Placar magazine surveyed 500 Brazilian teams in a special edition that is now a historical document of national football. In each club's profile, in addition to address and titles, Placar recorded the uniform (U:), mascot (M:), nickname (A:), and a curiosity. What emerged from this survey is a fascinating and often comical portrait of Brazilian football's visual identity – from the most surprising choices of colors and names to uniforms that carry stories no fan would expect to find. This article gathers the most unusual ones.
1. The Flamengo that has nothing to do with Flamengo
In the interior of Pernambuco, there is a Flamengo Esporte Clube de Arcoverde — founded in 1959, with a red and black striped shirt, a mascot named Tigre do Sertão (Sertão Tiger), and the nickname Tiguera. The curiosity recorded by Placar is direct: "This Flamengo has no relation to Sport Club Flamengo, from Recife, the first Pernambuco champion in history." There are at least four teams called Flamengo in the state of Pernambuco. The red and black shirt runs throughout Brazil — from Maracanã to the Northeastern sertão.
2. Amapá's Independente that copied Palmeiras — minus the name
Independente Esporte Clube, from Santana (AP), uses a green, white, and green uniform, has a shield very similar to Palmeiras', and even a name similar to Internacional. Placar's curiosity explains everything: "Independente uses the uniform and has a shield similar to Palmeiras. However, unlike their rivals in Amapá (Santos and São Paulo), they chose not to use the same name as the club they were inspired by." It's a rare manifestation of originality amidst copying: they took everything from Palmeiras, except the name.
3. Amapá's Santos that even copied the shield
Speaking of copies: Santos Futebol Clube de Macapá (AP) "adopted the name, colors, and shield of the São Paulo team. The shield, by the way, does not seem to have been refined to the level of Pelé and Co.'s team." The club competed in two Copa do Brasil editions (2000 and 2001) and was eliminated immediately in both. The curious thing is that the team responsible for both defeats was the same: Remo. A Santos that always loses to Remo — Pelé would not approve.
4. Bahia's Colo-Colo that went to Buenos Aires to bring the uniform
Colo-Colo Futebol e Regatas de Ilhéus (BA) has an impressive origin story. In 1948, director José Haroldo de Castro went to Argentina and brought a Boca Juniors uniform — blue and yellow. The design pleased everyone, and the club adopted the same shirt as the Buenos Aires team. The name, however, was inspired by another South American team: Colo-Colo, from Chile. Result: Argentine shirt, Chilean name, Bahian club. A work of South American syncretism.
5. Rio Grande do Norte's Corinthians that doesn't spell Corinthians
In Caicó (RN), there is Atlético Clube Corintians — spelled exactly like that, without the 'h'. Placar explains in detail: "It's not a mistake. The name of this Corintians is the same with an accent and without an 'h'. The founders' idea was to honor São Paulo's Timão, but without foreignisms. The anchor and oars of the shield were kept, even though Caicó is in the Potiguar sertão, where the only aquatic activity consists of downing glasses of water." A tribute to a football team founded by people in the middle of the sertão on the banks of no river.
6. The team with the sewing machine as a mascot
Ypiranga de Santa Cruz do Capibaribe (PE) has a sewing machine as its mascot — a reference to the large clothing production hub that the Pernambucan city has become. The club's shirt is blue, and its nickname is "Máquina de Costura" (Sewing Machine). In a country where lions, roosters, and tigers dominate mascots, a team that identifies with a textile equipment is an absolute rarity.
7. The team where players crossed hemispheres during games
Cristal, from Macapá (AP), plays its games at Milton Rodrigues stadium, better known as Zerão. The reason for the nickname: the midfield is exactly on the Equator Line, at ground zero. During matches, when the ball passed from one side to the other, players crossed from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere multiple times. Cristal's red shirt is, therefore, one of the few football uniforms in the world that crossed the Equator on the field.
8. The mascot that decided the shirt: Ipatinga and the 12,538 letters
Ipatinga Futebol Clube (MG) held a contest to choose the club's mascot. 12,538 voting letters were received. In second place was the Cat (845 votes), followed by Parakeet (713) and Parrot (202). The winner, with 2,529 votes, was the Tiger — the mascot elected by the population. The club's white shirt began to display the Tiger as its symbol. One of the few truly democratic mascots in Brazilian football.
9. The Moto Club that started for motorcycling
Moto Club de São Luís (MA) was founded in 1937 by young motorcyclists who only practiced cycling and motorcycling. With the name Ciclo Moto, the club changed its name to Moto Club in 1932 when it entered football. Moto Club's horizontal red and black shirt is one of the most recognizable in Maranhão — and revealed two important players: Kléberson, world champion with Atlético Paranaense in 2001 and with the National Team in 2002, and goalkeeper Clémer, Flamengo's starter from 1997 to 2001. A club born for motorcycling that revealed a world champion.
10. Acre's Vasco that sent 10 sets of shirts for the 'poor cousin'
Vasco da Gama de Rio Branco (AC) has the same shirt, shield, and even the same name as the Rio de Janeiro club — with a black diagonal stripe on the chest. Placar's curiosity is priceless: in 2000, the president of Vasco do Rio de Janeiro, Euríco Miranda, sent 10 sets of shirts to the 'poor cousin' in Acre, in addition to 120 balls and 90 pairs of cleats. Vasco's visual identity spans Brazil from end to end — from Maracanã to the Amazon, the diagonal stripe is always recognizable.
11. The team that changed its name to move away from the image of a distillery
In 1995, Destilaria Futebol Clube from Cabo de Santo Agostinho (PE) decided that its name was harming the club's image. The team drank a lot of cachaça from a supposed distillery and was frequently thrashed. It changed its name to Cabense, in honor of the city, and changed its shirt. Placar summarizes: "Not that the team drank a lot of cachaça from some supposed distillery. It just suffered many thrashings." A change of visual identity motivated by an excess of conceded goals.
12. The Rio Negro fan who hung the red towel
In the 70s, Rio Negro (AM) fans knew in advance that their team would perform well against the opponent. If goalkeeper Clóvis hung a red towel on his own net during warm-up, Rio Negro would certainly not be defeated. The club's white shirt with a black and red horizontal stripe became forever linked to this goalkeeper's legend. Clóvis prided himself on never having lost a Rio-Nal with the towel hung.
13. The oldest team in Brazil that many people have never heard of
Sport Club Rio Grande, founded on July 19, 1900, in Rio Grande do Sul, is Brazil's oldest active football club. It predates Fluminense (1902), Santos (1912), and Corinthians (1910). Rio Grande's shirt is striped in green, red, and yellow — an unusual combination that has existed in Gaúcho football for over 120 years. The club's anthem says: "From the glorious past to the present, your name shines and expands, because it is the oldest and most elegant, of Brazil and our Rio Grande." There is no exaggeration.
14. São Caetano that uses purple — and why
São Caetano (SP) uses blue, blue, and blue — a shirt that Placar describes simply as "Blue." But the club became famous in 2002 for the purple shirt it wore during the campaign that almost earned it the Libertadores title. The peculiarity: the team's nickname at that time was "Azulim." São Caetano is one of the few Brazilian teams with relevant history in national football that adopted purple as an alternative uniform color — a shade practically non-existent in Brazilian football.
15. The most common colors — and why blue dominates
Placar's survey of 500 teams revealed something curious about Brazilian football uniforms: the dominant color in main shirts is blue, present in 77 teams — more than white (67), green (55), red (43), and black. Vertical blue and white is the most frequent combination in national football. In a green and yellow country, football is fundamentally blue.
16. The strangest mascots in Brazilian football
Placar cataloged the most uncommon animals adopted as mascots by the 500 teams. The list includes: Alemazinho (15 de Novembro-RS), Burro (Taubaté-SP), Calhambeque (Auto Esporte-PB), Camaleão (Gurupi-TO), Dinosauro (Sousa-PB), ET (Varginha-MG), Hulk (Tocantins-TO) and Máquina de Costura (Ypiranga-PE). Brazilian football is the only sport in the world with a team whose symbol is an alien — and another whose symbol is a textile assembly line.
17. São José that tried a sponsorship with a paint factory
In 1996, São José (RS) tried a partnership with the Renner paint industry to re-issue the legendary Renner uniform (State Champion in 1954). It even changed the uniform, which became a red and white shirt with a white diagonal stripe. But the idea didn't work out well: the team was very weak, and the company gave up after one year of contract. One of the most curious stories of partnership between shirt and sponsorship in Gaúcho football.
18. The Gazelão that lives in the neighborhood and became a mascot's name
São Gabriel (RS) has a peculiar origin: founded in 1979, the club had a beautiful start in Gaúcho football. In its second year, it was runner-up in the second division and, in 1981, competed in the First Division. The club's mascot, the Ox, came from the name of the neighborhood where the club was born — and not, as many think, from some local cattle tradition.
Brazilian football is too vast to fit only the big clubs that appear on TV. Behind every shirt — even that of a team from the interior of Acre or the Pernambucan sertão — there is a story, a community, an identity. And all these shirts, big and small, famous and unknown, deserve to be original. At Garrincha Shirts, we have preserved this culture since 2002 — because real football is in the fabric, not in the replica. Check out our buyers' reviews on Trustindex.