Club Overview

Clube de Regatas do Flamengo

Flamengo neighbourhood in the early 20th century

There is a big controversy about the number of National Championships that Flamengo has won.According to CBF, the Brazilian Football Confederation, Flamengo won 4 National League Titles – 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1992. But for the fans the story is a little bit different. In 1987 because of a disagreement between the CBF and the Clube dos 13 (a group of the 13 most prestigious clubs in Brazil) Copa União (Union Cup) was created to be an alternate solution. The new league had those 13 powerful clubs plus Goiás, Santa Cruz and Coritiba leaving the runners-up of the previous Campeonato Brasileiro, Guarani FC and the 4th place America-RN out of the competition.In the end Flamengo won the league but CBF gave the title to Sport FC from Recife. The case went to all types of court battles and in the end Sport was considered National Champions of 1987 but for every Flamengo fan the team has 5 Brazilian League titles and that’s unquestionable for them.

Club History

Clube de Regatas do Flamento (Flamengo’s Rowing Club) was funded in 1895 by a group of young men that used to live and hang out in Flamengo neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. Rowing was, at that time, the sport of the elite of Rio de Janeiro and those young guys decided to create their own team to compete against other neighbourhoods and become popular among the girls. Early in the 20th century football started gaining popularity in Rio de Janeiro. But Flamengo didn’t have a sector of the club dedicated to the sport. This caused a curious fact: Some athletes would split their day between rowing for Flamengo in the morning and playing football for Fluminense in the afternoon. Alberto Borgeth was one of them. And the same also happened among the supporters. They would cheer for Flamengo’s rowing team and at the same time for Fluminense Football Club. In 1903 Flamengo took the first steps into creating a football team. Some friendly matches were arranged but because the Rowing sector of the club didn’t support the idea of a football team, the players couldn’t even wear the club’s colors.

Flamengo team in 1912

Even though the new members were accepted the internal dispute continued for about another month when, on December 24th, an assembly made Flamengo’s football team an official part of the club’s ground activities. Flamengo’s football has been popular since its beginning. The team practiced at Russel beach under the eyes of locals that could enjoy watching the players and soon became supporters. The first official game is also the most spectacular victory of the club. Flamengo defeated Mangueira with a 15-2 score. That also helped increase the team’s popularity.

The "Zico Era"

Zico - the second at the bottom rown from right to left - in 1971 at age 17

In 1967 at age 13 he joined Flamengo’s youth teams and 4 years later he had his first match among the professionals. But it was in 1978 that he was able to lead Flamengo into a row of successful years into the following decade.

Flamengo squad of 1981

The Poster of the 1981 Intercontinental Cup

It took only 45 minutes for Flamengo’s stunning football to mesmerize the spectators and the British who couldn’t react to the 3 goals scored by the Scarlet-Black. That would be the first time since 1963 Santos (with Pelé) that a brazilian club won the Intercontinental Cup. After that Zico would still help Flamengo win the Brazilian National Championships of 1982 and 1983 before signing a multi-millionaire deal with Italian club Udinese. He returned to Brazil in 1986 only in time to help Flamengo win another State Championship and suffered a serious knee injury that never healed properly. In 1989 Zico played his last official match for Flamengo in the derby against Fluminense. It was the end of a cycle that put Flamengo definetly in the row of the best football teams of all times.

Stars of the Current Squad

Juan, Ibson and Obina - members of the 2008 Flamengo Squad

The squad put together by coach Joel Santana and now managed by Caio Jr. brings some well-known names and some good new talents. Midfielder Kleberson is possibly the most known player on the squad. He started his career at Atletico Paranaense and was on the Brazilian National Team that won the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea. After the World Cup Kleberson was tranfered to Manchester United where he couldn’t repeat the same success. In 2005 he went to Turkey to play for Besiktas. In 2007 he returned to Brazil and signed with Flamengo. The newest sensation in Flamengo 2008 squad is probably right-wing Leonardo Moura. A typical case of late bloomer, Leo Moura started his career playing for Botafogo Futebol e Regatas . At a very early age he was sold to Germinal Beer, a club that plays the Belgian League. He also played for ADO Den Haag of Holland, returned to Botafogo, played for Vasco, Palmeiras, São Paulo, Fluminense, Sporting Braga and finally came to Flamengo in 2005. The same team that rejected him in a tryout would now become the one that gave him chance to get, at age 29, his first cap for the National Squad. Other valuable members of the 2008 Flamengo squad are: young goalkeeper Bruno, veteran defender Fabio Luciano, former Arsenal FC left-wing Juan, Paraguayan international midfielder Gavillan, and up front, Diego Tardelli, Obina, Souza and the Argentine Maxi are responsible for scoring the goals Flamengo needs to an even more successful year.

Club Rivalries

Fluminense(the famous Fla X Flu Derby) Vasco da Gama (Derby of the Millions) Botafogo RJ

Club Legends

LEONIDAS
Full Name: Leonidas da Silva
Position: Forward
Years on the team: 1936-1941
Matches: 179
Goals: 150
Titles: Rio State Championship 1939

DOMINGOS DA GUIA
Full Name: Domingos Antônio da Guia
Position: Defender
Years on the team: 1936-1943
Matches: 223
Titles: Rio State Championship 1939, 1942, 1943

ZIZINHO
Full Name: Thomaz Soares da Silva
Position: Midfielder
Years on the team: 1939-1950
Matches: 318
Goals: 146
Titles: Rio State Championship 1939, 1942, 1943, 1944

ZAGALLO
Full Name: Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo
Position: Forward
Years on the team: 1953-1958
Matches: 205
Goals: 29
Titles: Rio State Championship 1953, 1954, 1955 (as a player) and 2001 (as coach)

EVARISTO
Full Name: Evaristo de Macedo Filho
Position: Forward
Years on the team: 1953 - 1957
Matches: 182
Goals: 102
Titles: Rio State Championship 1953, 1954, 1955

DIDA
Full Name: Edvaldo Alves de Santa Rosa
Position: Forward
Years on the team: 1954-1963
Matches: 350
Goals: 263
Titles: Rio State Championship 1954, 1955, 1963

JUNIOR
Full Name: Leovegildo Lins Gama Junior
Position: Left-Wing / Midfielder
Years on the team: 1974-1993
Matches: 857
Goals: 73
Titles: Rio State Championship 1974, 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1991 – Brazilian National Championship 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1992 – Brazilian Cup, 1990 – Copa Libertadores de America, 1981 – Intercontinental Cup, 1981

BEBETO
Full Name: José Roberto Gama de Oliveira
Position: Striker
Years on the team: 1983-1989
Matches: 303
Goals: 150
Titles: Rio State Championship 1986 – Brazilian National Championship 1987

ROMARIO
Full Name: Romario de Souza Faria
Position: Striker
Years on the team: 1995-1999
Matches: 240
Goals: 204
Titles: Rio State Championship 1996, 1999 – Conmebol Gold Cup 1996

ZICO
Full Name: Arthur Antunes Coimbra
Position: Midfielder
Years on the team: 1971-1990
Matches: 731
Goals: 508
Titles: Rio State Championship 1972, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1986 – Brazilian National Championship 1980, 1982, 1983, Copa Uniao, 1987 – Copa Libertadores de America 1981 – Intercontinental Cup, 1981

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Brazilian Footballer of the Year (elected by Placar magazine)

Zico – 1974, 1982
Renato Gaucho – 1987
Junior – 1992

South American Footballer of the Year (elected by Venezuelan Newspaper El Mundo)

Zico – 1977, 1982, 1983

Team Honours

Rio de Janeiro State Championships

1914, 1915 (undefeated), 1920 (undefeated), 1921, 1925, 1927, 1939, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1963, 1965, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1979 (undefeated), 1979 (special), 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996 (undefeated), 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007

National Competitions

Brazilian National Championship: 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987*, 1992 Brazilian Cup: 1990, 2006 Brazilian Champions Cup: 2001 Rio-Sao Paulo Tournament: 1961 Brazilian World Champions Cup: 1997 Tournament of the People: 1972

Flamengo is considered The 1987 Copa Uniao Champion by the “13 Club Group” but not by CBF

International Competitions

Intercontinental Cup: 1981 Copa Libertadores de America: 1981 Conmebol Cup: 1996 South American Golden Cup:1997 Mercosur Cup: 1999

Club Management

Flamengo is a private membership social club. Once a member one can enjoy the pool, the multi purpose rooms and participate in the club’s social events by paying a monthly tuition. The club, like frequently happens in Brazilian football, doesn’t have an owner, and all its activities are managed by a Board of Directors. The club’s president is elected by direct vote. Every single person who is an official member of Flamengo, is over 18 years old and isn’t not late in paying his tuition can vote to elect the president.

Club Staff

Marcio Braga – President
Kleber Leite – Vice-President of Football
Caio Jr. – Head Coach
Jorge Luiz Andrade da Silva – Assistant Coach
Ronaldo Torres de Souza – Fitness Coach
Roberto Barbosa dos Santos – Goalkeeper Coach

Uniforms

Flamengo Kits

Stadium

Flamengo has a small private stadium called Jose Bastos Padilha in honour to a former’s club president but its more commonly know as Gavea Stadium. Flamengo’s professional team sometimes hold practices there but because of the small capacity (the Stadium only holds 8,000 people) it is more frequently used by the Youth Teams. Flamengo’s first team have its home games played at the monumental Maracana Stadium. Maracana officially belongs to the Government of Rio de Janeiro and Flamengo has to share it with rivals Fluminense and Botafogo. But with a capacity of 95,000 spectators it is the ideal place to hold the largest crowd of supporters in Brazil: Flamengo’s fans.

Sponsors

Flamengo is sponsored by PETROBRAS (Brazilian Petroleum Company) since 1984. It’s the longest single sponsorship football contract in the world.

Petrobras (in English) Petrobrás (in Portuguese)