
Carlos Ascues,
Johnnier Montaño,
Rainer Torres and
Daniel Ferreyra to make an impressive team and fight for the title. Then, Melgar won the national championship, besting
Sporting Cristal with a score in the final minute by
Bernardo Cuesta. As a result, they classified for the
2016 Copa Libertadores, and again in 2017, 2018, and 2019. In ally editions, they were eliminated in the second stage. Melgar classified for the
2022 Copa Sudamericana, which would be their best performance in an international competition. They were able to qualify for the Group stage after defeating rivals
Cienciano in the qualifying round. They topped their group and went on to the Round of 16 and Quarter-finals, defeating large South american clubs such as
Deportivo Cali of Colombia and
SC Internacional of Brazil. They were then eliminated in the Semi-finals by
Independiente del Valle of Ecuador. In the
2022 season, Melgar won the Torneo Apertura, classifying for the semi-finals, defeating
Sporting Cristal and advancing to the final. They would meet
Alianza Lima in the final, winning 1–0 at home but lost 2–0 away and lost the final. They would classify for the
2023 Copa Libertadores as a result and got eliminated in the Group stage. Melgar would again classify for the
2024 Copa Libertadores but were eliminated by debuting club
Aurora from Bolivia, (not to be confused with Melgar rivals
FBC Aurora) losing 2–1 on aggregate. == Stadium ==