6 football club namesakes that you probably didn't know about

Away from the traditional hotbeds of world football, there are some countries where it is not hard to pick out some clubs which are not very famous by themselves but do have a certain connection to football’s bigwigs – they have celebrated namesakes. Inspired by their famous but often unrelated cousins, some of these clubs may seek to maintain some sort of link to their namesakes while others just carry the name and go on a separate route. If you are one of the growing numbers of footballing hipsters who follow the game in relatively less glamourous places, you are bound to have come across such clubs. For those who are oblivious to their existence, here is a look at six club namesakes that you probably didn't know about.

#1 Liverpool - England and Uruguay

Almost 7000 miles separate Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay and the English city of Liverpool but despite the distance, the two share a number of similarities. For one thing, both are port cities. Secondly and more significantly, both can lay claim to a proud footballing history.

Montevideo and Liverpool have both seen teams from their city conquer the national leagues and go on to attain fantastic international success. It is also in football where we notice an even more intriguing connection between the two cities - they both have a Liverpool F.C.

The English club is one of the world's most famous footballing institutions, having a worldwide fan following and gaining a place alongside the Beatles as their city's most famous exports. The Uruguayan LFC is markedly less famous and successful than its namesake.

When it was founded in 1915, it was quick to take on the name of Liverpool, with the cultural and commercial links between the two port cities surely playing a part. While the English club racked up titles, the Uruguayans have failed to achieve any significant success other than three-second division titles in 1966, 1987 and 2002. This poor cousin of the Reds has forever remained in the shadow of Montevideo giants Peñarol and Nacional. Trivia: The Liverpool Futbol Club of Montevideo celebrated its centenary in February of this year.

#2 Everton - England and Chile

We move on to another club in Liverpool and yet another South American port city. In 1909, an English immigrant named David Foxley was the leader of a group of youngsters who had resolved to establish a football club in Cerro Alegre, in the coastal Valparaiso region of Chile. The name Foxley and his gang decided upon was ‘Everton Football Club’, the same as the famous English club, which was touring Argentina in that period.

Whether the source of the name was from the English namesake or that of a toffee is still debated, although the club website gives credence to the former, especially as Foxley’s grandparents are said to have hailed from Liverpool. In 1950, the Chilean club was renamed Everton de Viña del Mar, after settling in the nearby resort city.

In terms of success, the English club undoubtedly has the upper hand but its Chilean counterpart has had a moderate amount of success too. If the former has won nine English league titles, the Viña del Mar outfit has four Chilean titles to its name.

Trivia: The two Everton clubs have sought to maintain the links between the clubs, meeting in Goodison Park for a friendly for the first time in 2010.

#3 Juventus - Italy and Brazil

In 1924, workers of the Rodolfo Crespi cotton mill in Sao Paulo formed their own football club and named it as ‘Extra São Paulo’. Count Rodolfo Crespi was the first president and financier of the club.

The club changed its name to ‘Cotonifício Rodolfo Crespi Futebol Clube’ (Rodolfo Crespi Cotton Mill Football Club) in 1925. Five years later, the club changed its name again, this time, to Clube Atlético Juventus. It is said that the name was chosen because Crespi was a supporter of the Juventus of Italy. Surprisingly, the club’s colours were maroon, in homage to the Italian club’s arch-rival Torino, the beloved club of the president’s son Adriano. What a way to satisfy both father and son!

Unlike its Italian namesake, who have won almost everything there is to win at home and abroad, CA Juventus of Brazil are still searching for significant top-level success. The club no longer competes in the national championship, restricting itself to the Campeonato Paulista (Sao Paulo state championship).

Trivia: Brazilian legend Pelé has stated that he scored his most beautiful goal at CA Juventus’ Estádio Conde Rodolfo Crespi in a Campeonato Paulista match against the team in 1959.

#4 Barcelona - Spain and Ecuador

After the Spanish colonization of America, it seems only natural that there exist clubs across the Atlantic, with names inspired by their counterparts in the mainland. Barcelona Sporting Club of Ecuador is arguably the most famous of these.

Many FC Barcelona fans will be surprised to know about this particular club. It was Eutimio Pérez, an immigrant from the Catalan city of Barcelona who founded its Ecuadorean namesake in 1925. The club’s crest has always carried the original Barcelona’s coat of arms in all its crests over the years.

The latest crest, designed in 1955, is very similar to the Catalan club. In the 90 years of its existence, Barcelona SC has risen to become the most popular club in Ecuador. It has won 14 league titles and has reached the Copa Libertadores final in 1990 and 1998, losing to Brazilian opposition on both occasions.

Trivia: Barcelona SC inaugrated its new home – Estadio Monumental – in 1987 with a match against its namesake FC Barcelona, with the Ecuadoreans winning 1-0. The stadium used to house 90,000 and was the second largest in South America before a reduction in capacity.

#5 Inter - Italy and Croatia

Finally, we come to the case of a club which has had more name changes than title wins in its history books. Though it currently shares its name with Italian giants Inter Milan, ‘NK Inter Zapreši’ does not seem to have any relation to the Italians. The Croatian club only took its present name 74 years after its founding.

During that period, it has undergone five name changes. Starting out as NK Sava in former Yugoslavia, the club was also known as HŠK Jelai, NK Zapreši and NK Jugokeramika before the declaration of Croatian independence in 1991. After independence, it was renamed NK Inker Zapreši, reflecting the new name of its sponsor Industrija keramike. After Inker pulled out of the sponsorship deal in 2003, the club adopted its present name.

Inter Zapreši won the Croatian Cup in 1992, which remains its single significant piece of silverware, although it did finish second in the league in 2005. The 2000s has seen the club shuttle between the top two divisions. When namesake Inter Milan won the treble in 2010, Inter Zapreši finished 13th in the Croatian First League.

Trivia: Despite the lack of major honours, NK Inter Zapreši has achieved some repute for its role in the development of present-day Croatian stars such as Luka Modric, Dejan Lovren, Eduardo and Vedran Corluka, all of who spent part of their formative years at the club.

#6 Arsenal - England and Argentina

Next up is a club from the Sarandi district of Greater Buenos Aires in Argentina. Not only does it share its name with the eponymous Gunners of North London, the stories of the naming of the two clubs are very similar – both had military arsenals nearby.

Arsenal de Sarandi was founded in 1957 by a group led by two brothers: Hector and Julio Grondona. All of them were either supporters of local clubs Racing or Independiente and thus Arsenal's colours were a combination of Racing's light blue and Independiente's red.

Although Arsenal stayed in the lower divisions until 2002, founding president Julio Grondona saw a meteoric rise to becoming president of the Argentine Football Association in 1979 and staying in that position for 25 years, until his death in 2014. He was also the vice-president of FIFA. Grondona’s family still runs the club while the home stadium is named after him.

Arsenal de Sarandi reached the top division in 2002 and its most significant achievement since that has been the Copa Sudamericana win in 2007 and the Clausura title in 2012.

TRIVIA: Jorge Burruchaga, the scorer of Argentina's winner in the 1986 World Cup final, started his career at Arsenal de Sarandi. He later became a coach, managing Arsenal in two stints.