Founding and Rise of Pepe Ganga Margarita FC
📌 The team was established in 1985 in Margarita, Venezuela, as a marketing tool for a low-cost store chain named Pepe Ganga.
🏟️ They played their home matches at the Estadio Gutamare, which was primarily a baseball stadium, adopting yellow and blue colors.
🏆 In the 1986-87 season, Pepe Ganga won the Venezuelan second division championship, leading to their promotion to the first division.

First Division and Continental Qualification
📈 In their debut season in the top flight, the team surprised by finishing seventh in the regular phase and reaching the final octagonal.
🥈 During the 1988-89 season, Pepe Ganga finished as vice-champion of the league, just one point behind Mineros de Guayana, earning them a Copa Libertadores spot.
⚽ Despite an acceptable sixth-place finish in the 1989-90 league, the focus shifted to their first and only international competition, the Copa Libertadores.

Copa Libertadores 1990 Performance
🌎 For the 1990 tournament (which featured only 19 teams), Pepe Ganga was placed in Group 4 alongside Mineros de Guayana and Uruguayan clubs Defensor Sporting and Progreso.
🏠 They initially played their home games in San Cristóbal at the Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo instead of their usual venue.
🌟 Pepe Ganga achieved a historic feat by securing three consecutive home victories (1-0 vs. Progreso, 1-0 vs. Defensor Sporting, and 2-1 vs. Mineros).
➡️ They finished third in the group with six points, surpassing Mineros, thus qualifying for the knockout stage (Round of 16).

Disintegration and Final Matches
📉 The demanding double competition (league and Libertadores) led the team into bankruptcy, forcing them to sell their spot in the subsequent league season to Monagas.
❌ In the Round of 16, Pepe Ganga faced Independiente of Argentina, losing 0-6 at home and 0-3 away, ending the series 9-0 on aggregate.
💔 The match against Independiente in Avellaneda marked the final game for the club, as it dissolved immediately following its participation in the continental tournament.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Pepe Ganga FC existed for only five years, achieving promotion, a league runner-up finish, and a Copa Libertadores Round of 16 appearance.
➡️ Their best achievement was reaching the Round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores, where they defeated two Uruguayan clubs before being eliminated by Independiente.
➡️ The club's unusual history highlights how corporate sponsorship (Pepe Ganga store) funded a rapid, albeit short-lived, rise in Venezuelan football.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Oct 12, 2025, 19:22 UTC