La Tebaida

La Tebaida is a municipality in the south of the department of Quindío, in the heart of the Colombian Eje Cafetero. To its status as coffee country it adds a logistical and industrial role unusual for its size: it is home to the Zona Franca del Eje Cafetero —today Quindío Zona Franca Colombia—, connected by rail terminal to the port of Buenaventura, which has turned it into a trade and distribution platform for the centre of the country. That contrast between the coffee landscape and the logistical calling defines the character of a growing municipality.

In sport, La Tebaida has built a wide network of venues for its scale —pitches, sports halls, a swimming pool, a velodrome and a skatepark— under the municipal programme 'La Tebaida Diferente'. In recent years it has made a singular commitment to badminton, with the construction of the first arena dedicated to this discipline in the Eje Cafetero, positioning the municipality as a regional reference for a sport still minority in Colombia.

In late 2024, ACES designated La Tebaida American City of Sport 2024, presented at the European Parliament, in Brussels, to Mayor Vicente Young. The distinction, of American scope, recognised the municipal investment in infrastructure and sports schools, and inscribed La Tebaida in the growing Colombian presence in the network of ACES América, opened by Cali as American Capital of Sport 2019 and continued by Mosquera in 2023.