America Football Club
One of six clubs that invented Rio football in 1905 — still playing, still fighting relegation, red devil and all.
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Founded in 1904, America helped create Rio de Janeiro's first football federation the following year. Their Tijuca ground, the Estádio Giulite Coutinho, carries over a century of state football history, including seven state championships and a famous 1982 overtime win against Guarani at Maracanã that earned the yellow star above their crest.
What to look for
- The yellow star above the club emblem — awarded for winning the 1982 Tournament of Champions at Maracanã, a spot America only got because Flamengo declined the invitation
- Red shirts, white shorts, and red socks — the unchanged colors of a club that has been in Rio football since 1904
- Devil mascot imagery throughout the ground, the symbol of a club that composer and football anthem writer Lamartine Babo supported
The stadium is in Tijuca, northern Rio; America currently plays Campeonato Carioca Série A2 (second division), so check the state league schedule for home fixtures and expect a local crowd rather than a tourist scene.
America Football Club is one of 29 sights worth the detour in Rio de Janeiro, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Rio de Janeiro pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Rio de Janeiro
- Christ the RedeemerArms stretched 28 metres wide at the summit of a 700-metre mountain, face turned east to meet the sunrise every morning.
- Maracanã StadiumOn 16 July 1950, 210,850 people packed this bowl to watch Uruguay beat Brazil 2–1 — the largest crowd ever recorded at a football match, and that record still stands.
- Museu NacionalOne fire in 2018 erased 200 years of collecting — 20 million objects, Brazil's oldest scientific institution, mostly gone overnight.
- Estádio Nilton Santos (Engenhão)The stadium that blew six times its construction budget and then hosted an Olympics.
- Arquivo Nacional (Brazilian National Archives)Brazil's paper memory since 1838 — founded as the Imperial Public Archives before the republic even existed.
- Rio–Niterói BridgeEight kilometres of concrete over open water, built so a bay full of ships and two city skylines could coexist.