Adobe houses, their roofs, the cold summer wind from high altitude, goats and sheep, flowers, potato or corn crops;
The entire green valley could be seen in the zigzagging sections to reach the
court at more than 3,400 meters above
sea level in Caspalá, Jujuy.
The promotion was not easy and some players from the ten teams – one per town – from the department of Valle Grande, Jujuy, began the journey at five in the morning to arrive with family members for the first game of seven.
It could be done on foot or by animal, but most opted for the first option to climb the 1.66 steep kilometers that began at 3,000 meters above sea level.
The highest court in the country, with regulatory measures and synthetic grass, is in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, also in Jujuy, at 3,012 meters above sea level.
The field of this town, chosen as
one of the most beautiful in the world to visit
according to the World Tourism Organization in 2021, had been built in a few weeks to host the
Departmental Confraternity Summer Championship,
which is held every year in Valle Grande.
The players of the ten teams that participated are used to the altitude, to running, saving, kicking between the clouds and the mountains.
The field, invisible from the town and the road, opened to view just after taking the last step to arrive.
With more mountains in the background, the sky nearby and an audience colorful with the embroidered shawls worn by the women of the area, the teams played on the esplanade that had previously functioned as a grazing place for cattle.
The Championship began on Thursday, January 25 and on Saturday, January 27, at siesta, the final was played on a grass that was practically dirt from being walked on so much.
“The first Championship was in '93, it was organized by the commissioner at that time, Omar Guitión, from Pampichuela (Valle Grande),” says, like a legend, Rodolfo Coronel, a resident of Caspalá.
Coronel was part of his town's team for fifteen years and got to play in a Championship together with his son.
“If it hadn't been for football, I would have only known Santa Ana (near Caspalá) and Valle Grande, but nothing else,” he reflects.
The rules to participate in the Championship are strict.
Teams can only be made up of
people who are from the department or who have a direct blood relationship
with people born in one of the ten locations: San Lucas, Santa Bárbara, Yerba Buena, Alto Calilegua, San Francisco, Pampichuela, Valle Grande, Valle Colorado , Santa Ana or Caspalá.
The view from the path that you have to climb to reach the highest soccer field.
“There is not a single player who is from another department,” Coronel emphasizes.
The place where the Championship is held rotates every year, in 2023, its headquarters had been Pampichuela, as in '93.
After ten years, it was Caspalá's turn again.
Set up a court in Valles de Altura
Caspalá is part of the Altura Valleys of Jujuy, green areas of yunga, surrounded by higher mountains, like the one where this court was built.
“On January 1st we started working, we put everything together in less than a month,” explains Aníbal Tito, the president of Club Atlético Caspalá.
Ten teams from the department of Valle Grande, Jujuy, compete every year in the Departmental Confraternity Summer Championship.
It was not just climbing to get to the games during the three days of competition, but also reaching a terrain of rock, straw and chilca that had to be cleared.
“We work with pick and shovel to remove the stones and smooth the ground;
on the back of a mule, a donkey or on the shoulder to carry the bows
, the sticks, everything.
We had to pull more than a kilometer and a half of hose to get water up,” he says.
Between the players, the fans and the people of Caspalá, Tito believes that there were more than a thousand people in the town for the Championship, in a department that according to the last census has 2,509 inhabitants.
The street that enters the town is only one, Misiones, and it goes up steeply until it hits an adobe house, Coronel.
Through it, minibuses and municipal trucks, cars, vans entered, packed with teenagers and adults, to play or be fanned, with women in skirts, hats and shawls to cheer.
When more than 30 years ago Guitián thought about the Championship, he wanted the people of the department to get to know each other and everyone recognizes that, thanks to football, they have done so.
Alto Calilegua, the town that exists for football
The name is Club Atlético Porvenir Alto Calilegua because its founder was concerned about what the future of the town of origin was going to be.
Leandro Corimayo, the coach this year, played on the team in '93.
They were the winners of the first Championship.
The Argentine flag flies behind the grass where the highest altitude tournament in the country is played.
“
Only one or two families live in El Alto all year round
, people had to migrate due to work and study,” says the technician.
Along with San Lucas and Santa Bárbara, Alto can only be reached by walking or by animal along the marked paths through the vegetation in a trip that can last from four to eight hours, depending on the person.
Like most teams, these players start training after the holidays, in January.
But they play together in other tournaments during the year, they know each other.
They are children and grandchildren of Alto, greener, somewhat lower than Caspalá.
On a red and white shield, with the Andean condor holding the ball in its claws, there are eight gold stars, one for each Championship won.
They are the team that has the most trophies, they were champions in 2023.
The winner raises the cup to the top.
“
The majority respect Alto for football because
we have already lost almost everything else
,” says Corimayo.
With no school, no municipality, almost no permanent inhabitants, El Alto exists in its Club.
Perhaps, for this reason, they win with the tenacity of those who risk their existence, their survival, in each game.
End of game
The players, the fans, all the residents went to the first championships when there were even fewer towns that had a way to get there.
On foot, on the back of a donkey or mule, they left days before the first game to be able to arrive on time.
“Before, people suffered more,” says Corimayo.
“Now it is easier to get to a championship, in '93, for the first one, we walked from Valle Colorado – from Valle Colorado to Pampichuela, where the first Championship was, it is more than eight hours on foot.
You get wet, sometimes you eat well, sometimes you don't, but football gives us unity,” he closes.
Saturday is the windiest day of the Championship, dirt rises from the ground, some small white dogs cross the field from one end to the other in the middle of decisive matches.
There are many poodles in Caspalá.
The clubs that were left out have already returned to their towns.
There are only Yerba Buena, Caspalá, Santa Ana and Valle Grande, which reached the semifinals that are played that morning.
They play for the honor of the people, that's what they say.
Santa Ana was crowned champion in the 2024 edition of the tournament.
It is after noon when the final begins, Santa Ana versus Valle Grande.
The Altura Valley neighboring Caspalá versus the capital of the department.
“They want to be champions, but they can't, Santa Ana comes first, then you,” is heard.
At siesta, it is not yet four in the afternoon, when Santa Ana wins the Championship and its Olympic return, with a giant trophy, it has a light blue flag with the name of the club, tired bodies, also joy.
Next year, it is their turn to organize the Championship.
MG