Garnet, white and green vertical stripes. Fluminense’s shirt is the most visually distinctive in Brazilian football — there is genuinely nothing else like it in the country. And behind it lies a story of race, class, rice powder and the most elegant club in Rio de Janeiro.
The rice powder story — Brazil’s most famous kit anecdote
In the early 20th century, Fluminense was a club for Rio’s social elite. At a time when Brazilian football was officially segregated, some players of mixed-race background applied white rice powder (pó de arroz) to their faces before matches, hoping to lighten their complexion and pass as white to gain entry to the pitch. Rival supporters spotted the ruse and mocked them as pó de arroz. Rather than being shamed by the nickname, Fluminense embraced it. Today, at every major Flu title celebration, supporters throw clouds of white powder into the air at the Maracanã. The mockery became a ritual.
The donkey that became a legend
In the early days of the club, Fluminense’s pitch at the Laranjeiras stadium was maintained by a donkey named Faísca, who pulled the mowing machine. The groundskeeping team fitted Faísca with cloth bootees so she wouldn’t damage the grass. Rio newspapers called her o burro mais elegante do Rio — the most elegant donkey in Rio. Elegance, it seems, was always the Fluminense way.
29 Rio State Championships — more than any other club
Fluminense’s tricolour shirt has been lifted in the Rio de Janeiro State Championship more times than any other club: 29 titles, beating rivals Flamengo (27) and Vasco (22). The tricolor identity is not just aesthetic — it is the most successful colour combination in carioca football history.
Romário and the centenary comeback
One of Fluminense’s strangest and most wonderful stories involves Romário. Signed as the headline attraction for the club’s centenary year in 2002, the striker arrived to massive fanfare and scepticism in equal measure. He responded by scoring 12 goals in the Carioca Championship, leading Flu to the title at age 36. The centenary jersey — worn by Romário — is now one of the most collectible in Rio football.
Rivellino and the machine that almost wasn’t
The great Fluminense team of 1975–76 was built around Rivellino, signed from Corinthians for three million cruzeiros. Club board members furiously opposed the deal, demanding his return and calling for the president’s impeachment. Rivellino stayed. In the two seasons that followed, Flu won back-to-back Brazilian Championships. That tricolour shirt from 1975–76 is today one of the most valuable vintage Brazilian kits in existence.
Original Fluminense jerseys: what makes them rare
The tricolor stripe combination — garnet, white and green — is complex enough that counterfeit versions are easier to spot than simpler club kits, but the retro editions from the 1970s and 1980s are still widely faked. At Garrincha Shirts, we stock only authenticated originals, including rare match-issued and player-edition pieces from the Laranjeiras archive.