Fluminense FC

Fluminense Football Club. Owners of the most iconic and impressive kit colours at this year’s Fifa Club World Cup. The Tricolor Carioca. A club who predates Brazilian football itself – one born in the rhythms and flows of Rio de Janeiro itself—so let’s #GetTheBadgeIn and see what we can discover.

Fluminense was founded on 21 July 1902 by Oscar Cox, a young man from Rio’s privileged class. Born to a wealthy Anglo-Brazilian family, Cox had studied in Switzerland, where he discovered the newly codified game of football. On his return to Brazil, he brought with him a ball and introduced the game to his mates – who formed a team, Fluminense.

Based in the leafy, refined neighbourhood of Laranjeiras, the club was embraced by Rio’s educated elite—bankers, civil servants, merchants, and intellectuals. These were people who saw football not just as a pastime, but as a mark of sophistication, a link to the modern styles and trends in Europe – a modern sport for a modern city.

The club’s name, Fluminense, comes from the Latin word flumen, meaning river, combined with the Portuguese suffix -ense, meaning “from” or “belonging to.” It literally means “from the river,” and is the official demonym for people from the state of Rio de Janeiro (while Carioca refers specifically to the city). Choosing this name gave the club an identity tied not just to one neighbourhood, but to the broader spirit and pride of the state itself.

That sense of civic pride quickly turned into something concrete. In 1919, Fluminense became the first club in Brazil to build its own football stadium—Estádio das Laranjeiras—funded entirely by subscriptions from its own members. It quickly became the focus point for all thing soccer in Brazil, in fact, it had already begun hosting important matches even before completion. In 1914, the stadium was the setting for the Brazil national football team’s first ever game—and first ever goal—against Exeter City who were on tour at the time. Quite the claim for today’s League 1 Grecians (do they honour it? I’d have a Brazilian inspired away kit almost every year if I were them! And a club store in Rio!)

Five years later, it was where Brazil won their first title, the South American Championship of 1919. By 1922, Fluminense had over 4,000 members, a stadium with space for 25,000 fans, and facilities so impressive that they drew praise from visiting European teams.

Fluminense’s early story also shaped one of world football’s great rivalries. In 1911, internal disagreements among Fluminense players led to a group leaving to form Flamengo’s football team. The arguments centred over the team’s managements approach to discipline and team selection, which many of the players from more laid back and bohemian parts of the city felt were unfair and unnecessary. 11 players split and approach a local rowing club – Flamengo – and asked it they fancied opening a football team. They did. And so they did.

Here in lie the origins of the famous Rio “Fla-Flu” derby. The match became more than just a football fixture—it was a clash of identities. Over time, it came to reflect the social, cultural, and geographical contrasts within Rio itself.

That said, the two teams needed a stadium fitting to host such a large scale and passion event. In step The Maracanã. Constructed for the 1950 World Cup, the first one after the Second World War and an opportunity for Brazil to showcase itself to the world. The government invested and built the mighty (almost) 200,000 seater stadium. Unfortunately, in the final Uruguay shocked Brazil and won 2-1. In 1966 the stadium took on the name The Maracanã, in honour of local journalist Mário Filho. Filho led the world in developing sports’ journalism and his writing, covering the management, the players and the games in more detail than anyone else had ever done set the standard for modern sports’ journalism.

The Rio in which the team was based was a boom town during this period. That story begins centuries earlier. In the 1600s and 1700s, Rio was a key hub in the Portuguese colonial economy. It exported sugar to Portugal, which then re-exported it to England, France, and the Netherlands. Gold from inland mines passed through Rio to Europe, helping to fund the Portuguese crown. And Rio played a tragic role in the transatlantic slave trade, receiving enslaved Africans—particularly from Angola—as part of the wider imperial triangle. In the 1800s, coffee took over as Brazil’s dominant export. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, countries like the United States, Germany, and Britain became hungry for caffeine, and Rio became the engine room of the global coffee trade. By the early 1900s, Rio was expanding rapidly, and so too was Fluminense.

The club’s badge reflects all this—the refinement of its European influences. The interlocking FFC monogram, inspired by Swiss-style design, sits within a classic shield – honouring the Swiss influence that began with Oscar Cox. The colour scheme—maroon, green, and white—is entirely unique in world football. While adopted right from the very beginning of the team the colours have in later years been attributed to symbolises nature (green), peace (white), and dignity(maroon).

Through the ages the club’s youth academy in Xerém has developed modern stars such as Marcelo, Thiago Silva, and Fabinho. And while its image was once reserved and refined, today it carries the nickname Time de Guerreiros—Team of Warriors—a tribute to the spirit shown in comebacks like the dramatic relegation escape in 2009. That nickname sums up something vital: a club that was born of Rio’s elite has become part of its popular soul.

So, when you see the Fluminense badge—its sharp monogram, noble colours, and graceful design—It’s a window into Rio’s story: from sugar port to global city, from aristocratic pastimes to working-class passions. A story that continues to flow, like the river it’s named for.