History of Vasco da Gama: see how Cruzmaltino came about!

With an exciting trajectory and equipped with great footballers, Gigante da Colina is, without a doubt, a great team.

The history of Vasco da Gama begins in 1898 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, when a group of Portuguese emigrants decided to found a rowing club in Tupiniquim lands. The name Clube de Regatas Vasco da Gama was chosen as a direct tribute to the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama.

With a clear reference to the time of navigation, it is not surprising that the Cruz Maltina is on the Basque coat of arms. Incidentally, the colors of the team's uniform also carry a strong symbology. In this way, the black color refers to the unknown sea and the white stripe to the path discovered by the navigator.

Although it is a racing club, Vasco da Gama is made up of several sports, and football is one of them. Let's see a little more of the history of the Hill Giant below.

A bit of its origin

In 1915, the Lusitânia football club was incorporated into the Basque club, thus creating the football department. But, it was only in the following year that Vasco made its debut on the fields in the 3rd division of football in Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately, the debut was not so good, as the team was defeated by 10×1 by Paladino.

Already in 1922, Vasco then reached the series B of the Carioca championship, even without great resources and, in 1923, the club, finally, was state champion. The great feat of the 'black shirts' as Basque players were called, led great teams to found a new league.

In this way, the teams from Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo created the Metropolitan Association of Athletic Sports. Thus, Vasco would only be accepted if it dismissed 12 athletes, who were said to have a dubious career. It is worth mentioning that the 12 players were black.

It didn't take long for the President, José Augusto Prestes, to respond to the Association in a letter. This was a milestone in football that became known as: 'Historic Response'.

Prestes was opposed to giving up the players and joining the Association, and his reply was fundamental to the fight against racism in sport. In 1925, Vasco fought the impositions of AMEA and managed to return to the dispute with great teams from Rio, founding, in 1927, the Estádio de São Januário.

memorable titles

In the 30s, Vasco history began to take new directions. Thus, in 1931, during an international tour, the team beat its arch-enemy Flamengo in a historic 7X0 rout.

Already in the year 1934, with great players on the team such as: Russinho, Leônidas da Silva and Domingos da Guia, Vasco was champion of Rio de Janeiro. And the abundance of victories did not stop there, since Almirante won two major titles in 1936, namely: Campeonato Carioca and Taça Rio-São Paulo.

But it was in the 40's that Vasco's biggest campaign was formed. O Victory Express, a great team led by Ademir de Menezes, won 5 Carioca Championships and 1 South American Championship. The glory years would return in the 70s, when Roberto Dinamite started to play for the Vasco team.

In 1974, Gigante da Colina won its first Brazilian Championship after beating Cruzeiro by 2×1. The following year, Vasco made its debut in the Libertadores, but failed to advance in the group stage. Only in 1990, returning to the competition, did the team make a good campaign, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Indeed, the 90s became known as the golden decade of the club, which won the third state championship. In addition, adding to the list of titles, Gigante da Colina also took home the Torneio João Havelange in 1993 and the Campeonato Brasileiro in 1997.

Not to mention that in 1998 came the greatest achievement of the Vasco team, the great achievement of the Copa Libertadores da América.

Idols who made the difference

Talking about Vasco's history is also talking about the players who made a difference in the big club. After all, what would a football team be without its idols?

Among Vasco's best players of all time, we find Roberto Dinamite, simply the greatest scorer with 708 goals, wearing Cruzmaltino's shirt in 1.110 games.

The dynamite boy exploded on the field, hitting milestones that are still very difficult to break. After all, it's the top scorer in the Brazilian Championship with 190 goals and also the Campeonato Carioca with 279 goals. And as if that wasn't enough, he went down in history as São Januário's top scorer, netting 184 times.

In addition to Roberto Dinamite, Romário will never be forgotten by the Vasco team. The football legend won 2 Carioca Championships, 1 Mercosur Cup and 1 Brazilian Championship. In addition, the little guy took the Golden Ball in 2000 by Placar Magazine after being considered the great player of the Brasileirão.

known by beautiful goals, Edmundo also did a lot for the Vasco team. After all, in 1991, with Vasco's number 15 in a preliminary match, the star scored a great goal after dribbling 4 players. Such a feat caused Edmundo to be compared to King Pelé by the media.

But, his great debut at Vasco only came in 1992 during the Brazilian Championship. Dressed in the Cruzmaltina shirt and with great achievements, Edmundo ended the championship as the revelation player. In the same year, the star won the Carioca Championship with Almirante, who ended the tournament undefeated. It didn't take long for the player to be coveted by other teams.

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