Botafogo

PRESENTATION

BOTAFOGO FOOTBALL CLUB

The Botafogo Football Club of Ribeirão Preto was founded in 1918. At that time, each district of the city was represented by one or more teams that played each other in bitter disputes fairly. In Vila Tiberio, three teams shared the preference of local fans: Union Paulistano, Tiberense Football Club and Ideal. With the stars in the neighborhood of three times diluted, Vila Tiberio did not have a representative who did face the other clubs in the city, like the Comercial, the Operário,  the Itália, the Atlântico and the Força e Coragem.

To reverse this situation, a group linked to the Ideal FC invited representatives of the other two teams of Vila Tiberio to discuss the possibility of a merger, seeking the support of all residents of the neighborhood around just one club. That first meeting was attended by Francisco Oranges, Tiberense board member, Pedro, José e João Aguiar, Paulistano Union leaders, in addition to Júlio Pé de Ferro and Antonio Cardoso, União Paulistano’s players.

After consummation of the union between the three teams lacked choose the name of the new club. Legend says it that after much discussion and confusion, without reaching any conclusion, one of the directors stated that would put fire in all documents and that the merger of the teams would be undone. The threat of incendiary leader ended up helping in the choice of name. In the first decades of the century, Botafogo of Rio de Janeiro was one of the most famous clubs in Brazil and all agreed to honor the team from Rio de Janeiro in time to christen the new association.

Held by the first president, Joaquim Gagliano, employee of the Company Mogiana Railway, the first allocation was made for the purchase of sports equipment for Botafogo. Employees of the Company and Brewery Antarctica Mogiana of Railroad soon joined the new club, as fans and collaborators.

The first game of Botafogo happened in Franca, city in São Paulo State, against Fulgencio Sports Club. The team of Ribeirão Preto was not shy about his debut away from home and won 1-0. The party was complete in Vila Tibério, where residents took to the streets to celebrate with President Gagliano and directors of the club.

The first breakthrough came in 1927, when Botafogo won the Champion of the Interior. It was the only time a team from Ribeirão Preto took that title, that the greatest glory of rival Botafogo, the Comercial, does not have in its history.

The year of 1956 was one of the most brilliant in the history of Botafogo. The club was the winner of the Centenary of Ribeirao Preto, winning the Comercial by 4 to 2, was awarded the Cup unbeaten, which was first offered to a club from the inside, after being 19 games without being defeated, and won the title of the Second Division of the Paulista Championship, guaranteeing the right to play along to the big leagues of São Paulo.

The title was secured after three games against Paulista. At first, in Ribeirão Preto, Botafogo won 1-0. The second match was held in Jundiai, Sao Paulo, and this time emerged victorious, 3-1. It was necessary to add another game, but now at a neutral venue. Tip's goal in the Parque Antartica, was enough to take the title Ribeirão Preto. The day after victory was declared holiday in the city for all to receive the heroes who led the Panther to the First Division Championship Paulista.

In 1977, 21 years after the conquest of the Second Division title, Botafogo again be responsible for an unexpected holiday in Ribeirao Preto. The Tricolor was the champion of the first round of the Paulista Championship Cup and got the city of São Paulo. One of the biggest players revealed by Botafogo took part in this achievement: Socrates. The first team title in the Botafogo Cup City of São Paulo was formed by: Aguilera, Wilson Campos, Nei, and Manuel, Mario, Lorico and Socrates, Ze Mario, Arlindo and João Carlos Motoca.

Only in the 90's, Botafogo again included in the elite of Brazilian soccer. The club Ribeirão Preto returned to compete in the First Division Championship in 99, after deputies Series championships in-C, 96, and Series B, 98, when he lost the title to the range.

Botafogo in 2012

Nowadays, the Botafogo has played in first division at State of São Paulo championship since 2009. After a difficult time, our club returned to the main division in São Paulo and has a goal to came back to the first division of National championship where our club should never have left.

The presidente is Silvio Martins who was elected in June 2011 and will finish his mandate in June 2013. Silvio is a representative politician in Ribeirão Preto. He was city councilman many times and nowadays he is also presidente of COHAB, the importante public company that takes care of cheap home for the population.

We are going to start the Paulista’s Championship against the best clubs of Brasil like Palmeiras, São Paulo, Corinthians, Santos and others. We hope to classify to Brazilian Chapionship and win the Paulista’s Interior like in 2010 when we were victorious.

The Panther of the Americas 

Motivated by his constant regional achievements, the Tricolor of Ribeirão was affectionately called "Mogiana Panther" in allusion to the adoption of its mascot, a panther, and the region Mogiana, geographically located where the city of Ribeirão Preto.

But in January 1962, Botafogo was leaving for his first international tour in South American grasslands.

The premiere took place on January 17, 1962, in a match held in San Martin stadium in Mar del Plata, facing the CA Quilmes, with this opponent 2-1 victory. The recovery in the next game happen in Olavarria, where the Botafogo team Estudiantes won by a score of 5x2, with great performance of the attack tricolor.

The sequence of the tour became a success with victories followed in Baia Blanca, Tandil, Nacochéa and Rosario, draw in Santa Fe, new victory in Cordoba, San Francisco and Rio Room, until returning to Buenos Aires, where he faced Boca Juniors in La Bombonera stadium, where the Botafogo lost 2-1 in a memorable match, with the presence of Ribeirão’s fans who traveled in specially chartered plane to watch the match, which was also broadcast on Radio Girl Scouts of São Paulo, and local city’s stations. Two matches were also held with tie in Junin and win against Quilmes in Cordoba.

In his first outing, the tricolor played 14 games, lost two, drawn three and won nine. When he returned to Brazil, the daily "Gazeta Esportiva," celebrated his campaign slogan of changing the team "Mogiana Panther" to "Panther of Americas" was the warm reception of the delegation arrived in Botafogo in Ribeirão Preto.

Our best players

In the past, Botafogo was one of the main clubs tha revealed the best players in the world. The first example is Sócrates, who died last december of 2011, unfortunately. He was one the best brazilian players in the history and knew by his fantastic way to play football and to be a representative man in the society fighting against bad politicians. His brother was Rai who also started playing in Botafogo after Sócrates. Raí is the main player in the history of São Paulo FC where he went after be sold by our club. These are the main examples o four best players in the history like Cicinho, Diego Alves, Doni, Leandro Guerreiro, Luciano Ratinho, Zé Mário, and more importante players also were.

Santa Cruz Stadium

Capacity: 50,000 (37th largest in the world)

Opening: 21/01/1968 - Botafogo FC 6 x 2 Selection of Romania.

Facilities: 80 cabins, three Courts of Honor.

Press: 6 cabins of radio (narrator and commentator), 5 cabins large TV (with option for radio), 132 pairs of lines for Radio and TV (tables of rows in the press room and access tunnels to the lawn), Ample space installation of equipment for television outside and inside the stadium.

The physical operation: 4 locker rooms, an amphitheater, housing 10 apartments and 15 rooms for a collective total of 90 athletes, the administrative sector with 10 rooms.

Lawn: Completely renovated in early 2009, making it one of the best in the country.

History: Paulistão end of 1995, the semifinals of the Rio-Sao Paulo 1995, Brazil vs Chile international match, semifinals and final of the 2001 Paulistão opening Paulistão 2009 (St. Andre vs Palmeiras).

City of Ribeirão Preto

General Information: Ribeirão Preto is located in southwestern Brazil and is the center of the region with the highest rates of economic and social development of the State of São Paulo, the chief among the 27 that make up the Federation. Located in the Northeast Paulista, the city of Ribeirão Preto occupies an area of ​​627 square kilometers, comprising the district headquarters and Bonfim Paulista district. It covers 84 municipalities with a total of 2,575,742 habitants, with 2,386,707 residents in an urban area (92.66%) and 189,035 habitants living in rural areas (7.34%), with per capita income of $ 6000. The area of ​​economic influence extends beyond the state of São Paulo, reaching the southern state of Minas Gerais. The population of the municipality is approximately 700.000 habitants. The distance from the state capital is 319 km.

The media

Eight television stations with regional coverage: EPTV (TV Globo), SBT, TV CLube (Band), TV Thathi, TV Record, Canal City, RP9; 15 radio stations (AM / FM). 70.000 points of TV Cable; 3 daily newspapers with extensive coverage of Botafogo: A Cidade, Gazeta de Ribeirão and Tribuna, and the notebook's regional newspaper Folha de São Paulo and weekly newspapers. We have many magazines also.