Flamengo
The Clube Regatas do Flamengo was established on November 15 1895 by José Agostinho Pereira da Cunha, Nestor de Barros, Mário Espínola and Augusto da Silveira Lopes. The group of friends created the club to represent the Flamengo District and to become a rival of the Botafogo beach rowers in the regattas held in the Guanabara bay. The club’s colors were blue and gold, representing the sky and the sun. The following year, the colors were changed to red and black.
The Flamengo Terrestrial Sports Department was created in 1911. The soccer team debuted in the Rio de Janeiro State Championship on May 3 1912, at the old America Futebol Clube stadium, against Mangueira. Flamengo won its debut game by 16 to 2. Two years later, the team won its first title, that of Metropolitan champion.
A few players made history in Flamengo’s soccer team: Domingos da Guia, Amado, Leônidas da Silva, Zizinho, Rubens, Dequinha, Garcia, Joel, Zico, Nunes, Leandro, Junior, Dida, Doval, Romário, and Sávio.