It obtained its greatest international achievement in 1988
In 1972 Oriente made its debut in the Copa Libertadores de América. Their first international match was against América de Quito, in Santa Cruz on March 12, 1972, at the then Willy Bendeck stadium. They won 4-2 with three goals by Luisinho and one by Dedé. From then on, Oriente participated in the 1973, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1980, 1985, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2003 versions and in the preliminary versions of 2005 and 2006.
There is no doubt that its greatest glory came in 1988 when it faced Bolívar, Olimpia and Cerro Porteño of Paraguay, reached the second phase in an impeccable manner, eliminated Colo Colo of Chile and reached the third phase (a merit shared only with Bolívar in the case of Bolivian teams), facing América of Colombia, with whom it tied in Santa Cruz to one goal and lost by 2 to 0 in Cali. In that team there were players of the talent of Víctor Hugo Antelo, Alves, Amodeo, or Da Silva.
But Oriente did not stop there. In 2000 they represented Bolivia in the now defunct Merconorte Cup and in 2002 and 2010 in the Copa Sudamericana.
In a nutshell
The name, the jersey and a curiosity. I always thought that Oriente should change its name. Stop being called Oriente Petrolero and just keep the name Oriente. First, because it has nothing to do with YPFB. Second, because any self-respecting Oriente fan just calls it that: Oriente, the fan is orientista, not orientepetrolerista, and because the word, for obvious reasons, has a great symbolic meaning. The curiosity: Why, being a team of tradition like River, Boca, Peñarol, Nacional, Olimpia, Cerro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Colo Colo, U de Chile, Alianza or Universitario, to give a few examples, does not maintain a single jersey? In any case, it would be a great challenge for some club historian to make a tally of all the different jerseys that Oriente has worn throughout its history. It must be a world record that is not without its appeal and anecdotal side. In any case, it is time that our teams, when remembering their glories, do not refer only to the Liga, because for some, like Oriente, the Liga is too small for the size of their past.
A player. If I may make a value judgment, I believe that Erwin "Chichi" Romero has been the greatest crack of Bolivian and Santa Cruz soccer, hand in hand with Diablo Etcheverry, it is true, but personally I prefer Romero over Marco Antonio and Víctor Agustín Ugarte. Romero would be for me the emblematic figure of the Oriente team, despite his time with several national teams and Quilmes of Argentina.
Facts and figures
Since the creation of the Aerosur Cup, Oriente has won the 2003 and 2005 titles. In addition to second place in 2007
19 titles in the showcases
Thus, Oriente has 19 titles, 4 in the Santa Cruz amateurism, 7 in the Santa Cruz professionalism, 1 national title in the Simón Bolívar Cup, 5 national titles in the League and 2 in the Aerosur Cup. It ranks fourth in number of titles won after Bolívar (34), The Strongest (29) and Wilstermann (23), but with the difference that Strongest was founded in 1908, Bolívar in 1925 and Wilstermann in 1949. The La Paz teams in particular have either twice or almost twice as many years of existence as Oriente, which, especially in the case of Strongest, enabled them to win numerous amateur titles in La Paz in the first half of the 20th century.
With fifteen participations in the Libertadores, plus two in the preliminary phase, one in the Merconorte and two in the Sudamericana, it is, after Bolivar, the Bolivian team with the most international appearances in our history.
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