America Football Club (Rio de Janeiro)

For other uses, see América Football Club (disambiguation).

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 competes in Campeonato Carioca Série A2, the second tier of the Rio de Janeiro state football league.

America-RJ

Full name	America Football Club
Nickname(s)	AFC Mecão Diabo (Devil) Rubro Carioca (Rio's Reds) Sangue (Blood)
Founded	18 September 1904; 120 years ago (1904-09-18)
Ground	Estádio Giulite Coutinho
Capacity	13,544
President	Romário
Head coach	Leandrão
League	Campeonato Carioca Série A2
2024	Carioca Série A2
Website	www.americario.com.br
Home colors Away colors Third colors

America F.C. team in 1929.

Estádio Giulite Coutinho

Former club headquarters

Team photo from the 2009 season

Team photo from the 2008 season

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

The football anthem composer Lamartine Babo was a supporter of America.^[1] America's mascot is a devil. America also sponsors a beach American football team, the America Red Lions.^[2]

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.^[3] In 1905, America, together with Bangu, Botafogo, Petrópolis, Fluminense 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.^[3] In 1913, the club won the state championship for the first time.^[4]

For the 1971 season, the club competed in the national Championship's first edition, finishing in 11th place.^[5]

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 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.^[6]

In 2006, America was the runner-up of Taça Guanabara. America played the final against Botafogo.^[7]

In 2008, America suffered a major blow by being relegated to the Second Division of the Campeonato Carioca. However, they won the Second Division in 2009, thus being promoted to the first level in 2010.^[8] However, the club was relegated again in 2011 and wouldn't return to the top flight until 2015.^[9] The team has since been a yo-yo club^[10] and, as of 2024, is in the second tier of Rio de Janeiro football.^[11]

Honours

Official tournaments

National
Competitions	Titles	Seasons
Torneio dos Campeões	1	1982
State
Competitions	Titles	Seasons
Campeonato Carioca	7	1913, 1916, 1922, 1928, 1931, 1935, 1960
Campeonato Carioca Série A2	3	2009, 2015, 2018

•   record

Others tournaments

International

• Peruvian Press (1): 1955
• Bogotá Quadrangular (1): 1961
• Medellin Quadrangular (1): 1961
• International Soccer League (1): 1962
• Torneio Internacional Negrão de Lima (1): 1967
• TAP Cup (1): 1973
• Costa Dorada–Terragona Tournament (1): 1983
• Haiti Triangular (1): 1998

National

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

Inter-state

• Taça Ioduran (1): 1917
• Taça dos Campeões Estaduais Rio–São Paulo (1): 1935

State

• Taça Guanabara (1): 1974
• Taça Rio (1): 1982
• Third Round of the Campeonato Carioca (1): 1955
• Torneio Extra (2): 1938, 1952
• Torneio Relâmpago (1): 1945
• Taça Jayme de Carvalho (1): 1976
• Troféu João Ellis Filho (1): 2010
• Torneio Início (1): 1949
• Taça Santos Dumont (1): 2019
• Taça Corcovado (1): 2017
• Torneio Extra Capital (1): 2013

Runners-up

• Campeonato Carioca (8): 1911, 1914, 1917, 1921, 1929, 1950, 1954, 1955
• Campeonato Carioca Série A2 (3): 1906, 2017, 2019

Current squad

According to the CBF register.

America 2020 shirt.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  BRA Romário — GK  BRA Luis Henrique — GK  BRA Felipe Eduardo — DF  BRA Matheus Menezes (on loan from Botafogo) — DF  BRA Erick (on loan from Botafogo) — DF  BRA Marcão — DF  BRA Enric — DF  BRA Fábio Braz — DF  BRA Wagner Diniz — MF  BRA PH — MF  BRA Muniz — MF  ARG Matías Sosa — MF  BRA Darlan

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  BRA Victor Pucinelli — MF  BRA Leandro Aguiar — MF  BRA Thiago Accioli — MF  BRA Ramon Fraga — MF  BRA Richarlyson — FW  BRA Russo — FW  BRA Renato — FW  BRA Marcelinho Quarterole — FW  BRA Igor — FW  BRA Daniel — FW  BRA Romarinho — FW  BRA Jean

Top goalscorers

1. Luisinho Lemos : 311
2. Edu : 212
3. Maneco : 187
4. Plácido: 167
5. Carola : 158
6. Chiquinho : 102

Highest attendances

1. America 1–4 Flamengo, 147.661(139,599 people seated), April 4, 1956
2. America 0–2 Fluminense, 141,689 (120,178 people seated), June 9, 1968
3. America 1–2 Vasco, 121,765 (104,775 people seated), January 28, 1951
4. America 1–0 Flamengo, 104,532, April 25, 1976
5. America 5–1 Flamengo, 102,002 (94,516 people seated), April 1, 1956
6. America 2–1 Bonsucesso, 101.363, July 25, 1973
7. America 2–0 Fluminense, 100,635 (92,516 people seated), March 17, 1956
8. America 2–1 Fluminense, 98,099, December 18, 1960
9. America 1–0 Fluminense, 97,681, September 22, 1974
10. America 0–1 Fluminense, 96,035, April 27, 1975
11. America 4–2 Benfica (POR), 94,642 (87,686 people seated), July 3, 1955
12. 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, 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".^[12]

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, Teófilo Otoni and Fortaleza.^[13]