Clube Atlético Mineiro

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Atlético Mineiro
Atlético Mineiro
Full nameClube Atlético Mineiro
Nickname(s)Galo (The Rooster)
Founded1908
GroundMineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Capacity81,987
ChairmanRicardo Annes Guimarães
ManagerLevir Culpi
LeagueBrazilian Série B
2005Brazilian Série A, 20th

Clube Atlético Mineiro, usually known as Atlético Mineiro is a Brazilian football team from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, founded on March 25, 1908. Atlético is one of the most traditional teams of Brazil. The first official match was played on March 21, 1909, against Sport Club Futebol. The team plays in black and white vertical striped shirts, black shorts and white socks.

The team is known nationwide as Galo, due to its mascot, a rooster. It was the first official Brazilian champion and is noteworthy as the team finishing more times as runner-up (1977, 1980 and 1999). The team has finished in the top four 17 times (including three times as runner-up) without being champion. This has given the team a "tragic" trait and earned it a lot of sympathy in Brazil.

Atlético Mineiro is also remembered as the club who suffered the two greatest injustices of the Brazilian championship, in 1977 and 1980. In 1977 it had the best overall league campaign, but the league rules stated it had to play a final against São Paulo, which they lost on penalties after a 0-0 draw. Most Atlético fans felt outraged, especially because the club ended the league technically unbeaten (which did not happen to São Paulo).

In 1980 the club lost the final match to Flamengo, but fans still protest that a "friendly" referee overlooked the excess of violence used by Flamengo to stop Atlético's most important player, Reinaldo.

In 2003, the club was struck with economic problems due to a corruption scandal in late 90s involving Paulo Cury (Atlético's president at the time). A mark of these problems was the aquatic park which Atlético started to build, which was never finished. In the season of 2005, it finished in 20th position (out of 22 teams) and was relegated to the 2nd division. The present day economic troubles are frequently blamed on the Ricardo Guimarães administration since 2001. The club is now facing the biggest crisis in its history.

It should not be confused with Atlético-PR, a team with a similar name, but from a different state and wearing different symbols.

Titles

  • 1971 Brazilian League Champion
  • Thirty-eight state championships
  • 1937 - "Campeão dos Campeões" (FBF) ("Champion of the Champions", first official Brazilian tournament, with the champions of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, State of Guanabara, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo)
  • 1978 - Campeão dos Campeões do Brasil (Champion of the Champions of Brazilian League)
  • 38 State Championships(record)
  • Futsal - Brazilian Champions in 1997 & 1999
  • World Champions in 1998 (InterContinental Cup)

"International Competitions"

  • CONMEBOL Champion, 1992 and 1997.(South-American version of UEFA Cup, currently known as South-American Cup)
  • 1976 - Campeón del Torneo Conde de Fenosa (La Coruña, Spain)
  • 1977 - Trofeo Ciudad de Vigo (Spain)
  • 1980 - Campeón del Trofeo Costa do Sol (Málaga, Spain)
  • 1982 - Tournoi International de Paris
  • 1982 - Campeón del Tropheo Villa de Bilbao (Spain)
  • 1983 - Philips Cup Tournament of Berna (Switzerland)
  • 1984 - Amsterdam Toernooi (Holland)
  • 1990 - Champions of the Tournament of Cadiz (Spain)
  • 1990 - Trofeo Ramón de Carranza 1990
  • 1995 - Second place in CONMEBOL Cup

Current squad

As of August 2006 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
- GK Brazil BRA Diego
- GK Brazil BRA Édson
2 DF Brazil BRA Lima
3 DF Brazil BRA Daniel Marques
4 DF Brazil BRA Marcos
- DF Brazil BRA Thiago Feltri
- DF Brazil BRA Leandro Castan
- DF Brazil BRA Luiz Cláudio
- DF Brazil BRA João Paulo
- DF Brazil BRA Rodrigo Silva
- MF Brazil BRA Bilu
- MF Brazil BRA Zé Antônio
7 MF Brazil BRA Rafael Miranda
No. Pos. Nation Player
6 MF Brazil BRA André Santos
2 MF Brazil BRA Márcio Araújo
5 MF Brazil BRA Henrique
- MF Brazil BRA Tchô
- MF Brazil BRA Tony
- MF Brazil BRA Reginaldo Nascimento
10 MF Brazil BRA Marcinho
8 FW Brazil BRA Danilinho
11 FW Brazil BRA Roni
9 FW Brazil BRA Marinho
- FW Brazil BRA Galvão
- FW Brazil BRA Rafael Lopes
- FW Brazil BRA Éder Luís

Famous players

Football

  • Reinaldo - Average 1.55 goal per match in 1977 (The best average in Brazilian League ever). 28 goals in 18 matches. 255 goals (best scorer for Atlético ever). Played in World Cup 78 (one goal, against Sweden). And scored the goal that put the Brazilian Team through World Cup 82. Nicknamed the king, Reinaldo is still remembered by the club supporters and received significant support from both the club and the fandom when he faced persecution for drug consume in 1998.
  • Dario - also known as "Dadá Maravilha". World Champion in 1970, Brazilian´s League Scorer in 71 (Brazilian Champion, 15 goals), 72 (17 goals) and 76 (16 goals, Brazilian Champion playing in Internacional/RS).
  • Taffarel - World Cup 94 Champion.
  • Gilberto Silva - World Cup Champion 2002 - currently at Arsenal, England
  • Cicinho - Former Atlético youth,played for Atlético until 2003.Now in Real Madrid.
  • Mancini - Another player from Atlético youth sector. Played for the club from 1999 to 2003. His best season was in 2002, when he scored 15 goals in the Brazilian League. He was sold to AS Roma in 2003.
  • Toninho Cerezo - World Cup 82, Roma and Sampdoria also.
  • Eder - World Cup 82, nicknamed O Canhão ("The Cannon") was supposed to have one of the mightiest shoots of the world then and scored a goal against Soviet Union in the World Cup.
  • Luisinho - World Cup 82.
  • Murilo Silva - Won the Belfort Duarte Trophy, once he played 10 years without receiving a red card.
  • Lincoln - (Best Player in Bundesliga Nov/04 (Kicker magazine) - currently at Schalke 04}
  • Mazurkiewicz - Uruguay´s National Team goalkeeper in World Cup 1970.
  • Dedê - currently plays for Borussia Dortmund.
  • Cláudio Caçapa - currently plays for Olympique Lyonnais.
  • Juliano Belletti - currently plays for Barça.
  • Friedenreich - his farewell match he played for Galo.
  • Dondinho - Pelé´s father.
  • Zé do Monte - a midfield player in the 1950´s.
  • Paulo Isidoro

Top scorers

  • Reinaldo (255 goals)
  • Dario (211 goals)
  • Mario de Castro (195 goals)

Futsal

  • Manoel Tobias
  • Jackson
  • Falcão
  • Lenísio
  • Rogério
  • Vânder Carioca
  • Piu
  • Índio
  • Ronaldo
  • Paulinho Tenaz
  • Euler
  • Neto

Coaches

Fans

Atlético´s fan base is known in Brazil as one of the most passionate in the country. The nickname of the fan base is "Massa Atleticana" or simply "Massa", which is known all over the country, because of the club´s high popularity in Minas Gerais State. Massa means masses of lower class people.

Atlético usually has the best average attendances of the country. Since the Brazilian Championship began in 1971, Atlético was the first team to bring more than 10 million people to its matches. Since 1971, 11,743,767 people have watched Atlético play. The team holds the second best average attendance overall since 1971: 24,743 per game. Only Flamengo is ahead of Atlético, with 26,501 per match. Atlético is also the club which brought more people to Mineirão; as of 2002, 20,887,391 people in 1,011 matches. Even with 51 less games than the second placed, Atlético brought 1,542,884 people more.

Nowadays, Atlético´s fan base has about 8 million people,and it´s the biggest of Minas Gerais State,according to Placar magazine´s poll in 2001.

Some ultra groups are:

Derbies

Atlético plays 2 two derbies in Belo Horizonte City: Atlético vs. América and Atlético vs. Cruzeiro. Until the 1950´s and early 1960´s, the biggest derby of Minas Gerais State was Atlético vs. América, but from mid 60´s on, Atlético vs. Cruzeiro became the biggest.

Atlético vs. Cruzeiro derby has been played 447 times, with 184 wins for Atlético, 143 wins for Cruzeiro and 120 draws.

Atlético vs. América has been played 376 times, with 186 wins for Atlético, 100 wins for América and 90 draws.

The Rooster (Galo)

The team's mascot, the rooster, is one of the most well-known in the country. It was created in the 40's by Fernando Pierucetti, the cartoonist of "A Folha de Minas" newspaper. He was desginated to propose a mascot for each of the three greatest clubs in Belo Horizonte. According to Pierucetti, the symbol of Atlético was the rooster because the team used to play with plenty of passion, and would never give up until the end of each match, just like roosters used in cockfights.

External links