Corinthians Paulista History, a club founded by railway workers
Football clubs are the whole reason behind football's popularity. Today we are going to learn Corinthians Paulista History.
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Corinthians Paulista history
! Paulista is a Brazilian sports club situated in the Tatuapé area of São Paulo. Although the club competes in different fields of sports, Corinthians club is mostly known for its professional football team, which plays in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top tier of the Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeonato Paulista Série A1, the first division of the traditional in-state competition.
Founded in 1910 by five railway workers inspired by the London-based Corinthian Football Club, Corinthians has become one of the most successful Brazilian clubs, having won the national title seven times, in addition to three Copa do Brasil trophies, one Supercopa do Brasil, and a record 30 São Paulo State championships.
On the international scene, the club won the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship in 2000, winning it for the second time in 2012 after being crowned Copa Libertadores de América champions for the first time the same year.
The club's home outfit generally contains white jerseys and black shorts, accompanied by white socks. Their original emblem was established in 1939 by modernist painter Francisco Rebolo with the São Paulo state flag in a shield, two oars, and an anchor signifying the club's early success in naval sports.
Since 2014, Corinthians has played their home matches in the Arena Corinthians, one of the sites of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, having hosted the opener on 12 June 2014 and a total of six matches throughout the tournament. That's not all to Corinthians Paulista history! so...
Let's start to learn about Corinthians Paulista History
The club was recognized by Forbes in 2017 as one of the most valuable football clubs in the Americas, valued at $576.9 million. The club is one of the most extensively supported teams in the world and the second-most in Brazil, with over 30 million supporters.
The birth of Corinthians Paulista
Let's start
Corinthians Paulista history
with its birth story! In 1910, football in Brazil was an aristocratic sport. The elite clubs were created by persons who were part of the upper classes. Among them were Club Athletico Paulistano, São Paulo Athletic Club, & Associação Atlética das Palmeiras. Lower-class society banned from larger clubs created their own minnow clubs and exclusively played "floodplain" football.
Bucking the trend, a group of five workers of the São Paulo Railway, more particularly Joaquim Ambrose and Anthony Pereira, Rafael Perrone, Anselmo Correia, and Carlos Silva, inhabitants of the suburb of Bom Retiro.
It was 31 August 1910 when these laborers were watching a match involving a London-based club touring Brazil, Corinthian F.C. After the match, while the party returned home, the guys chatted about partnerships, business ideas, and general dreams of grandeur. In the thoughts of each one arose a brilliant idea: the establishment of a club, after numerous exchanges in a vigorous dispute, a common ground led those athletes the same desire.
The debates led to the decision that they would meet the next day to convert a fantasy become reality. On 1 September 1910 and in expectation of severe rains, the group arranged to meet after dark in plain sight.
That night around 8:30 pm, on Rua José Paulino ("Rua dos Imigrantes" (Immigrants Street), underneath the illumination of an oil lamp the five laborers rejoined alongside their visitor and neighbors from Bom Retiro. That night the club was created, with its board of directors, who chose Miguel Battaglia as the first Club President.
Corinthians played its first match on 10 September 1910, away against União da Lapa, a recognized amateur club in São Paulo; and while being lost by 1–0, this match would signal the beginning of a prosperous era as an amateur team. On 14 September, Luis Fabi scored Corinthians' first goal against Estrela Polar, another amateur team in the city, and Corinthians won their debut game 2–0.
Joining the Liga Paulista
Here we are within the golden age of
Corinthians Paulista history
! With strong performances and an expanding number of followers, Corinthians joined the Liga Paulista, after winning two qualification games, and competed in the São Paulo State Championship for the first time, in 1913.
Just one year after joining the league, Corinthians was declared champion for the first time (in 1914) and were again two years later. There were several fly-by-night teams cropping up in São Paulo at the time, and during the first practice held by Corinthians a banner was hung by the side of the field proclaiming "This One Will Last".
The year 1922, the Centennial of Brazilian Independence, marked the commencement of Corinthians hegemony in the São Paulo State Championship. As football was virtually entirely played at Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo by that time, the two-state champions were regarded to be the two top clubs in Brazil.
After defeating the Rio de Janeiro State Championship title of that year, América, Corinthians joined the club of the best teams in Brazil. The same year also marked the first of three State Championships in a succession, something that happened again in 1928–30 and 1937–39.
Corinthians looked destined to win State Championships in threes; after six years without being a champion, they came won three more from 1937 to 1939. The 1940s were a more challenging time, and the club would win a title in 1941 and would only win their next in 1951.
The golden age
At the beginning of the 1950s, Corinthians created history in the São Paulo Championship. In 1951, the squad formed of Carbone, Cláudio, Luisinho, Baltasar, and Mário scored 103 goals in thirty matches of the São Paulo Championship, with an average of 3.43 per game.
Carbone was the leading goalscorer of the competition with 30 goals. The club would also win the São Paulo Championships of 1952 and 1954. In this same decade, Corinthians were winners three times of the Rio-São Paulo Championship, the competition that was becoming most significant in the country with the rising involvement of the finest clubs from the two most prominent footballing states in the country.
In 1953, in a competition in Venezuela, Corinthians won the Small Cup of the World, a championship that many views as a predecessor of the Worldwide Championship of Clubs. On the occasion, Corinthians, replacing for Vasco da Gama, traveled to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, and won six straight victories against Roma, Barcelona, and Selection of Caracas The club would also win the Cup of the Centenary of São Paulo, in the same year.
After the victory in the São Paulo Championship and the Rio-São Paulo of 1954, Corinthians suffered a protracted championship drought. The breakthrough eventually came when they won the São Paulo state championship in 1977, breaking a record of 23 years without a major trophy.
The true leadership
Under the leadership of Sócrates, Wladimir, and Casagrande, Corinthians were the first Brazilian team in which players decided upon concentração, a typical Brazilian ritual where the football players were locked up in a hotel days before a game and discussed politics.
In 1982, before the election of the government of São Paulo State, the team wore a shirt with the words: DIA 15 VOTE, seeking to inspire the maximum number of supporters to vote.
In 1990, Corinthians won their first Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, beating their rivals, São Paulo in the final at the opponents' own stadium, Estádio do Morumbi. In the next year, Corinthians overcame Flamengo and won the Supercopa do Brasil.
In 1995, the team won the Copa do Brasil for the first time, beating Grêmio in the final at the Estádio Olímpico Monumental in Porto Alegre. In the same decade, the club won the state title in 1995, 1997, and 1999, and won the national championship again in 1998 and in 1999. In 2000, the club won their first FIFA Club World Cup, beating Vasco da Gama on penalties in the final.
Between 1990 and 2005, the club also won the Ramón de Carranza Trophy in 1996, the Rio-São Paulo Tournament in 2002, the São Paulo Youth Cup in 1995, 1999, 2004, and 2005, and the Dallas Cup in 1999 and 2000.
Bad luck on the door
The club's predicament in early 2004 was among the most challenging in Corinthians Paulista history. Bad management, lack of money, and bad campaigns both in the 2003 Brazilian Championship and in the 2004 São Paulo State Championship prompted their millions of followers to worry. Fortunately, some fresh players and a new manager Tite helped the club to rebound from their dismal start. At the end of the championship, Corinthians finished in 5th position and received access to the Copa Sudamericana.
This predicament was one of the grounds which enabled Corinthians' president, Alberto Dualib, to convince the club's advisers to sign a contentious arrangement with an international fund of investors named Media Sports Investment. The contract offered the firm a considerable degree of influence over the club for 10 years in exchange for large financial commitments in return. This has attracted several great players to the squad, such as Carlos Tevez, Roger, Javier Mascherano, and Carlos Alberto.
Despite the MSI spending, Corinthians faced a sluggish start in the 2005 state tournament but managed to improve as it continued, finally managing to finish second. Their start to the Brazilian championship during 2005 was difficult, too, but after Daniel Passarella's dismissal (due to an unexpected 5–1 loss to Corinthians' rivals, São Paulo), the club finished the championship round well and were eventually crowned Brazilian Champions for the fourth time, after a controversial annulment of eleven games due to a betting scandal.
The relationship between Corinthians' management and the MSI president, Kia Joorabchian was not favorable, and after being eliminated in the Copa Libertadores, the club underwent a crisis which was responsible for the terrible results for the remainder of 2006. Eventually, the collaboration came to an end.
On 2 December 2007, following a 1–1 draw away to Grêmio, Corinthians were demoted to the second tier. Corinthians, who achieved promotion to the top flight of Brazilian football for 2009 by winning the Serie B competition, signed with three-time FIFA Player of the Year Ronaldo.
The miracle of Ronaldo
In 2009, inspired by Ronaldo, Corinthians won their 26th Campeonato Paulista and their third Copa do Brasil. Confirming the club's excellent moment, Corinthians ended the Campeonato Brasileiro 2010 in 3rd place, securing their berth on the ensuing Copa Libertadores.
After being knocked from the South American competition by the somewhat less established Deportes Tolima, though, Corinthians saw Ronaldo retire from football. To replace him, the club signed with other 2006 national squad veteran Adriano. In 2011, Corinthians won their sixth national title.
On 4 July, after reaching the final of the 2012 Copa Libertadores undefeated, Corinthians won its first title after a two-match final against 6-time champions Boca Juniors by drawing 1–1 in Argentina and winning 2-0 at the Estádio do Pacaembu in São Paulo, becoming the ninth Brazilian side to win the Copa Libertadores. The club won the 2012 FIFA Team World Cup after defeating English club Chelsea 1–0 on 16 December 2012.
Color and the badge
Even though the club has been characterized by the colors black and white for much of its existence, the first Corinthians' outfit initially consisted of cream shirts and black shorts. Back then, the choice of colors proved erroneous, since the cream hue would progressively fade white when the shirts were cleaned, signifying a cost a just founded organization could not afford.
Thus, early after the foundation, the official shirt colors were changed to white. In 1954 the conventional black with thin white stripes uniform was established and became the alternate uniform ever since.
The Corinthians' jersey had no insignia or crest until 1913 when the team entered the Liga Paulista, which dictated that every club in the tournament should have one on their uniforms. The basic composition of the letters C (Corinthians) and P (Paulista) was hurriedly constructed and stitched on the player's jerseys for the next matches, thus being regarded as the club's first de facto symbol.
Unlike the outfit, the badge went through various alterations throughout the years. In 1914, lithographer Hermogenes Barbuy, brother of then-player Amilcar Barbuy developed the club's first official badge, which premiered at a friendly versus Torino (Italy), in São Paulo.
In 1919, the circular shield with the São Paulo state flag was established, then updated in 1939 by modernist painter Francisco Rebolo, a former reserve player of the club in the 1920s, to incorporate a string, an anchor and two oars, signifying the early success the club earned in naval sports. Thereafter, the insignia passed through slight alterations throughout time, notably in the flag and in the frame.
In 1990, a yellow star was put above the logo to mark Corinthians' first national triumph. The same would occur when capturing the national crowns in 1998, 1999 and 2005, while a bigger star was inserted in 2000 after winning the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup. The stars stayed as part of the emblem until 2011 when the board determined the badge would not exhibit any stars in the future.
The first home
The initial playing area Corinthians utilized was located in the district of Bom Retiro, on a vacant lot owned by a firewood vendor, from which it received its nickname: Campo do Lenheiro. It was the season of the floodplain and the players themselves had to scrub and flatten the lawn.
In January 1918, Corinthians inaugurated their first official football pitch, Ponte Grande, on the banks of the Tiete River. The area was leased from the municipality under the persuasion of the intellectual Antonio de Alcantara Machado, one of the first to contact the club workers. It was constructed by the players and supporters in a community assisting structure. The Corinthians played their games there until 1927, with the building of their first stadium.
In 1926, the club bought Parque São Jorge, located within the Tatuapé neighborhood of the city, belonging to then rivals Esporte Clube Sírio, After acquiring, President Ernesto Cassano chose to restore the stage, with financial backing from the members.
The restored Parque São Jorge, still without floodlights, was launched on 22 July, in a friendly game against América-RJ that ended in a 2-2 tie. The area acquired contained a Syrian farm - thus the term Fazendinha, still used today.
Due to their rising number of supporters, Estádio Alfredo Schürig, and the completion of city-owned Pacaembu in the 1940s, from the 1950s the stadium was largely utilized for Academy level contests and friendly matches. The last first team match played there was a friendly versus Brasiliense on August 3, 2002. Since 1997, it is also the home ground of the professional women's football team
A place called home
Let's finish the Corinthians Paulista history with the club's home! In 2009 there were some conjectures that the government of São Paulo may negotiate a deal for a 30-year allocation of Pacaembu, but it never materialized, even if it was the club's director's desire, with programs intended to that topic.
After Estádio does Morumbi, then chosen as the city's host in the World Cup, failed to meet FIFA's regulations, a new initiative to establish a home for Corinthians surfaced as a possibility. In August 2010 the president of CBF, Ricardo Teixeira, along with Governor of São Paulo state, Alberto Goldman, and the mayor of São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab announced that the opening ceremony of the World Cup of Brazil would be held in the new Corinthians Stadium to be built in the district of Itaquera, in the eastern part of São Paulo city.
On 1 September 2020 (Corinthians' 110th anniversary), a special event live from the stadium was organized to unveil the Arena's new name. It was formally called Neo Química Arena, part of a 20-year agreement with Hypera Pharma, Brazil's largest pharmaceutical firm.
Neo Química is Hypera's generic pharmaceuticals subsidiary, which already served as Corinthians' principal sponsor for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The overall deal is projected to be approximately R$300–320 million. Thanks for reading our article about Corinthians Paulista history.
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