What is El Universo?
El Universo is a daily newspaper published in Guayaquil. Its own Quiénes somos page sets out a mission of “Informar sobre lo que acontece en la ciudad, en el país y en el mundo de forma clara, honesta, imparcial, veraz y oportuna” across print and digital platforms, a vision of being “una organización sólida y cohesiva identificada con los más importantes intereses nacionales”, and eight stated values, among them “Verdad”, “Libertad”, “Responsabilidad”, “Honestidad” and “Respeto a la libre expresión del pensamiento”.[2] The same page lists the sections through which it publishes, including Deportes alongside politics, economy, entertainment, international and opinion.[2] The copyright line carried on the newspaper's own pages is “C.A. EL UNIVERSO”.[1]
It is one of two Guayaquil dailies on this list with a long-running print history, and its own account presents the paper as a single continuing title rather than a relaunch: the history page runs in one sequence from the first issue through a fiftieth anniversary in 1971, a prize in 1953, a website in 1996 and social media accounts from 2007 and 2009.[1] Nothing on the newspaper's public pages states an ownership structure beyond the company name in the copyright line, and no shareholder or group filing could be retrieved for this page, so none is described.[2]
What does El Universo cover?
The newspaper publishes a general news report with a standing sport section. Two retrieved examples show the range. On 15 December 2007 it reported the FIFA Executive Committee's decision, taken in Tokyo during the Club World Cup, that no international match would be played above “2.750 metros de altitud” “a menos que exista la debida aclimatación” — a decision that bore directly on Quito's grounds.[4] On 15 June 2025 it reported Decreto Ejecutivo 31, signed the previous day, extending to 12 July 2025 the liquidation of the Empresa Pública Medios Públicos de Comunicación del Ecuador, which it described as operating Ecuador TV, the digital El Telégrafo and Radio Pública FM.[5] The second is not sport, and it is included here because it shows the paper reporting on the ownership and status of other Ecuadorian outlets — reporting that this list itself relies on for the entry on the state broadcaster.[5]
The newspaper's own description of its remit is broad rather than specialised: to report what happens “en la ciudad, en el país y en el mundo”, through sections that place Deportes beside politics, economy, entertainment, international and opinion.[2] No count of sport pages, sport staff or sport output could be retrieved from the newspaper or from any monitoring body, so the scope of its sport desk is not quantified here.
How large is El Universo's audience?
No audited circulation or audience figure for El Universo could be retrieved for this page. Ecuador has no retrievable audited print-circulation currency of the kind that would settle the question, and traffic estimators are not audited measurement, so none is quoted here.
What exists are the newspaper's own statements, which are reported as its claims and not adopted. Its history page states that at its fiftieth anniversary in 1971 it was printing approximately 100,000 copies a day, and that in 2021 it recorded 23 million monthly web visits and 1.4 million daily users.[1] Both figures are the newspaper's own, both are anchored to the years given, and neither has been checked against an independent measurement for this page.
Since when has El Universo existed?
The newspaper's own history page places the first issue in the early hours of Friday 16 September 1921 — “Eran las primeras horas del viernes 16 de septiembre de 1921 cuando salieron a las calles los presurosos canillitas que voceaban: ‘¡EL UNIVERSO!’” — and names Ismael Pérez Pazmiño as its first director.[1] That date is carried independently by Fundamedios, which wrote on 16 September 2021 that “Hace 100 años, Ismael Pérez Pazmiño fundó en Guayaquil el diario El Universo.”[3]
The same history page records a María Moors Cabot prize from Columbia University in 1953, the launch of eluniverso.com on 21 July 1996, and accounts on Twitter from 2007 and Facebook from 2009.[1] Fundamedios adds a governmental closure under Federico Páez in 1937, a bomb attack in 1978, and the 2011 defamation case brought by former president Rafael Correa that ended in custodial sentences and fines.[3]
Why does El Universo matter in Ecuador's sport?
Its standing is documented rather than asserted. Fundamedios, which describes its own work as the “Defensa y promoción de la libertad de expresión, derechos digitales e integridad de la información para fortalecer sociedades democráticas en las Américas”, characterised the newspaper's century as “un siglo de periodismo de calidad, crítico con los excesos del poder y defensor de la democracia y la libertad de prensa y expresión”. That is Fundamedios' characterisation, quoted and attributed.[3]
For sport specifically, the newspaper's Deportes section is one of the sections it lists in its own description of itself,[2] and its 2007 reporting of the FIFA altitude decision is one of the few contemporaneous Ecuadorian accounts of that decision still retrievable.[4] It is a Guayaquil title, in the city of the two clubs that contest the Clásico del Astillero, and it carries the LigaPro Serie A within that section.[2]
References
- El Universo — Quiénes somos: Historia (the newspaper's own account of its founding, prizes and website launch). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- El Universo — Quiénes somos (misión, visión, valores and section list). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Fundamedios — FUNDAMEDIOS felicita a Diario El Universo por cumplir un siglo (16 September 2021). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- El Universo — FIFA prohíbe partidos a más de 2.750 metros sin “aclimatación” de jugadores (15 December 2007). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- El Universo — Gobierno da 30 días más de plazo para la liquidación de la Empresa de Medios Públicos (15 June 2025). Accessed 2026-09-23.