Rio's Big Four Trivia Quiz

Answer: Botafogo

Botafogo traces its origins back to the Club de Regatas Botafogo (Botafogo Rowing Club), which was founded on 1 July 1894. At the time, rowing was an elite sport in Rio, with many clubs founded by participants in the sport, while football was seen as something of a common pursuit. Nevertheless, a decade after the foundation of the rowing club, in August 1904 a football club was also founded in Botafogo, which initially went by the name Electro; this was changed to Botafogo Football Club one month later.

The football and rowing clubs soon began to have a closer relationship, sharing not just a name, a location, team colours and supporters, which led to the idea of a merger. This eventually came to fruition in December 1942 when, during a friendly basketball game between representatives of the two clubs, footballer Armando Albano died - the presidents of the two clubs then announced that, in honour of Albano, the two clubs would join together to form a single institution, retaining the football club's black and white stripes, and with the rowing club's lone star badge.

As a reminder of its rowing past, Botafogo's official name is still Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas (Botafogo Football and Rowing).

Answer: Fluminense

Fluminense FC was originally founded in July 1902 by a group of enthusiasts of football, led by Oscar Cox. Cox was a Brazilian of English descent who had come across the game whilst studying in Europe, and looked to introduce it into his homeland. The new club's first official match came three months after its foundation, when Fluminense beat Rio FC 8-0.

In 1906, the club took part in the first Rio State Championship, the Campeonato Carioca, as one of six participants. At the end of the ten-game league season, Fluminense were champions on 18 points, four ahead of their nearest rivals.

In 1911, following a disagreement with the club's board, a number of Fluminense players elected to form a new football section of the Flamengo Rowing Club, which saw the founding of what ended as Fluminense's great rival. Since the foundation of Fluminense, they have gone on to be one of Brazil's top clubs, with more than thirty Carioca titles, and a number of national league titles as well.

Answer: Flamengo

Flamengo was originally founded in November 1895 as a rowing club in the area of Rio called Flamengo Beach. The club remained a rowing only organisation for more than 15 years until, in late 1911, a group of disgruntled members of Fluminense FC elected to leave and, rather than joining an already existing football club, decided to approach Flamengo with a view to setting up a football section. Flamengo's football section was officially established on 24 December 1911, eventually playing its first official match on 3 May 1912 against Mangueira.

The new club also entered the Campeonato Carioca for the first time in 1912 - that season saw two rival competitions organised, with Flamengo entering the Liga Metropolitana de Sports Athleticos tournament, in which they finished runners-up. Flamengo's first Carioca title came in 1914, when they finished the 12 game championship two points ahead of América and Botafogo. Between playing their first match in May 1912, and the end of their first championship winning season on 22 November 1914, a total of 933 days had passed. Since their foundation, Flamengo has become Brazil's most supported club, as well as one of its most successful.

Answer: Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama's foundation dates to August 1898, when a number of members of the Gragoatá Club, which was based in the town of Niterói, elected to form their own rowing club to avoid the necessity of travelling. The new club was named in honour of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, as at time there were celebrations of the 400th anniversary of his voyage to India.

It wasn't until November 1915 that Vasco da Gama instituted a new football section as part of its organisation, when it merged with an already existing football club, Lusitania, despite misgivings from Vasco members. Once established, the new football club applied for membership of the Liga Metropolitana de Football, being accepted in February 1916. Vasco eventually reached the top division of the Campeonato Carioca in 1922, and won its first title the following year. Vasco has since grown into one of Brazil's top clubs, with both domestic and international titles to its name.

Answer: False

Up to the end of the 1950s, the various state championships were the pinnacle of domestic football in Brazil. However, the advent of the Copa Libertadores, the competition for champion clubs in South American countries, led to Brazil needing to implement a competition to allow them to select a representative.

Although a number of competitions were used for this purpose between 1959 and 1970, it was only in 1971 that the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) established an officially sanctioned national championship, which was initially known as the Campeonato Nacional de Clubes, with the first champions being Atlético Mineiro from Belo Horizonte.

The first of Rio's big clubs to win this competition was Vasco da Gama in 1974. However, in 2010, the CBF gave official recognition to the winners of the predecessor competitions, the Taça Brasil (1959-1968) and Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1967-1970), as national champions.

This made Bahia, winners of the 1959 Taça Brasil, the very first Brazilian champions, while Botafogo's victory in the 1968 Taça Brasil was the first for a club from Rio.

Answer: Botafogo

Romário is considered to be one of the greatest goalscorers that Brazil has produced, having scored almost 700 times in his club career, as well as 55 goals in 70 games for Brazil's national team. As a 15-year old he joined Vasco da Gama's youth system, making his professional debut for the club in 1985 and going on to score 80 goals in 141 games for the "Gigante da Colina", winning two Carioca titles, before he left in 1988 to join Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. Romário spent five years in the Netherlands, and another two at Barcelona before, in 1995, he returned to Rio to join Flamengo, where he won a third Carioca title in 1996.

In 1996, he returned to Spain to join Valencia, but, after an unsuccessful spell, he returned to the "Rubro-Negro", remaining for three seasons and winning yet another Carioca, before making the move across Rio to rejoin Vasco in 2000.

In the three seasons he was at Vasco, he won his first Brazilian national title in 2000, along with his first international title when the club won the 2000 Copa Mercosur.

Then, in 2002, he made the switch to Fluminense, where he stayed for another three seasons before returning to Vasco for a second time in 2005, staying until 2006. Following brief moves to the United States and Australia, Romário returned to Vasco yet again in 2007, where he played the final games of his professional career. In total, for the three Rio clubs Romário played for, he appeared a total of 554 times (Vasco da Gama - 349; Flamengo - 130; Fluminense - 75), scoring 429 times (Vasco - 266; Flamengo - 116; Fluminense - 47), winning four Carioca titles, a Brazilian title and a Copa Mercosur.

Answer: Fluminense

The 1996 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 40th edition of Brazil's national championship, and was played in a two stage format - each of the 24 clubs played the others once, with the top eight qualifying for the second stage, a knock-out tournament, while the bottom two from the first stage were to be relegated to Série B. Fluminense finished the first stage in 23rd place, having won just six of their 23 games, and were due to be relegated, but were instead spared by the CBF after it was shown that two other clubs had attempted to influence the appointment of referees.

However, the following year Fluminense had an equally poor league campaign, winning just four of their 25 games (the league was increased by two clubs in 1997 as there were no teams relegated in 1996), and finishing in 25th, and were relegated to Série B for the first time.

The club suffered a second successive relegation to Série C in 1998. In 1999 the club began its journey back to the top, which culminated in a return to Série A in 2001, where they came third in the championship. Subsequent to Fluminense's relegation, Botafogo in 2002 and Vasco da Gama in 2008 also went down to Série B for the first time.

Answer: Flamengo

Following the creation in 1955 of the European Cup, a competition for the league champions of European nations, in 1958 the creation of a South American equivalent was announced. Initially named the Copa de Campeones de America from its first edition in 1960, it was renamed as the Copa Libertadores in 1965.

Although Brazilian clubs had some early success, reaching four of the first ten finals, with two victories, these were by clubs from Sao Paulo. During the 1970s, clubs from both Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre also reached the final of the Libertadores.

It wasn't until 1981 that a club from Rio made it all the way to the final, when Flamengo, who gained entry to the competition through winning their first national title the year before, played against Chilean side Cobreloa.

The final, played over two legs, finished 2-2 on aggregate, which required a third game to be played - Flamengo won the playoff 2-0 to win their first Libertadores title. Flamengo's achievement was matched in 1998, when Vasco da Gama beat Ecuadorian side Barcelona to win the title in their first Libertadores final appearance.

Answer: False

In 2000, the first edition of FIFA's Club World Championship was held, with Brazil named as the host. This competition was intended to bring together the winners of the various continental club tournaments in an effort to determine the world champion club side.

As the hosts, Brazil was offered a spot in the competition for the winners of its own domestic league title, which was filled by Sao Paulo side Corinthians, while the spot for the winners of the Copa Libertadores was taken by the 1998 winners, Vasco da Gama.

The competition's format saw the eight teams divided into two groups of four, with the top team in each group qualifying for the final. Corinthians and Vasco topped each group, and thus played each other in the first Club World Championship final, which was held at Rio's Maracana.

The game ended 0-0 after extra time, and so went to penalties, with Corinthians eventually winning 4-3 in the shoot-out. Although Brazilian clubs have regularly reached the final since then, it was only in 2019 that one of Rio's big teams once again got to the showpiece, when Flamengo lost 1-0 to English side Liverpool.

Answer: Vasco da Gama

Because there are so many clubs in Rio, there are many football stadia, both large and small. The biggest and most famous is undoubtedly the Maracanã, which was originally built for the 1950 World Cup, and is the home of both Flamengo and Fluminense, while the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos (also known as the Engenhão) is a multipurpose venue originally constructed for the 2007 Pan American Games, and subsequently used in the 2016 Summer Olympics, and which is the home of Botafogo.

However, both of these venues are publicly owned - the Engenhão is owned by the city of Rio de Janeiro, while the Maracanã is owned by the Rio state government. Vasco da Gama play their home games at the Estádio São Januário - although it is the smallest of the stadia used by Rio's major clubs, with a capacity of just under 25,000, compared to 47,000 at the Engenhão and 79,000 at the Maracanã, it is owned directly by the club.

The stadium itself is horseshoe shaped, with a facade listed by Brazil's National Historical and Artistic Heritage organisation as a national monument.