An interesting statistical study carried out by "Golden Goal" (www.goldengoal.com.br), which has just fallen into the hands of the blog, has several interesting findings.

It analyzes the participation of national fans from the first Brazilian Championship, in 1971, until the last, in 2006.

Among the findings, one that shows that Atlético Mineiro's fans are the second most present in the history of the Brazilian Championships when Galo is the home team.

Flamengo's is the first and Corinthians' is the third.

As the home team, the red-black team has an average of 25,8 thousand per game; the black-and-white team from Minas Gerais 24,6 and the team from São Paulo 22,7.

In the general average, however, which mixes the participation of teams as home and away teams, Flamengo maintains first place, with 23,9 thousand, but Corinthians takes second place, with 20,4, leaving Galo in third, with 18,4.

The study also shows that the last game with more than 100 fans in a Brazilian stadium took place in 1992, in the final between Flamengo and Botafogo, at Maracanã, which hosted, in fact, 16 of the 20 games with the highest attendance in the history of the Brasileirão.

The reason is obvious: the reduction in the capacity of our stadiums.

Other interesting facts: did you know that the longest winning streak in the Brasileirão was that of Guarani, in 1978, with 11 consecutive triumphs?

And that the longest unbeaten streak is Santa Cruz's, with 27 games without losing, in the same year, from the debut until being beaten by Inter, in the quarter-finals?

Or that the average ticket price was, in 1971, R$4,00, and, last year, R$10,51?

Unfortunately, the study does not focus on the essential issue of violence between fans, although it does record the Ibope survey which, in 2001, indicated that 89,2% of those surveyed attributed the phenomenon to the distance of fans from stadiums.

The study is titled "That's what people like" (an analysis of demand in Brazilian football and the reasons that bring fans to the stadium) and is worth checking out, although the price is steep: R$138,00.

You can go to about 13 games...