Corinthians

Full name
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista
Nickname(s)
Timão (The Great Team or Helm)
Founded
September 1, 1910
Ground
Pacaembu / Parque São Jorge, São Paulo, Brazil
Capacity
37,500 (Pacaembu),18,386 (Parque São Jorge}
Chairman
Alberto Dualib
Manager
Geninho

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, commonly known as Corinthians, is one of the most popular Brazilian football teams, from São Paulo in Brazil.

The team’s nickname, Timão, is the augmentative form of time (team), but the word also means rudder; a ship’s steering wheel. Some people thought the rudder was depicted in the original badge, because of the anchor and other nautical references. In 1966, Corinthians had a great team with Garrincha, Rivelino, Ditão, and Nair, that won the Rio-São Paulo Tournament and Torino Tournament beating teams like Internazionale (Italian champion and 3rd. in European Cup) and Pelé’s Santos. Because of that, the nickname was given by the press.

Stadium

Corinthians’ stadium is Estadio Parque São Jorge (officially named Estadio Alfredo Schürig), also known as Fazendinha (in English, Little Farm), built in 1928 with a maximum capacity of 18,386 people. But, actually, Corinthians plays almost every match at Pacaembu, a Municipal stadium, officially named Estadio Paulo Machado de Carvalho, with a maximum capacity of 37,500. Alternatively, the team sometimes play in the Morumbi stadium, owned by its rival São Paulo. It is usually used in very important games, where the crowd can go over 70,000 people. Curiously, most of Corinthians’ most important titles have been won at that stadium, like many of the São Paulo State Championships and all of the Brazilian League titles, in 1990, 1998, 1999 and most recently 2005.

History

Foundation

S.C. Corinthians Paulista was founded September 1, 1910, by a group of (chiefly Italian and Spanish) labourers in the neighbourhood of Bom Retiro, under the lights of an oil lamp, in the “Rua dos Imigrantes” (Immigrants Street). Their idea was to found a football team in which anyone could display his abilities in the sport, since back then, in the beginning of the 20th century, football in Brazil was played mainly by British descendants and people who worked for British companies, like the São Paulo Railway. In other words, Corinthians, like club Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, was one of the first “popular” football clubs in Brazil

.

The origin of the name

Among the founders, the first ideas for the name of the club were full of Brazilian national spirit: Carlos Gomes Football Club and Futebol Clube Santos Dumont. However, these prominent Brazilian names were put aside after the English amateur team Corinthians, that wear pink and brown shirts, won all six games in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro during an exhibitional tour of Brazil. The name Sport Club Corinthians Paulista was agreed upon, as an homage to the great British club of the beginning of the past century. The name was suggested by Joaquim Ambrósio, one of those five labourers who founded the club.

Becoming great

In the first few years after its foundation, Corinthians Paulista played first in local tournaments, and then in the São Paulo State Championships. Its first winning season was in 1914, as they became State Champions of that year. Other triumphs followed. As a popular team, the number of Corinthians supporters is huge. In Brazil,

the club is in the 2nd position in number of supporters

, behind Flamengo, although speaking in numbers or registered fans (or those associated with an organized fan base), Corinthians has the largest amount of supporters in Gaviões da Fiel. In São Paulo state alone, Corinthians’ fan base is calculated to be at least 12 million (out of 40 million inhabitants).

The Great Rival

In 1914, inspired by the visit of two Italian clubs, some Italian immigrants, members of Corinthians, decided to form a club (football and basketball) of their own, the Palestra Italia (now known as Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras). They were instantly labeled as betrayers and the teams became rivals, not only because of the “betrayal”, but also because Corinthians had many immigrant supporters in its beginning and the new club quickly divided the support among them. The two teams remain the two bitterest and fiercest rivals in São Paulo (and in Brazillian soccer) to this day.

The Centennial Champion

Corinthians are known in Brazil as the “Centennial Champion”, because of the coincidence featured in the years of some of its conquests

  • 1922 - State Champions; Brazil’s independence from Portugal was in 1822
  • 1954 - State Champions; Foundation of the city of São Paulo was in 1554

The Champion of Champions

Corinthians is also known in Brazil as the “Campeão dos Campeões” (Champion of Champions). That’s because in 1915 the team broke up with the Paulista League and didn’t participate on that year’s tourney, won by Germania. At the end of the season, Corinthians defied the champions and won by 4-1. Challenged to face Palmeiras, the champion of the Apea League (another league of those times), Corinthians didn’t back off, and beat the rivals by 3-0. As a sidenote, the victorious team on those challenges was also the 1914 and 1916 undefeated São Paulo State Championship champion.

There’s also another story that could explain that nickname. In 1930, even though there was yet no national championship in Brazil, there was a challenge match between the champions of the São Paulo and the Rio de Janeiro State Championships. On February 16, on a match against Vasco da Gama, in Rio de Janeiro, Corinthians won by 4-2, with goals scored by Filó, De Maria and Gambinha, bringing home the “Champion of Champions” trophy.

Nowadays that nickname is used on the second verse of the club’s official anthem.

The Musketeer

Corinthians’ official mascot is the musketeer, symbol of bravery, audacity and fight spirit. The adoption of that character recalls the first years of the club. In 1913 most of the football leaders of the São Paulo State founded the APEA (Paulista Athletic Sports Association, in English).

In the now-poor Paulista League remained only Americano, Germania and Internacional, known so far as the “three musketeers” of the paulista football. Corinthians therefore joined those three teams as D’Artagnan, being the fourth and most adored musketeer, just like Alexandre Dumas’ novel The Three Musketeers. To be accepted on that “musketeers universe”, Corinthians had to show its bravery. As there was many other teams who wanted that spot on the Liga Paulista, Corinthians participated on a selective tournament against Minas Gerais and São Paulo, two other great teams of paulista amateur football at that time. With class and competence, the corinthian team won Minas by 1-0 and São Paulo by 4-0, being accepted in the group and acquiring the right to participate in the Special Division of the Paulista League in the following year.

The club in 2004-2005

The club’s situation in early 2004 was one of the most difficult in its history. Bad administration, lack of money and terrible campaigns both in the 2003 Brazilian Championship and in the 2004 São Paulo State Championship were worrying its millions of supporters. Fortunately some young players like forward Jo (17 years old) and defenders Betão and Wendel (both 20) and a new manager Tite helped the team to improve from their terrible start. At the end of the championship, Corinthians finished in the 5th place and won entry to the Copa Sudamericana (a minor continental championship).

More recently, Corinthians have signed a controversial deal with an international fund of investors known as Media Sports Investment. The deal grants the company a large degree of control of the club for 10 years, in exchange for large investments. This has brought many good quality players to the team, such as former Boca Juniors star Carlitos Tevez, midfielders Marcelo Mattos, Gustavo Nery, Roger, Javier Mascherano and Carlos Alberto, defender Seba Dominguez and Marinho as well as a new coach, Passarella, who was quickly replaced by Marcio Bittencourt, after an unexpected 5-1 loss for one of Corinthians’ greatest rivals: São Paulo.

Despite the new reinforcements on field, Corinthians had a slow start in the 2005 state championship, but the team improved its position considerably, managing to finish in 2nd. By August, Corinthians has won the “first half” (a symbolic title) of the Brazilian championship and since then have maintained the lead in the competition.

In September, after a sequence of bad results, coach Marcio Bittencourt was dismissed and Antônio Lopes became Corinthians’ new coach. He had a good start eliminating River Plate in the Copa Sudamericana and kept Corinthians in first place. On December 4th, 2005, they were crowned Brazilian champions for the fourth time, after numerous events during the league, such as many defining referee errors and the controversial annulment of eleven games due to a betting scandal.

Trivia

The Mule’s Skull

There is a popular superstition in Brazil (of probable African origin) saying that a place can be made unwholesome or cursed by burying a mule’s skull in it. In 1976, after 22 years of no success, Corinthians was startled by the “revelation” that a mule’s skull had been found buried exactly in the midfield of Parque São Jorge during the replacement of the grass. The superstitious fans believed that the curse had ended (although no record of the finding subsist). The team eventually won the 1977 São Paulo State league.

The Stars from Terrão

One of the things Corinthians is most proud of is their tradition of revealing new talented football players. Unlike their main rivals who usually sign players from other clubs, Corinthians has always given a chance to its younger players. There hasn’t been any reason to regret this as historic midfielder Roberto Rivelino, the goalkeeper Ronaldo and several other stars were born in the Parque São Jorge’s Terrão — a field in bad shape that has more earth than grass (in Portuguese terra means earth). Presently, the Terrão is in the process of being replaced by the Ecologic Park Trainng Camp, a modern complex that is currently under contruction. The current professional team is full of players that got their start in Terrão, such as Betão, Eduardo Ratinho, Ronny, Bruno Octavio, Wendell, Élton, Bôbo, Edson along with many others. Many of the most important teams in the world have had a star from the Terrão play for an extended period of time. Some examples are Sylvinho in Barcelona, Cris in Lyon, Edu in Valencia, Ewerthon in Zaragoza, Paulo Sérgio (Bayern Munich) and many others.

FIFA 2000 Club World Champions

The FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil was the first international footballing event of the new millennium. With a mind-boggling array of top-tier talent on display, the brave, new move towards a more globalised club football community made for quite a showcase indeed. Eight club sides representing every corner of Planet Football converged on Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to bask under the warm South American sun in the nation considered by most to be the true heart and soul of the beautiful game. Among the star-studded list of combatants were FIFA Club of the Century, Real Madrid, from Spain’s prestigious La Liga, and recently-crowned European champions Manchester United of England’s Premier League. The 1999/2000 treble-winning side even forewent the opportunity to defend the FA Cup in order to battle it out with the world’s finest clubs in the land of carnival and samba.

Champions: It was the two Brazilian participants, Rio’s Vasco da Gama and Corinthians of Sao Paulo that met under the scorching South American sun in a star-studded local Final. The Sao Paulo side just managed to pip their rivals 4-3 in a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of tactical, goalless football. After drawing with Real Madrid and disposing of Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca in the first round, Corinthians and their stable of thoroughbreds - Vampeta, Freddy Rincon, Edu, Dida and Edilson - ran out worthy champions in front of a crowd of 73,000 in Rio’s fabled Maracana Stadium.

Surprises: A final without at least one of Europe’s top teams was surely the single-most surprising act at the FIFA Club World Championship stage. Spanish giants Real eventually finished a disappointing fourth after losing out to Necaxa of Mexico in the 3rd/4th-place play-off match. The Spaniards had missed out on the Final only on goal difference as they finished level on points in their group with eventual champions Corinthians. Manchester United’s 1-3 loss to Vasco da Gama saw the pre-tournament favourites go home early, victimised by Romario and Edmundo - the latter scoring, without doubt, the goal of the competition.

Mexican representatives Necaxa kicked up quite a stir as they sauntered into the third-place match against Real Madrid and put up a ferocious fight to the final whistle. Led by the attacking exploits of Ecuadorian sensation Agustin Delgado, the stylish Mexico City side slipped past the European aristocrats on penalties, returned home with heads held high.

Player of the Tournament: Corinthians’ striker Edilson collected the adidas Golden Ball as the most valuable player of the competition. His two goals and one assist were only part of his outstanding play on the field that won him the award and helped his team become the first FIFA Club World Champions.

Honours

  • FIFA Club World Championship: 2000
  • Brazilian Série A (Campeonato Brasileiro): 1990, 1998, 1999, 2005
  • Brazilian Cup (Copa do Brasil): 1995, 2002
  • Rio-São Paulo Tournament (Torneio Rio-São Paulo): 1942, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1966, 2002
  • São Paulo State Championship (Campeonato Paulista): 1914, 16, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 37, 38, 39, 41, 51, 52, 54, 77, 79, 82, 83, 88, 95, 97, 99, 2001, 2003
  • Brazilian Supercup (Supercopa do Brasil): 1991
  • President Marcos Gimenéz Cup/World Trophy: 1953
  • Bandeirantes Cup: 1994
  • Porto Alegre City Trophy: 1983
  • Torneio do Povo (Torneio do Povo): 1971
  • Trofeo Ramón de Carranza (Spain): 1996
  • Hidalgo International Cup (Mexico): 1981
  • Torino Tournament (Italia): 1966, 1969
  • New York International Tournament (USA): 1969
  • São Paulo Youth Cup (Copa São Paulo de Futebol Juniors): 1969, 1970, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2005
  • Dallas Cup (youth): 1999, 2000
  • Nike Cup (youth): 2003

Historic players

  • Sócrates - 1982 World Cup player
  • Rivelino - 1970 World Cup champion
  • Gilmar - 1958 and 1962 World Cup champion
  • Neto - 1990 Brazilian Série A champion
  • Marcelinho Carioca (OMF) - Champion of 1998 and 1999 Brazilian Série A, 1995 Copa do Brasil, 2000 FIFA Club World Championship, signed with Corinthians till the end of 2006.
  • Dunga (DMF) - 1994 World Cup champion
  • Ronaldo (GK) - 1990 Brazilian Série A champion, currently in Portuguesa Santista
  • Carlos Tevez (FW) - 2004 Summer Olympics champion, 2005 Brazilian Série A champion (currently a player for Argentina’s National Football Team)
  • Viola (FW) - 1994 World Cup champion, currently in CA Juventus
  • Dida (GK) - 2002 World Cup champion, 2000 FIFA Club World Championship champion, currently in Milan, and in Brazilian National Football Team
  • Edilson (FW) 2000 FIFA Club World Championship, 99 Brazilian Série A champion, currently in Vasco da Gama
  • Edu (DMF) - 1998 Brazilian Série A champion, currently at Valencia C.F.
  • Ricardinho (CMF) - 2002 World Cup champion, 2000 FIFA Club World Championship champion (currently a player for the Brazilian National Football Team)
  • Vampeta (DMF) - 2002 World Cup champion, 2000 FIFA Club World Championship champion, currently in Goias
  • Freddy Rincón (DMF) - 2000 FIFA Club World Championship champion
  • Carlos Gamarra (DMF) - 1999 Brazilian Série A, currently in Palmeiras
  • Neco - 1922 Centenery of Independence champion
  • Jõ - 2005 Brazilian Série A champion
  • Deco - was born in Brazil and played for Corinthians till his 14 to 15 years of age, when he transferred to Portugal and got his citizenship after a few years playing there.

Current Players

External links

Click here to see other Argentinean and Brazilian Football Clubs

Source: Wikipedia On-line Encyclopedia