Internacional is a Brazilian football team from Porto Alegre in Rio Grande do Sul, founded on April 4, 1909.

Home stadium is the Gigante da Beira-Rio, capacity 56,000. They play in red shirts, white shorts and socks.

History

Early in the 20th Century, three young men from São Paulo who had recently arrived in Porto Alegre wanted to play soccer. But were not admitted at any club in town, because they were newcomers in Porto Alegre so they decided to found their own club. On the night of Monday, April 4 1909, in the basement of a house, and driven by three men (brothers Henrique and José Poppe Leão, and Luiz Madeira Poppe) 40 young men (twice more people than expected to attend the reunion) founded Sport Club Internacional. One of the two most popular soccer clubs in Rio Grande do Sul was born there, together with Grêmio.

The Gigante da Beira-Rio stadium, the home of Internacional, was inaugurated on a clear afternoon of Sunday, April 6 1969 with the Internacional 2-1 victory against Benfica of Portugal. Inter supporters collaborated as they could to build the stadium, like as bringing cement, nail boxes, iron bars or some bricks. The people's effort helped a lot for the construction of the imponent Gigante da Beira-Rio. In early times, the stadium had capacity for more than 90,000 spectators, and now, with the modern regulations by FIFA, the correct capacity is about 56,000 supporters.

Inter has not only a great stadium, but also owns the Beira-Rio Sportive Complex, including auxiliary training fields, Gigantinho Sportive Gymnsasium and the Nautical Complex. A few soccer clubs in the world have such a great privilege: all teams from every categories work together and players have close relationships with their professional superstars and idols since the youth divisions.

The Gigante complex has restaurants, headquarters for players, physical training rooms, shops, museum, rooms for the Directors Board, management, marketing, telephony, parking and bank. It also has the most beautiful dressing room of the Brazil, one of the most complete and luxurious in the world, inaugurated in 2004. Gigantinho is the largest sportive gymnasium owned by a club in the country, having 18,000 people capacity and perfect safety, acoustical and luminosity conditions for all kind of events, like music shows or public concurses.

In 1975, Internacional was the first club of Rio Grande do Sul to win the Brazilian Championship, making the state soccer to overpass the frontiers with a historical 1-0 victory against Cruzeiro from Minas Gerais, at the Gigante da Beira-Rio. It was also at Beira-Rio stadium that Inter became two-times Brazilian champions, in 1976 against
Corinthians, winning by 2-0 goal margin. And, in 1979, Internacional becomes the first and only club ever to win the Brazilian Championship without a single defeat at all in their campaign, with a win in the last game against Vasco da Gama by a score of 2-1. Their successful run continued at the international level, as in 1980 the team reached the finals of the Copa Libertadores de América where they lost against Nacional de Montevideo. And, as expected, the title of Brazilian Cup against Fluminense in 1992 was again at Beira-Rio stadium, by the smallest margin 1-0.

The club remained in football ostracism for over a decade, but were runners-up of the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2005, losing the title to Corinthians in the last round and after a controversial season that saw matches being cancelled because of a match-rigging scandal. In 2006, Internacional returned to the Copa Libertadores and managed to qualify to the third round. On August 3, 2006, the club clinched a berth in the final of the tournament by beating Paraguay's Libertad 2-0 after a 0-0 draw in the neighboring South American country last week. This win sends the club back to the decision of the tournament for the first time in 26 years, and the club will enjoy the advantage of playing the return leg at home. The opponent will be defending champion São Paulo, and this will mark the second consecutive and second overall time that the Copa Libertadores will be decided by two teams from the same country.

80pxFINAL MATCH

A Factory of Aces

Sport Club International has one of the best structures for the formation of Brazilian soccer young talents. It offers a complete infrastructure for the development of soccer players ranging from 7 to 20 years old. Today it has about 1.120 boys in soccer practice, 320 of them engaged in championships teams and the others playing soccer for pleasure at the
youngest teams. The club also offer to these boys: coaches, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers, doctors, nutritionists and dental care.

Having invested a lot in youth teams, Inter has developed an overwhelming numbers of ace athletes in all of this 95 years. Some of the greatest soccer players on Earth started playing at Sport Club Internacional. Players like Paulo Roberto Falcão, who starred at the 1982 FIFA World Cup, goalkeeper Taffarel, decisive in title campaign of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and midfielder Dunga, the Brazilian skipper who received the champions trophy at the same tournament. Another player who enjoyed large success in world football was the centre-back Lúcio, world champion in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, defender Aloísio, who played at Barcelona and Porto in the 1990s, midfielder Batista, who played in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and the central midfielder Fábio Rochemback, now playing at Middlesbrough Football Club.

Honours

National honours

*Brazilian Championship
**Winners (3): 1975, 1976 and 1979
*Brazilian Cup
**Winners (1): 1992
*State Championship (Campeonato Gaúcho)
**Winners (37): 1927, 1934, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1961, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

International honours

*Copa Libertadores de América
**Runners-up (1): 1980

Other achievements

*Once champions of Eurovoetbal Tournament (Netherlands) in 2006.
*Once champions of Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 in 2006.
*Once champions of Taça Belo Horizonte de Juniores in 1990.
*Nike Cup (Under-15 World Championship) champions in 2000.
*Base of the Brazilian National Team when winning the 1956 Pan-American Games, at Mexico City.
*Base of the Brazilian National Team when winning the Silver Medal in 1984 Olympic Games, at Los Angeles.
*Four-times Brazilian Under-20 champions at São Paulo Cup, in 1974, 1978, 1980 and 1998.
*Three times champion of Copa Macaé de Juvenis: 2000, 2001 and 2005.

Current squad

As of July 31 2006
* from Internacional B

Anthem

Internacional's anthem was composed by Nélson Silva, in 1957, and is called Celeiro de Ases (meaning "A Factory of Aces").

Stadium

Internacional's current stadium is Estádio Beira-Rio, inaugurated in 1969, with a maximum capacity of 56,000 people. Beira-Rio replaced the Estádio dos Eucaliptos, which hosted two matches. Beira-Rio is currently tipped to be one of the venues of a likely FIFA World Cup to be played in Brazil in 2014.

Ultras

*Guarda Colorada - Official website
*T.O. Camisa 12
*Super FICO (Força Independente Colorada)
*Nação Independente Comando Vermelho

Some famous players

External links

*Official website

Other clubs

This club should not be confused with Sport Club Internacional of São Paulo, formed August 19 1899, founder members of the Liga Paulista or the Sport Club do Recife of Recife.

Category:1909 establishments
Internacional

Internacional