Caxias

Caxias Futebol Clube, is a football club from Joinville, with a population of more than half a million the largest city of the south Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. The club, founded on 12 October 1920, won in the years 1929, 1954 and 1955 the state championship of Santa Catarina, the Campeonato Catarinense. On the national level the club - nicknamed "Gualicho" after a successful race horse of the early 1950s - took part in the cup competition, the Copa do Brasil of 2000, where it was eliminated in the first round. In 1976 a merger of the football operations with the traditional rivals America FC gave birth to the Joinville Esporte Clube, which since has won more than ten state championships.

In 1996 Caxias returned to football under its own name and was runner-up of the state championship of 2003. After 2011 the club suspended activities due to financial issues.

History

The club was formed six years after the foundation of local rivals America FC through a merger of the local sides Vampiro, from which stems the colour black, and Teutonia, which gave origin to the colour white in the club's insignia. The club was named in honour of Luis Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, a military leader of imperial Brazil.

In 1921 Caxias won its first match against America with 2-1. Between 1923 and 1928 Caxias was consecutively three times runner-up in the city championship behind America, a tournament it won eventually in 1929 when it progressed to win its first state championship through a 7-3 win over Adolpho Konder FC on their ground in the state capital Florianopolis. In 1931 the club was runner-up in the state championship behind Lauro Muller FC of Itajai after it failed to turn up for the final.

In 1933 the club inaugurated its own stadium which it built on terrain bought on favourable conditions from Ernesto Schlemm Sobrinho with a 3-1 win over Coritiba FC from the state capital of neighbouring Parana. The club managed to pay off the stadium, today known casually