Ceará Sporting Club, or Ceará, as they are usually called, is a Brazilian football team from the city of

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the ...

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the ...

of the Brazilian state of

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of th ...

, founded on June 2, 1914, by Luís Esteves and Pedro Freire. Ceará is one of the most traditionally successful clubs in the Northeast region of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

alongside

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...

, Santa Cruz,

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, Náutico, Vitória and their city rivals

History

On June 2, 1914, the club was founded as Rio Branco Football Club by Luiz Esteves Junior and Pedro Freire. Later, some of their friends also joined: Gilberto Gurgel, Walter Barroso, Raimundo Justa, Newton Rôla, Bolívar Purcell, Aluísio Mamede, Orlando Olsen, José Elias Romcy, Isaías Façanha de Andrade, Raimundo Padilha, Rolando Emílio, Meton Alencar Pinto, Gotardo Morais, Artur de Albuquerque, Cincinato Costa, Carlos Calmon and Eurico Medeiros. As Rio Branco Football Club, the team colors were white and

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

. In 1915, on their first birthday, the club changed its name to Ceará Sporting Club. In 1941, Ceará won the

Campeonato Cearense The Campeonato Cearense is the football league of the state of Ceará, Brazil. Format The Campeonato Cearense has three divisions with the following division and format (as in any other Brazilian soccer championship, the format can change eve ...

, the same year of the inauguration of Presidente Vargas stadium. From 1961 to 1963, the club was three times consecutive state champion. In 1969, Ceará won the Northeast Cup. In 1970, ended the seven-year titleless state championship period. In 1971, Ceará was the last placed team in

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

first edition. From 1975 to 1978, the club was four times in a row state champion. In 1985, Ceará finished 7th in the Brazilian League. This is the best league position of a team from Ceará State in the Brazilian Championships. In 1994, the club finished Brazilian Cup runners-up, beaten by Grêmio in the final. In 1995, Ceará participated in the Copa CONMEBOL, the club's first international championship, becoming the only club of Ceará State to play an international tournament. In 1996, the team administrator was

Forró The term forró (*) refers to a musical genre, a rhythm, a dance and the event itself where forró music is played and danced. Forró is an important part of the culture of the Northeastern Region of Brazil. It encompasses various dance typ ...

bands businessman Emanuel Gurgel. The team changed its home shirt color to all black. Because of this, the team was nicknamed "Urubu do Nordeste" (Northeast Vulture). From 1996 to 1999, the club was state champion four times in a row . In 2002, Ceará won the state championship, for the first time in three years. In 2005, Ceará reached the Copa do Brasil semifinals. The club was defeated by Fluminense. In 2006, the club won the state championship after 4 years without winning the competit In 2010, after a 17-year absence, Ceará was promoted back to the Brazilian League, after finishing third in the 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B. They finished in 12th position, achieving a place in the 2011 Copa Sudamericana. In 2011, Ceará reached the

2011 Copa do Brasil The 2011 Copa do Brasil (officially known as the 2011 Copa Kia do Brasil for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd edition of the Copa do Brasil, Brazil's national football cup tournament. It began on February 16 and ended on June 8. This edition's ch ...

semi-finals. Ceará ended

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

's unbeaten streak in the previous round winning the away game, and drew the home game, eliminating the Rio de Janeiro team in a notorious upset. Ceará, however, was defeated by Coritiba in the semi-finals.

Honours

* Copa do Nordeste : Winners (2):

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

* Torneio Norte-Nordeste : Winners (1): 1969 *

: Winners (45): 1922, 1925, 1931, 1932, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1948, 1951, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2011,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, 2018

Stadium

Ceará's home venue is

Estádio Carlos de Alencar Pinto The Estádio Carlos de Alencar Pinto, better known as Vovozão, is a football stadium located in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. It is currently used mostly for training and is the home stadium of Ceará Sporting Club Ceará Sporting Club, or Ce ...

, capacity 3,000, but the team also plays at Castelão Stadium which has a capacity of 60,326, and at Presidente Vargas Stadium, which has a 22,228 capacity.

Rivals

Ceará's greatest rival is

. It is the biggest derby in Fortaleza city. It has been played 574 times, with Ceará winning 193 times, Fortaleza winning 176 times and 205 draws. Ceará's second biggest rival is Ferroviário, the third biggest club of Fortaleza city. This derby has been played 297 times, with 138 wins for Ceará, 69 wins for Ferroviário and 90 draws. :pt:Clássico da Paz (Fortaleza)

Mascot

The team mascot, an old man known as "Vovô" ("Grandpa") dressing Ceará uniform was designed by Cearense cartoonist Mino for the "Ceará: Paixão Total" Project ("Ceará: Full Passion" Project). The team mascot appeared in late 1919, when Meton de Alencar Pinto, former president of Ceará SC, coached young players of America Football Club, a small club from the city, in the Porangabussu training center. Meton, who used to call the kids as "my grandsons", asked them to "go easy on grandpa". Afterwards, the nickname started to apply to the team of Ceará as well, helped by the seniority of the club; Ceará Sporting Club was the first football team founded in the state.

Logo evolution

The first logo was the club's first as Ceará Sporting Club, and was used from 1915 to 1954. The second logo was used from 1955 to 1969 and was inspired by the Santos logo. The third logo was used from 1970 to 2003. The fourth logo is the current team logo, and was adopted in 2003. The logo is a restylized version of the previous logo created by Adman Orlando Mota. This logo introduced the white stars and the foundation date.

Players

First-team squad

Academy

Out on loan

Staff

Current staff

Managers

* Jair Pereira (2005) *

Valdir Espinosa Valdir Ataualpa Ramirez Espinosa, known as Valdir Espinosa (17 October 1947 – 27 February 2020) was a Brazilian football manager. He died on 27 February 2020, of complications after surgery. Espinosa was born in Porto Alegre. Managerial statis ...

(2005) * Zé Teodoro (2006), (2009) *

Paulo César Gusmão Paulo César Lopes de Gusmão, better known as Paulo César Gusmão or PC Gusmão (born 19 May 1962, in Rio de Janeiro), is a former football goalkeeper and manager. Gusmão's playing career was from 1982 to 1999, and team manager from 2001 to ...

(2009–10) *

René Simões René Rodrigues Simões (born December 17, 1952) is a Brazilian retired professional football manager. Coaching career Born in Rio de Janeiro, he guided Jamaica national team to the World Cup in France in 1998. This was Jamaica's first, and ...

(2010) *

Estevam Soares Estevam Eduardo Lemos Soares (born 10 June 1956, in Cafelândia, São Paulo), known as Estevam Soares, is a Brazilian football manager. Managerial statistics Honours Manager ;Inter de Limeira *Campeonato Paulista Série A2: 1995 ;Améric ...

(2010) * Mário Sérgio (2010) *

Vágner Mancini Vagner do Carmo Mancini (born 24 October 1966) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who is in charge of Brazilian Série A club América Mineiro. Playing career Born in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Mancini started his ca ...

(2011) *

(2012) * Ricardinho (2013) * Sérgio Guedes (2013) * Sérgio Soares (2013–14) *

(2014) * Dado Cavalcanti (2015) *

Silas Pereira Silas Pereira (born 12 September 1934) is a Brazilian footballer. He played in two matches for the Brazil national football team in 1963. He was also part of Brazil's squad for the 1963 South American Championship The 1963 South American Cha ...

(2015) * Geninho (2015) * Marcelo Cabo (2015) * Lisca (2015–16) * Sérgio Soares (2016) * Gilmar Dal Pozzo (2017) * Givanildo Oliveira (2017) *

Marcelo Chamusca Marcelo Augusto Oliveira Chamusca (born 7 October 1966) is a Brazilian professional football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of Tombense. He is known for being the only manager who ach ...

(2017–18) * Jorginho (2018) * Lisca (2018–19) * Enderson Moreira (2019) * Adílson Batista (2019) * Argel Fucks (2019–20) * Enderson Moreira (2020) * Guto Ferreira (2020–21) *

Tiago Nunes Tiago Retzlaff Nunes (born 15 February 1980) is a Brazilian football manager, currently in charge of Peruvian club Sporting Cristal. Career Born in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Nunes was a youth player at hometown side Riograndense; initial ...

(2021–22) * Dorival Júnior (2022) * Lucho González (2022) *

Gustavo Morínigo Gustavo Eliseo Morínigo Vázquez (born 23 January 1977) is a Paraguayan football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Ceará. Club career Born in Coronel Oviedo, Morínigo was a Libertad youth gr ...

(2023–)

Ultras groups

CearamorMovimento Organizado Força Independente (Mofi)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceara Sporting Club Ceará Sporting Club Association football clubs established in 1914 1914 establishments in Brazil Torneio Norte-Nordeste winners