Welcome to the first part of a 5 part series on the Brazilian Football League. It is the second series featured on www.football-shirts.co.uk after the Eircom League of Ireland was featured last month. The shirts will feature a mixture from 2008 and the 2009 season as shirts are being launched ahead of the 2009 season(May 3rd to December 6th)

The teams featured in part I will include: Clube Atlético Mineiro, Atlético Paranaense, Avaí Futebol Clube and Grêmio Recreativo Barueri.

Introduction

The Série A is composed of 20 teams currently:

Atlético Mineiro, Atlético Parananense, Avaí,  Barueri, Botafogo, Corinthians, Coritiba, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Goiás, Grêmio, Internacional, Náutico, Palmeiras, Santo André, Santos, São Paulo, Sport and Vitória.

The bottom four teams in Série A are relegated and the top four teams in Série B are promoted.

Brazil’s national competition has been troubled in the past due to the large size of the country and other issues with the modern Campeonato Brasileiro only started in 1971 and was deemed equal to or lower than the state league competitions until the end of the 1980s.

Today the league is known around the world for a great producer of talent but not that much is really known about most of the teams and their shirts.

Clube Atlético Mineiro

Clube Atlético Mineiro reffered to as Atlético and was created in 1908. The club has won a record 39 Minas Gerais State Championships but has failed to live up to its strong history in titles only claiming one Brazilian Championship in 1971.

Atletico known as Galo to the fans has also won two CONMEBOL Cups the former name for the Copa Sudamericana and boasts the stablest record in the national league featuring in 14 finals series and only being relegated once.

The home shirt for this season features a vertical black and white striped design which has been designed by Lotto. The club logo is found on the left hand side of the chest with the shirt-maker on the right side of the chest. The sleeves are black in colour and feature a lotto logo on each side. The shirt has its sponsor Fiat in the middle of the shirt in red.

 

The away shirt for this season is white in colour and has also been designed by Lotto. The shirt features a round neck and a black pipeline design from the shoulders down the sleeves to the base on both sides. The shirt has traditional logo positioning with Fiat appearing in black this time.

The third shirt for 2008 features a vertical orange and black stripe design. It features a traditional collar which is black in colour. The shirt has the traditional logo positioning with the sponsor Fiat appearing in white with a black outline. On the neck of the shirt is a substantial amount of writing about the 100 years of the club.

Clube Atlético Paranaense

Atlético Paranaense was founded in 1924 and was result of a merge between the two Curitiba traditional teams Internacional-PR and América-PR. The club has won 21 Campeonato Paranaense State Championships  and like Clube Atlético Mineiro has failed on the national league stage winning a single Brazilian Championship in 2001.

The club has had one strong performance on the International stage coming runner up in the 2005 Copa Libertadores.

The home shirt for this season follows the clubs traditional design a black and red vertical stripe design which has been designed by Lotto. The shirt features a round neck with traditional collar which is black in colour. The club logo is found on the left hand side of the chest with the player number on the right side of the chest with the shirt-maker logo above it. The sleeves of the shirt continue the striped design and they both feature a sponsor.

The away shirt for the 2008 season features a similar design to the home shirt and has once again been designed by Umbro. The shirt features a black background with several red vertical lines. The logo’s are in the same positions as the home shirt with an added logo in the bottom left hand corner.

The third shirt for the 2008 season features a horizontal striped design which is red, black and white in colour. The shirt features a round neck and has three white and red stripes. The sleeves on the shirt are white and the number is found in the middle of the shirt instead of on the right hand side of the chest.

Avaí Futebol Clube

Avaí Futebol Clube was created in 1923 and has been promoted for the 2009 season after finishing third in the Serie B for the first time in 29 years.

The club has won 13 Santa Catarina State Championships with its only national title being the Serie C in 1998.

Avaí’s home shirt for the 2008 season features the traditional blue and white vertical stripe design and has been created by Champs. The shirt has a white V-Shaped neck and sleeves and features the club logo on the left hand side of the chest with the shirt-maker logo in the middle of the chest under the neck. The shirt has a gold pipeline design from the neck to the armpits on both sides and neck to add something extra to the shirt.

The away shirt for the 2008 season is white in colour and has also been designed by Champs. The shirt features a v-shaped neck with a gold backing. The sleeves of the shirt feature a blue design on their shoulders with the sleeve ends featuring a blue stitch like design.

The third shirt for the 2008 season is blue in colour and features the same design as the away shirt. The club logo is positioned in the traditional location with the shirt-maker appearing below the neck in gold.

Grêmio Recreativo Barueri

Grêmio Recreativo Barueri is a Brazilian Sports Club that was founded in 1989. The club became a professional football club in 2001 taking a few seasons to progress before winning the Campeonato Paulista Série A3 in 2005 and the Campeonato Paulista Série A2 in 2006.

The club contested the Serie C in 2006 finishing 4th and gaining promotion to the Serie B. They then managed to finish 4th in the 2008 season of the Serie B gaining promotion to the Serie A in 8 seasons of professional football.

The home shirt for the 2008 season is white in colour. It features a red side trimming design and a gray shoulder design. The shirts logo is found in the middle of the shirt with the sponsor and number below this all in blue.

The away shirt for the 2008 season is blue in colour and features the same design as the home shirt. The sleeves of the shirt are white in colour with the sponsor on the front of the shirt also appearing in white.

Stay tuned for parts II-V of the Brazilian league later this month and remember if you want a lesser known league reviewed leave a comment and we will try or best to put it together.

Source: Club Websites