America Football Club, usually abbreviated to America-RJ or simply America, is a Brazilian football team based in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the northern neighborhood of Tijuca. The team compete in

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

, the top tier of the Rio de Janeiro state football league. Founded on 18 September 1904, the club competed in the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

several times, winning the

state championship New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

seven times. The club's home stadium is the

Estádio Giulite Coutinho Estádio Giulite Coutinho, also known as Estádio Édson Passos, is a multi-use stadium located in the city of Mesquita, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. It is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of Fluminense, America Foo ...

, which has a capacity of 16,000. They play in red shirts, white shorts and red socks. The football anthem composer

Lamartine Babo Lamartine Babo (10 January 1904 — 16 June 1963) was one of the most important popular composers of Brazil. Babo composed several of satirical sambas, ''marchinhas'' and other songs; he is especially remembered for composing anthems for all the ...

was a supporter of America. America's mascot is a devil. America also sponsors a beach American football team, the

America Red Lions The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

History

On 18 September 1904, Alberto Koltzbucher, Alfredo Guilherme Koehler, Alfredo Mohrsted, Gustavo Bruno Mohrsted, Henrique Mohrsted, Jayme Faria Machado and Oswaldo Mohrsted founded America Football Club. In 1905, America, together with Bangu, Botafogo, Petrópolis, Fluminense and

Futebol Atlético Clube Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

founded Liga de Football do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Football League), which was the first football federation of Rio de Janeiro. In 1913, the club won the

for the first time. For the 1971 season, the club competed in the national Championship's

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

, finishing in 11th place. The yellow star just above their emblem represents their win in the Tournament of the Champions (Torneio dos Campeões) in 1982, which was a tournament organized by CBF to serve as a preview to the

tournament.

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

declined the invitation so America, the team with the best record after the selected teams, was invited to fill the spot. America won the tournament by beating Guarani in overtime at

Maracanã stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...

. In 2006, America was the runner-up of Taça Guanabara. America played the final against Botafogo. In 2008, America suffered a major blow by being relegated to the Second Division of the

. However, they won the Second Division in 2009, thus being promoted to the first level in 2010. However, the club were relegated again in 2011 and continues playing the Second Division in 2015, returns to the elite of the

after five years vying for the Serie B, after beating the Americano.

Honors

Other state titles

* Third Stage of the Campeonato Carioca: 1955 * Taça Jayme de Carvalho: 1976 * Rio de Janeiro Extra Tournmanent: 1938 and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

* Torneio Relâmpago: 1945 * Taça Eficiência: 1936 * Taça Disciplina: 1947, 1949, 1965, 1969, 1970 and 1983 * Taça Fernando Loretti Jr. de Aspirantes: 1944 * Torneio Ary Barroso (mixed teams): 1965*.

International tournaments

* Imprensa Peruana: : (1955) * Quadrangular Sultana Del Valle: : (1961) * Quadrangular de Medellín: : (1961) * International Soccer League II : (1962) * Torneio Internacional

Negrão de Lima Negrão is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexandre Sarnes Negrão (born 1985), Brazilian entrepreneur and race car driver * André Negrão (born 1992), Brazilian racing driver *Fernando Negrão (born 1955), Portuguese jurist ...

: : (1967) * Taça TAP: : (1973) * Torneio Costa Dourada –

Terragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarr ...

: : (1983)

National tournaments

* Torneio Quadrangular Presidente Costa e Silva: 1 : (1968) * Torneio Luís Viana Filho: 1 : (1968)

Youth teams

de 2° Quadro: 6 times (1919, 1923, 1926, 1929, 1930 and 1932) * Amateur

: 2 times (1936 and 1940) *

Carioca de Aspirantes: 1968 *

de Juniores: 6 times (1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1940 and 1941) * Campeonato Estadual de Juniores da Série B: (2012) * Torneio Início de Juniores: 1953 *

Carioca de Infanto-Juvenis: 2 times (1969 and 1979) *

Carioca de Infantil: 1981 *

Carioca Especial de Infantil (under-15): 2012 *

Carioca de Juvenis: 1991 * Copa do Brasil de Juniores runners-up: 2001 ; Women's team * Campeonato Carioca de Futebol Feminino runners-up: 2007

Current squad

According to the CBF registe

Camisa do America 2020

Top goalscorers

#Luisinho Lemos : 311 #Edu : 212 #Maneco : 187 #Plácido: 167 #Carola : 158 #Chiquinho : 102

Highest attendances

#America 1–4 Flamengo, 147.661(139,599 people seated), April 4, 1956 #America 0–2 Fluminense, 141,689 (120,178 people seated), June 9, 1968 #America 1–2 Vasco, 121,765 (104,775 people seated), January 28, 1951 #America 1–0 Flamengo, 104,532, April 25, 1976 #America 5–1 Flamengo, 102,002 (94,516 people seated), April 1, 1956 #America 2–1 Bonsucesso, 101.363, July 25, 1973 #America 2–0 Fluminense, 100,635 (92,516 people seated), March 17, 1956 #America 2–1 Fluminense, 98,099, December 18, 1960 #America 1–0 Fluminense, 97,681, September 22, 1974 #America 0–1 Fluminense, 96,035, April 27, 1975 #America 4–2 Benfica (POR), 94,642 (87,686 people seated), July 3, 1955 #America 1–1 Flamengo, 93,393, May 19, 1969

Mascot

One controversial aspect of the club is the official mascot: the Diabo ( devil), depicted as a red demon complete with horns, pointy beard, curled moustache, a long fat arrow-pointed tail, hooved feet and a black cape. The club's old stadium was nicknamed ''Caldeirão do Diabo'' ("Devil's Cauldron"). In 2006 some of the club's fans, supported by then-manager Jorginho who is an Evangelical Christian, attempted to replace the diabo with a

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

, claiming that the devil was "unlucky". However, as the "diabo" is a traditional part of the club's story and with the original mascot the club conquered its greatest achievements and there was no change in the club's fortunes with the new mascot, the replacement was abandoned and it was considered that Jorginho's opinion was motivated by "religious fanaticism".

Clubs named after America

America is the Brazilian club with the largest number of other clubs named after it. It has homonyms in Natal, São José do Rio Preto, Três Rios,

Manaus Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...

, Teófilo Otoni and

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

References

External links

Official SiteHistory, news and fans
{{DEFAULTSORT:America Football Club Association football clubs established in 1904 Football clubs in Rio de Janeiro (state) Football clubs in Rio de Janeiro (city) 1904 establishments in Brazil