1912 Football Foundation
Ten players who left Fluminense founded Flamengo's football department; it played its first match in 1912.
Flamengo, founded as a rowing club in 1895, got a football team only after ten dissatisfied Fluminense players left their club following a board dispute. They chose Flamengo because their captain, Alberto Borgerth, also rowed there. The new members were admitted on 8 November 1911, and after a motion against entering football tournaments was voted down, the football department was established on 24 December 1911.
Quick Facts
- Football department founded
- 24 December 1911
- First official match
- 3 May 1912, Flamengo 16–2 Mangueira
- First fla–flu
- 7 July 1912, Fluminense 3–2
- First campeonato carioca
- 1914
Lore & Background
The team trained on Russel Beach and won over locals who watched their practice games. The first official match, on 3 May 1912, was a 16–2 win over Mangueira, still the club's biggest margin of victory. The first Fla–Flu followed on 7 July 1912, and Fluminense won 3–2.
Flamengo finished runners-up in the 1912 Campeonato Carioca and won it for the first time in 1914, wearing a red, black and white striped shirt nicknamed the cobra coral (coral snake). The first kit had been nicknamed the papagaio vintém after a kind of kite.
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