América Futebol Clube (also known as América Mineiro, Coelho or simply América) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Belo Horizonte,

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

of the

Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil ( pt, unidades federativas do Brasil) are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. Founded in 1912, the club preserves its name and crest since its inception. The original home kit colours are white and green only; the black color was incorporated in the 1970s. The team also played with a red home kit between 1933 and 1942, as a protest to the introduction of professionalism. It hosts its matches at Independência stadium, being the only professional club in Belo Horizonte to have its own stadium. The club has the third largest fan base among the teams from Minas Gerais. América is one of the most traditional and successful teams from Minas Gerais. It has won the state

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

16 times, and finished as runners-up in another 16 occasions. The first 10 victories were in a row, between 1916 and 1925, being the national record of successive accomplishments (together with ABC); the most recent was in 2016. Other major accomplishments were the Brazilian Second Division in 1997 and 2017, South-Minas Cup in 2000, and Brazilian Third Division in 2009. The club has a long reputation in forming young talents in football. Among others, it has revealed the world-class players

Tostão Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade (born 25 January 1947), generally known as Tostão, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward or attacking midfielder. Tostão was an intelligent, hardworking and prolific left-footed f ...

Éder Aleixo Éder Aleixo de Assis, also known as Éder or Éder Aleixo (; born 25 May 1957), is a Brazilian former footballer. He played as a left winger, and as a forward, most notably with Atlético Mineiro in the Campeonato Brasileiro and with the Br ...

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Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

Danilo Danilo is a given name found in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Serbian. Notable people with the name Danilo include: Athletes Footballers * Danilo (footballer, born 1979), Brazilian footballer Danilo de Andrade * Danilo (footballer, born 19 ...

and

Richarlison Richarlison de Andrade (born 10 May 1997), known mononymously as Richarlison (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Tottenham Hotspur and the Brazil national team. He began his professional career with A ...

. América has won the three most important junior tournaments in Brazil: São Paulo Juniors Cup (1996), Brazilian Championship U-20 (2011) and Belo Horizonte Juniors Cup (2000 and 2014).

History

On 30 April 1912, a group of young men who played football purely for the love of the game decided to turn their team into a football club. In the first meeting, the founders decided that the name of the club would be América Foot-Ball Club, and the colors would be green and white. The first matches were played on the mayor's field. In 1913, América and Minas Gerais Futebol Clube fused, and the club changed its colors to green, white and black. Between 1916 and 1925, the team won ten state championships in a row. In 1933, as a protest to the professionalization of

Brazilian football Football is the most popular sport in Brazil and a prominent part of the country’s national identity. The Brazil national football team has won the FIFA World Cup five times, the most of any team, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil an ...

, the club changed its colors to red and white. In 1943, the club professionalized its football division, and returned to its previous colors. In 1948, América won its first state championship as a professional club. In 1997, América won the Série B for the first time, and in 2000, the club won the

Copa Sul-Minas Copa Sul-Minas was a Brazilian football competition that ran between 2000 and 2002, with teams from the three Southern states of Brazil, plus the Southeastern state of Minas Gerais. It replaced the 1999 tournament called Copa Sul which only include ...

first edition, beating Cruzeiro in the final. In 2004, after a poor performance in the Série B, América was relegated to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, and in 2007, the club finished in Campeonato Mineiro's last position, and was relegated to the following year's Campeonato Mineiro Módulo II. América won the Série C in 2009, beating ASA in the final. The following year, the team was fourth at Série B and returned to the top level of the Brazilian championship after ten years. On 14 June 2013, América signed a cooperation contract with the

Tahitian Football Federation The Tahitian Football Federation (french: Fédération tahitienne de football) is the governing body of football in French Polynesia. The Tahiti's men national football team is after Australia and New Zealand the 3rd most successful nation repr ...

to develop under-20 national players.

Symbols

The club's official anthem was composed by Vicente Motta. There are also two other anthems: The unofficial anthem, which was composed by

Fernando Brant Fernando Rocha Brant (October 9, 1946 – June 12, 2015) was a Brazilian poet, lyricist and journalist, born in Caldas, Minas Gerais. Brant's interest in music and literature began to increase while he studied law at Universidade Federal de Mina ...

and Tavinho Moura, and the supporters' anthem, whose lyrics were composed by Márcio Vianna Dias and sung by Fernando Ângelo. América's

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

, was created by the cartoonist Fernando Pierucetti, and is a red-eyed white cartoon rabbit with clearly protruding teeth.

Derbies

América's greatest rivals are Cruzeiro and

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. The derby between América and Atlético Mineiro is known as ''O Clássico das Multidões'' (''The Derby of the Masses''), and was first played on November 15, 1913, in a friendly game that ended in a 1–1 draw.

Honours

Professional competitions

* Série B : Winners (2):

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

: ''Runners-up (1):''

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

* Série C : Winner (1): 2009 *

: Winner (1): 2000 * Campeonato Mineiro : Winners (16): 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1948, 1957, 1971, 1993, 2001,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

: ''Runners-up (16):'' 1915, 1930, 1931, 1942, 1949, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1992, 1995, 1999,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

* Taça Minas Gerais : Winner (1): 2005 : ''Runners-up (3):'' 1977, 1980, 1984 * Campeonato Mineiro Second Level : Winner (1): 2008

Youth competitions

* Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 : Winner (1): 2011 *

Copa São Paulo de Juniores Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...

: Winner (1): 1996 *

Taça Belo Horizonte de Juniores The Taça Belo Horizonte de Juniores (or ''Belo Horizonte Youth Cup'', in English), also known as Taça Belo Horizonte de Futebol Júnior or Taça BH, is a cup competition usually played by 36 Brazilian under-20 football teams, most of them fro ...

: Winners (2): 2000, 2014 : ''Runner-up (1):'' 1995

Current squad

Reserve team

Out on loan

First-team staff

Notable players

* Álvaro Santos * Claudinei *

* Esio Vieira * Euller *

* Gilberto *

* Juca Show * Milagres * Palhinha * Satyro Tabuada * Spencer Coelho *

Toninho Cerezo Antônio Carlos Cerezo (born 21 April 1955), known as Toninho Cerezo (), is a Brazilian former footballer. Cerezo is commonly regarded as one of the finest Brazilian defensive midfielders of all time, most notably having played for his homet ...

* William Morais

Notable managers

* Carlos Alberto Silva * Flávio Lopes *

Givanildo Oliveira Givanildo José de Oliveira (born 8 August 1948), sometimes known as just Givanildo, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and is the manager of America. Playing career Club Born in Olinda, Pernambuco, Givani ...

* Paulo Comelli * Yustrich * Lisca Doido

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:America Futebol Clube (Mg) Association football clubs established in 1912 Football clubs in Belo Horizonte 1912 establishments in Brazil