America Football Club, usually abbreviated to America-RJ or simply America, is a
Brazilian football team based in the city of
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, in the northern neighborhood of
Tijuca
Tijuca () (meaning marsh or swamp in the Tupi language, from ''ty'' ("water") and ''îuk'' ("rotten")) is a neighbourhood of the Northern Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It comprises the region of Saens Peña and Afonso Pena squar ...
. The team compete in
Campeonato Carioca, the top tier of the
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
state football league.
Founded on 18 September 1904, the club competed in the
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A several times, winning the
state championship 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.
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
Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...
,
Petrópolis
Petrópolis (; ), also known as The Imperial City, is a municipality in the Southeast Region of Brazil. It is located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, northeast of the city of Rio de Janeiro. According to the 2010 National Brazilian Census, Petr ...
,
Fluminense
Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...
and
Futebol Atlético Clube 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
state championship for the first time.
For the
1971 season, the club competed in the
national Championship
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
's
first edition, 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
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A 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 ...
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.
In 2006, America was the runner-up of
Taça Guanabara
The Taça Guanabara, or Guanabara Cup, is a football tournament organized annually since 1965 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. In its first four editions (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968), the Taça Guanabara was a tournament in its o ...
. America played the final against
Botafogo
Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...
.
In 2008, America suffered a major blow by being relegated to the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
of the
Campeonato Carioca. 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
Campeonato Carioca 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
* 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:
:
(1967)
* Taça TAP:
:
(1973)
* Torneio Costa Dourada –
Terragona:
:
(1983)
National tournaments
* Torneio Quadrangular Presidente Costa e Silva: 1
:
(1968)
* Torneio Luís Viana Filho: 1
:
(1968)
Youth teams
*
Campeonato Carioca de 2° Quadro: 6 times (1919, 1923, 1926, 1929, 1930 and 1932)
* Amateur
Campeonato Carioca: 2 times (1936 and 1940)
*
Campeonato Carioca Carioca de Aspirantes: 1968
*
Campeonato Carioca de Juniores: 6 times (1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1940 and 1941)
* Campeonato Estadual de Juniores da Série B: (2012)
* Torneio Início de Juniores: 1953
*
Campeonato Carioca Carioca de Infanto-Juvenis: 2 times (1969 and 1979)
*
Campeonato Carioca Carioca de Infantil: 1981
*
Campeonato Carioca Carioca Especial de Infantil (under-15): 2012
*
Campeonato Carioca Carioca de Juvenis: 1991
* Copa do Brasil de Juniores runners-up: 2001
; Women's team
*
Campeonato Carioca de Futebol Feminino
The Campeonato Carioca de Futebol Feminino (''Carioca Women's Football Championship'', in English language, English), organized by the Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation (FFERJ) is the wom ...
runners-up: 2007
Current squad
According to the
CBF registe
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
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
), 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
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
, attempted to replace the diabo with a
bald eagle, 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
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
,
São José do Rio Preto
São José do Rio Preto () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city is located at the northwest portion of the state, 440 km (273 mi) from the city of São Paulo and 700 km (435 mi) from Brasília. As o ...
,
Três Rios
Três Rios (, ) is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. As of 2020 its population was an estimated 82,142 inhabitants, and its area is around . The current mayor of Três Rios is Joacir Barbaglio Pereira (known as Jo ...
,
Manaus,
Teófilo Otoni
Teófilo Otoni is a municipality in northeast Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The population of the municipality was 140,937 in 2020 and the area is 3,242.818 km2.
Origin of the name
The city is named after (Vila do Príncipe, 27 January 1807 - ...
and
Fortaleza.
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