Fluminense sees state dominance threatened

Tricolores have won the Carioca 30 times; the red-blacks 29, and are in the final

Flamengo will play the State Championship against Botafogo and can reach Fluminense in terms of the number of state titles

LANCEPRESS!

With the 1-0 defeat to Botafogo this Sunday in the Rio Cup final, Fluminense fans will have to root for their opponent in the Rio Cup final to avoid seeing their hegemony in state championships threatened.

Outside of this year's final, the 30 Rio titles won by the Laranjeiras club could be equaled by rival Flamengo, who will play the championship final against Alvinegro.

The first Rio de Janeiro champion, in 1906, Fluminense, like Botafogo (1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935), had already won four championships (1906, 1907 - alongside Botafogo -, 1908 and 1909) and had been increasing its trophy cabinet in the period before Maracanã - it won the cup 15 times.

Interestingly, Flamengo's football was born from a split within the Tricolor. Over the past 58 years, when the state championship began being played on the Biggest Stadium in the World, Flamengo won 19 titles, compared to Fluminense's 15.

Halving the observation time, the Gávea club's progress becomes more pronounced: 11 red-black victories (two in 1979) compared to seven tricolor (with a ten-year drought - between 1985 and 1995).

The controversial titles:

1907 - Both Fluminense and Botafogo claimed the Metropolitan Football League (LMF) title. The division was officially formalized in 1993.

1912 - Paysandu won the LMF championship. Botafogo's title that year came in a league founded by Botafogo itself, the Rio de Janeiro Football Association (AFRJ), which had broken away from the LMF and lasted only one year.

1924 - Flamengo and Fluminense left the Metropolitan Land Sports League (LMDT) and founded the Metropolitan Athletic Sports Association (AMEA) in 1924. Other clubs were admitted to the AMEA, under conditions based on racial and social discrimination. Vasco remained in the LMDT alongside other smaller clubs.

1933 to 1936 - In 1933, several clubs, including the major ones, with the exception of Botafogo, broke away from the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD) and adopted professionalism, creating the Rio de Janeiro Football League (LCF). The CBD continued to officially recognize the AMEA, in which Botafogo remained.

1937 - With the adoption of professionalism throughout the national territory in 1937, the merger of the LCF and the Metropolitan Sports Federation (FMD) took place, creating the Rio de Janeiro Football League, which in 1941 was renamed the Metropolitan Football Federation.

1979 - The merger of the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro, which took place in 1974, was finalized in the football arena in 1979, with the creation of the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation (clubs from the interior had already been participating in the championship since 1975). To celebrate the event, the new entity held the so-called Special Championship, in addition to the regular championship.

Source: Mauro Prais.