National and state champion Flamengo will return to Gávea on Tuesday to begin training for the 2010 season. The red-and-black team will remain at the club until Wednesday, when it will travel to the interior of São Paulo to prepare for the rest of the year. Preseason training will be held at the Traffic Football Academy in Porto Feliz from Thursday the 7th to Friday the 15th.

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The Flamengo delegation leaves for Porto Feliz on Wednesday the 6th, after training in the afternoon at Gávea, without much news. Flamengo hasn't signed any players for the new season and is expected to only have the return of a few players who were on loan to other clubs. However, some players are leaving the club, and their return dates have not yet been confirmed.

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The importance of a well-executed preseason is emphasized by all football experts and has become a major concern for Flamengo's management. During the victorious 2009 season, the team trained at Granja Comary. This year, because the State Championship starts earlier, Flamengo's preseason will have two parts: the first in Porto Feliz, until the 15th, and after the Carioca debut on the 17th against Caxias, the team heads to Volta Redonda, where they will prepare until the match against the home team on the 22nd.

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Raulino de Oliveira Stadium is already a familiar sight to the red-and-black fans, but the Traffic Academy is not. Located in Porto Feliz, 100 km from São Paulo, it is the home of Desportivo Brasil and boasts seven fields, accommodation for 144 athletes, and an enviable infrastructure. The Academy occupies a 156 m² area along the Marechal Rondon Highway. It features five official fields and two for specific training, built with the most modern technological resources, including automatic drainage and irrigation.

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The Academy's central building, with over 4 m² of construction on two floors, comfortably accommodates 144 athletes and 48 members of the coaching staff and has separate common and leisure areas for amateurs and professionals, with game, TV, and computer rooms. The central building houses a modern fitness and recovery center. The gym, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, operates alongside the doctors', physiotherapists', and physiologists' offices. The complex also features an indoor heated pool and a cryotherapy unit.

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The city of Porto Feliz, where the Traffic Academy is located, was founded on the left bank of the Tietê River in a place the native Indians called Araritaguaba ('place where macaws land to feed' in Tupi). The oldest known record of the location dates back to 1693 and refers to a farm owned by Antonio Cardoso Pimentel, who founded the settlement. A decree of October 13, 1797, elevated the settlement to the status of a town and changed its name to Porto Feliz.

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The city has a diversified economy based on agriculture and small and medium-sized industrial establishments. In the city's rural area, sugarcane monoculture predominates. Approximately 110 industries are located in the municipality. The most notable are: metallurgy, chemical, paper and cardboard, and textile industries. The municipality's location favors the establishment of industries. Located 110 km from the São Paulo metropolitan area, it benefits from major highways, such as the Marechal Rondon highway.

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Porto Feliz has a tradition in livestock farming, particularly beef cattle, not forgetting dairy production. It also boasts horse breeding, with several stud farms and one of the largest training centers in Latin America, located in the Tabarro neighborhood.