Club Champagnat is an Argentine sports club based in Buenos Aires, while its facilities and stadium are in the Champagnat neighborhood of Estancias del Pilar.
Champagnat is primarily known for its rugby team, which currently plays in the Top 12, the first division of the URBA league system. League to which he was promoted at the end of 2023. He participated for 11 seasons in the Top 12, in 2024 it will be his 12th season. The last time was in 2011.
On November 18, 2023, Champagnat returns to the top category of Buenos Aires rugby, obtaining promotion after beating Los Matreros by 42 to 36. Champagnat will play in the Top 12 of the URBA starting in the season. 2024.
Other sports played in Champagnat are football and field hockey.
History
In 1954, Ángel Diez, then a professor at Colegio Champagnat, along with other religious members of the congregation, registered the school's rugby team in the "River Plate Rugby Union" (today Unión Argentina de Rugby) to play in its tournaments.
The club began playing in the sixth division with a team made up exclusively of school students. On November 30, 1956, the Champagnat Club was officially established,1 with Lino Landajo being the first president. The club had nine competitive teams by then.2
The club hosted all its activities on the Champagnat School field, located in the General San Martín District of Greater Buenos Aires. In 1958 the rugby team won the third division championship, thus promoting to the second division, where it played until 1970. Due to a restructuring of the leagues, Champagnat began the 1971 season in the First Division. A year later, the club moved to the Malvinas Argentinas Party, where rugby, field hockey, paddle tennis and tennis fields were built, as well as a swimming pool. In 1982, the women's field hockey section was inaugurated, mainly with the purpose of being entertainment for the daughters of its members because the club did not have an activity specifically for women.
That same year the hockey team played its first official game against Colegio de la Santa Unión, later playing matches with other schools in the region. The team also toured some Argentine provinces, and then traveled outside the country, having toured Uruguay (in 2005) and South Africa (in 2009).
The rugby team was relegated to the second division in 1981, returning to the top level in 1983, although it was sent back to the second division in 1984. In 1993 the team won the Second Division tournament again, remaining in the First Division (Group I ) until 2013. In 2014, he competed in the championship in the First A category of the URBA. In 2017 it was relegated to Primera B.
In 2018, Champagnat competed in the Primera B tournament, finishing in first position in the general table and becoming champion of the category. This granted him direct access to start the year 2019 in First A.3
In the 2023 campaign, Champagnat was promoted to the Top 12, after qualifying third in the general table and entering the playoffs to compete for the second promotion to the highest category of rugby in Buenos Aires. They beat Los Tilos in the semifinals, to obtain a place in the Top 12 after beating Los Matreros in the final by 42 to 36. Champagnat will compete in the URBA Top 12 championship in the 2024 season.4
The hockey team registered in the Buenos Aires Hockey Association in 1999, debuting against Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires. The team won the game 4-0 and would go on to win the championship, remaining undefeated at the end of the season.
