Coritiba Foot Ball Club
Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba, and colloquially as "Coxa Branca" or simply "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba in the state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest football club in the state. Coritiba have won the Paraná State Championship 37 times – more than both of its main rivals combined. Coritiba has won the Brazilian Championship once in 1985.
Coritiba is the first club from southern Brazil to have won a national title, the 1973 Torneio do Povo, and is also the first southern club to have competed in both main continental competitions – the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. Coritiba was both the first club from Paraná to have won the Série A, and to reach the semi-finals in the second main competition in the country – the Copa do Brasil – in 1991, 2001, 2009, and to reach the finals in 2011 and 2012.
Coritiba is the only club who have six consecutive Paranaense titles, between 1971 and 1976. Coritiba is also the club with the most appearances in this championship.
The club are currently in first place on the FPF ranking, 14th place on the CBF ranking, 83rd place on the Conmebol ranking and 125th on the international IFFHS ranking. The club has more than 30,000 members.
As of 2013, Coritiba has partnerships with Porto and Benfica of Portugal, Chivas Guadalajara of Mexico, Daegu of South Korea and VVV-Venlo of the Netherlands. Coritiba is the first football club in the south of Brazil to begin to embrace American football. The Coritiba Crocodiles were formed through a fusion between Coritiba and the Barigui Crocodiles, and are the one time Brazilian champions, five times state champions and have twice won the southern conference.
History
Foundation
In 1909, a group of young men met in the Clube Ginástico Teuto-Brasileiro Turnverein, where the German immigrant community of Curitiba gathered to play a variety of sports. In July of that year, a prominent member of the club, Frederico "Fritz" Essenfelder arrived with a leather ball in hand. He explained to his friends that it was a football and he explained the rules of this new game. Fritz and his friends within the club started organizing matches in the field of the Quartel da Força Pública.Later, an invitation came to play a match against a club of workers, many of them British, from the Ponta Grossa railway. On 12 October 1909, Fritz called a meeting in the old Theatro Hauer to arrange the first match. A decision was made to form a football club, and he would call it Teuto-Brasileiro. Teuto-Brasileiro would be the first football club in the state of Paraná.
The First Match
On 23 October 1909, in Ponta Grossa, the club had its first official match. The opponents were Clube de Foot Ball de Tiro Pontagrossense, made up of employees from the South American Brazilian Engineering Company. The match was won by Tiro Pontagrossense, with a 1–0 scoreline, the goal being scored by Elias Mota.Coritiba's team for the first match was: Arthur Iwersen, Erothildes Carlberg, Leopoldo Obladen, Arthur Hauer, Alfredo Labsch, Alfredo Hauer, Walter Dietrich, Teodoro Obladen, Carlos Schleker, Roberto Juchks, Fritz Essenfelder, Johann Maschke, Waldemar Hauer, Alvin Hauer and Rudolf Kaastrup.
Club Foundation
After the match in Ponta Grossa, the club's founders and members were excited by the new game, and decided to dedicate their club exclusively to football. There were already more than 50 players, many of them not of German descent, yet the Clube Ginástico Teuto-Brasileiro Turnverein did not allow non-German members; this led to the formation of a separate club. Finally, on 30 January 1910, the independent Coritibano Foot Ball Club was formed. The name was chosen as this is what the team had played as at their first match in Ponta Grossa.The first club meeting was held 21 April 1910, after they had acquired all of the rules of the sport. During this meeting, the first Board of Directors was formed, naming João Viana Seiler as president, Arthur Hauer as vice-president, José Júlio Franco and Leopoldo Obladen as first and second secretary respectively, and Walter Dietrich and Alvim Hauer as first and second treasurer respectively. Fritz was named captain of the team. It was also during this meeting that the name of the club was changed, this time to Coritiba, after the old name of the capital of Paraná. This was to avoid confusion with a social club in the city called Coritibano. The foundation of Coritiba Foot Ball Club effectively launched organized football in the state of Paraná.
1910s and 1920s
The search for a football ground began and the Hipódromo do Guabirotuba was chosen. It was also the home of the Jockey Clube do Paraná until 1955. Bleachers were needed to accommodate spectators, and after the new stadium was retrofitted for football, it was named Prado de Guabirotuba. The inauguration took place on 12 June 1910, before a match against Ponta Grossa Foot Ball Club. Coritiba won the match 5–3. It was the first football match in Curitiba and was viewed by 200 spectators. Coritiba went on to play at Prado de Guabirotuba until 1917.In 1915, Coritiba started competing in both the Campeonato da Cidade and the Campeonato Paranaense state championship. Coritiba won both the city and the state championships the following year. On 2 July 1916, Coritiba defeated a club by the name of Spartano in the Campeonato Paranaense state championship by 7 goals to the opponent's nought. That year, star player José Bermudes – better known as Maxambomba – became the first player from a Paraná team to be selected for the Brazilian national squad. Coritiba won the Torneio Afonso Camargo and, in 1917, the club started playing at their new stadium Parque da Graciosa in Juvevê, where they played until 1932.
In 1920, Coritiba won the Torneio Início and, in 1921, they won it again along with the Torneio da Cruz Vermelha and the Torneio de Tiradentes. On 15 August 1921, the club beat the São Paulo state team, the Seleção Paulista, 1–0. The São Paulo state team formed the backbone of the Brazilian national side, so this victory put football in the State of Paraná on the national map. The forward Maxambomba and the midfielder Gonçalo Pena were both selected for the Brazilian national team that played in the 1921 South American Championship.
In 1924, the great state rivalry between Coritiba and Clube Atlético Paranaense began. On June 8 of that year, Coritiba beat Atlético 6–3, with four goals by Ninho. On 7 November 1926, Coritiba beat Paraná Sports 13–1, the largest goal difference in the history of the Paraná state championship. Staco scored five goals for Coritiba. In 1927, with Antônio Couto Pereira as president, Coritiba soundly won the Campeonato Paranaense by winning eight of their nine matches. Staco scored seven goals in a 9–0 victory over Savoia. In the same year, the club won both the Campeonato da Cidade and the Taça Fox.
1930s and 1940s
In 1930, Coritiba won the Torneio Início. On 23 November, Coritiba beat their arch-rivals Atlético-PR by 7–4, the highest scoring match in the competition. The following year, Coritiba won the Campeonato Paranaense and the Campeonato da Cidade. In the 1931 edition of the Campeonato Paranaense, history was made during a match against Palestra Itália.Moaçir Gonçalves was a player-manager for Coritiba and he became the first black player for a team from the state capital. There were many black players in the 1930s in Brazil, but Curitiba was a city dominated demographically by German, Polish and Ukrainian immigrants so black players were rare. With his team trailing 3–1, Moaçir Gonçalves substituted himself in and Coritiba won 5–4.
Another notable character that season was Rei, a young ball boy for Coritiba nicknamed Rei dos Vagabundos due to his lazy, laid-back attitude. During training for a Sunday match, the regular goalkeeper was late and the coach, Pizzatto, put the sixteen-year-old Fontana in the net. He astonished everyone with his performance and he was promptly registered as a player by the next match. He debuted against Atlético-PR in Baixada, and Coritiba won 1–0. José Fontana was selected as Man of the Match and went on to be known as 'The King'. He became the first goalkeeper from Paraná state to be selected for the national side.
In 1932, Coritiba won both the Torneio Inicio and the Torneio dos Cronista Esportivos. On 7 August 1932, Coritiba beat Atlético-PR 6–1, away from home and with a reserve team. On 19 November, Coritiba inaugurated its new Belfort Duarte stadium. The inaugural match was against América-RJ, a team from Rio who were the defending champions of the Campeonato Carioca, which is the state championship in Rio de Janeiro. Coritiba won 4–2 and began a long period of success, winning many titles including the city's championship, Campeonato da Cidade, the Campeonato Paranaense, the Torneio Arthur Friedenreich and Torneio Início.
On 23 January 1941, Coritiba played its first match against a foreign team, drawing with Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata of Argentina at Belfort Duarte. On 1 February 1942, Neno scored seven goals in a 10–2 victory over Jacarezinho. On 18 March, the club played a friendly against Avaí and won 4–1, the first match played at night under floodlights in the state of Paraná. In 1943, Coritiba won both the Torneio Imprensa and the Torneio Luis Aranha. 1944 saw Coritiba win the Torneio Getúlio Vargas and, in the following year, the Torneio da Cidade de Curitiba. During this time Couto Pereira left the presidency of the club after two terms. In 1946 and 1947, won the Campeonato da Cidade and were twice champions in the Campeonato Paranaense. Also in 1947, Coritiba won all four categories of the Campeonato Paranaense and was dubbed Campeoníssimo or 'Super Champion'. On 12 July 1949, Coritiba played its first match against a club from outside of continental America. They beat Rapid Vienna of Austria 4–0 in Vila Capanema. Rapid Vienna was the Austrian national champion at the time.
1950s and 1960s
The 1950s was a successful decade for Coritiba. The club won the Torneio Triangular de Curitiba in 1950, and the Torneio Quadrangular Interestadual and Torneio Quadrangular de Londrina in 1953. They won the Campeonato Paranaense six times: 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1959In 1960, Coritiba won the Campeonato Paranaense again. In that year, the club lost the famous coin game to Grêmio for the title of Taça Brasil. After three draws between the clubs, the title was decided with the flip of a coin. In 1967, Evangelino da Costa Neves became the new president of Coritiba and he stayed at the helm for more than twenty years. On August 6, Coritiba defeated Atlético Madrid of Spain in Belfort Duarte 3–2, with three goals from Walter. On December 12, Coritiba beat the Hungarian national side 1–0 at Belfort Duarte.
In 1968, Coritiba ended a draught of eight years without titles when they became champion of the Campeonato Paranaense, also winning the Torneio Internacional de Verão. On June 2, Coritiba played Napoli of Italy, at Belfort Duarte. On November 13, Coritiba played the Brazilian national team, losing 2–1.
In 1969, Coritiba embarked on its first international tour, playing friendlies in Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Belgium, and participating in the III Torneio Cidade de Murcia, in Spain. The club won the Pierre Colon Cup in France as well. Coritiba played against the likes of Valencia of Spain, Borussia Dortmund of Germany, Bordeaux of France, Feyenoord of the Netherlands, Austria Vienna of Austria, Levski Sofia of Bulgaria, and Anderlecht of Belgium.
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1970sIn 1970, in order to rally their fans and boost their finances for an expansion of the Belfort Duarte Stadium, the president Evangelino adopted the strategy used by rivals Atlético-PR, making some major signings. The first wave included players like Rinaldo, Joel Mendes and Hidalgo. The club embarked on another international tour, this time playing against clubs in France, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Romania and Portugal, as well as the Algerian national side and Sporting CP. Coritiba won the Torneio Internacional de Verão in 1970 and 1971.In 1971, Coritiba started what is known as The Golden Decade, winning six consecutive state championships – a record in Parana state football history. On January 18, 1971, Coritiba played the French national side, who had just beaten Argentina, at Belfort Duarte and won 2–1. In 1972, on a third international tour, the club played friendlies in Algeria and Morocco, and took part in a tournament in Turkey. On this tour, Coritiba played against Fenerbahçe, as well as the national sides of both Turkey and Morocco. Returning undefeated to Coritiba, they received the Fita Azul. In the same year, Coritiba played Benfica from Portugal, and the national sides of both Hungary and Congo at Belfort Duarte. In 1973, Coritiba won the Torneio do Povo, becoming the first team from southern Brazil to win a national title. On June 18, Coritiba beat the Paraguayan national side 1–0 at Belfort Duarte. Coritiba won the Quadrangular de Goiás in 1975 and in 1976 and 1978. In 1977, the name of the Belfort Duarte stadium was changed to Major Antônio Couto Pereira, and, in 1978 and 1979, Coritiba won two Campeonatos Paranaense. The club ended the 1970s with eight state championships and, in 1979, finished third in the national Brasileirão.
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