Flamengo celebrates 128 years of history

The Rio de Janeiro club has one of the biggest fan bases in world football

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2023-11-15 14:16:22

Image Credits: © (Paula Reis/Flamengo)

This Wednesday, November 15th, the Clube de Regatas do Flamengo celebrates 128 years of history. Founded in 1895 as a club focused on rowing, the country’s main sport at the time, the team embraced football in 1911.

Alberto Bogerth, then a Fluminense player and Flamengo rower, decided to create a department at the club for the sport. Flamengo’s football team debuted with a 15-2 thrashing against Mangueira on May 3, 1912, the year in which it would win its first Campeonato Carioca.

With the support of one of the biggest fan bases in the world, known among red and black people as Nação, Flamengo presents a history of great stars that span the eras of Brazilian football.

From the beginnings of the sport in the country, with Domingos da Guia and Leônidas da Silva, through the 1950s with Zizinho, Evaristo de Macedo, Zagallo and Dida, the greatest idol of the greatest player in Flamengo’s history: Zico.

Revealed in 1971, the legendary number 10 was the great exponent of the winning generation in the 80s, multiple Brazilian, Libertadores and World Cup champions, achieved with the 3-0 victory over Liverpool with two goals from Nunes and one from Adílio, on December 13, 1981, as one of the fans’ chants sings. The final team is still known by heart by the Red and Blacks: Raul; Leandro, Marinho, Mozer and Júnior; Andrade, Adílio and Zico; Tita, Nunes and Lico.

In the 90s, the 1992 Brazilian Championship was led by the native left-back and midfielder Júnior, who scored a free kick in the final won 3-0 against rivals Botafogo. He is the record holder for matches and victories, with 872 and 504, respectively. He’s not the most successful because he has Zico at his side, who also won 42 cups.

Since this achievement, the Rio team experienced a lack of national titles that lasted for more than a decade, until the 2006 Copa do Brasil, won in a decision against Vasco, and the 2009 Brasileirão, thanks to the return of Adriano Imperador and his great performances in the final stretch of the championship. In the last match of the competition, a packed Maracanã witnessed defender Ronaldo Angelim’s title-winning goal.

Flamengo’s history was not just written by the feet of Brazilian players. It also presents the great contribution of foreigners, especially the Serbian Dejan Petkovic, immortalized for the iconic free kick goal against Vasco in Carioca in 2001 and for the Brazilian title victory in 2009, and the Uruguayan Giorgian de Arrascaeta, protagonist of the recent Brasileirão trophies, Libertadores and Copa do Brasil.

As of 2019, Rubro-Negro inaugurated a new era of titles and added two Brazilian Championships (2019 and 2020), two Libertadores (2019 and 2022), one Copa do Brasil (2022), two Supercups of Brazil (2020 and 2021 ) and a South American Recopa (2020). With the winning period, Flamengo’s wall of idols was updated and received the addition of notable names such as Bruno Henrique, Filipe Luís and Everton Ribeiro.

In 2019 and 2022, Flamengo returned to the top of South American football with the two victories of the Libertadores, which have Gabriel Barbosa, known as Gabigol, as the scorer of the goals in the finals. The first of them is the most electrifying for the fans, with the victory over River Plate to 2-1 in just three minutes.

To this day, Flamengo is one of the only teams that has never been relegated, alongside São Paulo and Santos. In 2023, the club played in the final of the Copa do Brasil and continues to fight for the top positions in the Brasileirão.