Atletico Mineiro

Early years and achievements (1908–1949)

Clube Atlético Mineiro was formed on 25 March 1908, by a group of twenty-two students from Belo Horizonte, who decided the club's name would be Athletico Mineiro Foot Ball Club. The club's first match was played against Sport Club Futebol on March 21, 1909; Atlético won 3–0, with the first goal scored by Aníbal Machado. In 1913, the club's name was officially changed to Clube Atlético Mineiro, and in the following year Atlético won the Taça Bueno Brandão, the first competition ever held in the state of Minas Gerais. In 1915, the club won the inaugural edition of the Campeonato Mineiro, the state league of Minas Gerais. The competition was then organised by the Liga Mineira de Sports Athléticos, which would later become the Federação Mineira de Futebol (FMF).

Atlético won the league again in 1926, led by striker Mário de Castro. In 1927, forwards Said and Jairo joined Castro to form an attacking partnership nicknamed the Trio Maldito ("Unholy Trio"), which guided Atlético to another state league triumph. In 1929, the club played its first international encounter, against Portuguese club Vitória de Setúbal, winning 3–1 in a match played at the Presidente Antônio Carlos Stadium. The ground had opened earlier that year and would become the club's home for the following two decades.

Atlético won the state league in 1931 and 1932, before becoming a professional club in 1933. After another Campeonato Mineiro triumph in 1936, Atlético won the 1937 Copa dos Campeões Estaduais, its first title at national level. The competition was organised by the Federação Brasileira de Foot-Ball, a federation for professional clubs that would later merge into the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD). The Copa dos Campeões Estaduais was contested by the 1936 state league champions from Minas Gerais (Atlético), Rio de Janeiro (Fluminense), São Paulo (Portuguesa) and Espírito Santo (Rio Branco). Atlético defeated the latter 5–1 in the final match, played at the Antônio Carlos stadium. Guará rose as the club's top player during that period, and the interstate title was followed by two more Campeonato Mineiro victories, in 1938 and 1939.

Success continued in the 1940s, with a squad that included Carlyle, Lucas Miranda, Nívio and goalkeeper Kafunga. The club was dominant in the state as it won the league in 1941, 1942, 1946, 1947 and 1949. Although América had been Atlético's long-standing adversary, a new rivalry started to develop with Cruzëiro in the 1940s, as it became Galo's main challenger during this period.

European tour and the Mineirão era (1950–1969)

In 1950, the club's home moved from the Antônio Carlos to the newer and larger Estádio Independência. The season saw another Campeonato Mineiro triumph and the club's first European tour, in which it played ten games in five countries. The excursion happened at a time when there were neither regular national competitions in Brazil nor continental ones in South America, and followed soon after the traumatic Maracanazo. The tour and Atlético's results, many of which achieved under adverse weather conditions and snow, were seen by national sports media as a historic achievement for Brazilian football itself. The team, captained by Zé do Monte, was dubbed the Campeões do Gelo ("Ice Champions"), a title that is remembered in the club's official anthem. The club's success in the state competition continued in the 1950s, a decade that saw the rise of forward Ubaldo and five consecutive Campeonato Mineiro victories from 1952 to 1956. After another state league title in 1958, Atlético took part in the inaugural edition of the Taça Brasil in the following year, reaching the third round. The tournament, the country's first annual nationwide competition, was a cup contested between state league champions, originally created by the CBD to select Brazil's entrants in the newly formed Copa Libertadores.

In the 1960s, Atlético won the Campeonato Mineiro twice, in 1962 and 1963, but failed to advance to the later stages of the Taça Brasil. Mineirão, Belo Horizonte's new stadium, opened in 1965 and immediately became the club's home. It was in the mid-1960s when the rivalry with Cruzëiro became the main one in the state. In 1967, another national-level competition was created by the CBD, the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa. It included more clubs than the Taça Brasil, but Atlético did not finish in the top-four in any of its editions in the decade. In the second half of the 1960s, highlights came in the form of friendlies against national sides. In 1968, Atlético, representing the Brazilian national team, defeated European Championship runners-up Yugoslavia 3–2 at the Mineirão; the following year, the Seleção itself, which would become champions of the 1970 FIFA World Cup, was defeated 2–1.

National success and state dominance (1970–1989)

With the arrival of Telê Santana as the club's head coach in 1970, Galo broke Cruzëiro's sequence and won its first state league title in the Mineirão, also finishing third in the last Roberto Gomes Pedrosa. In 1971, captained by midfielder Oldair and with World Cup-winning forward Dario as the league's top goalscorer, Atlético won the Campeonato Brasileiro. It was the first edition of the competition, also known as the Brasileirão, which replaced both the Taça Brasil and the Roberto Gomes Pedrosa as the new national championship. Atlético played a final group stage against São Paulo and Botafogo, defeating the former 1–0 at the Mineirão and the latter 1–0 at the Maracanã. The victory also secured the club's first participation in an official continental competition, the 1972 Copa Libertadores, in which it did not advance past the first group stage. After four trophyless years, Atlético won the state league again in 1976 and finished third in the Campeonato Brasileiro. That season saw the emergence of a golden generation of players, formed in the club's youth academies under coach Barbatana. Reinaldo, Toninho Cerezo, Éder, Luizinho, Paulo Isidoro and João Leite, players who represented Brazil at international level, were central to the team that took Atlético to six consecutive state league victories between 1978 and 1983, and to good results in the Série A. Atlético came second in the 1977 Brasileirão, losing the final to São Paulo in a penalty shootout at the Mineirão, despite remaining undefeated for the entire season. Reinaldo, the league's top scorer in that season with an average of 1.56 goals per match, was banned from the final. By his account, this was because of his insistence on celebrating his goals by raising his fist, a political symbol that opposed the Brazilian military government of the time. In 1978, Atlético reached the Copa Libertadores semi-finals and won the Copa dos Campeões Brasileiros, a tournament organised by the CBD between past winners of the Brasileirão. In a repetition of the previous year's Brasileiro decisive match, the opponent in the final of this competition was São Paulo, with Atlético this time winning a penalty shootout.

In 1980, after having the best record in the first stages of the Brasileirão, Atlético lost to Flamengo in a controversial final of the competition. Three Galo players were bizarrely sent off, among them Reinaldo, who received a straight red card after scoring twice. The team was then eliminated from the following year's Copa Libertadores undefeated, in another decisive match marked by controversy: a play-off against Flamengo that ended after 37 minutes, following the sendings-off of five Atlético players. During the 1980s, the club participated in and won international friendly competitions, such as the Amsterdam Tournament and the Tournoi de Paris. Atlético had the best statistic league records of the 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1987 Brasileirão seasons, but did not win the title, falling in the finals or semi-finals of those editions. In the second half of the decade, the club continued its success in the state, winning the Campeonato Mineiro in 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1989. Atlético was one of Brazil's top sides of the 1980s, providing many players to the Brazilian national team, being dominant at state level and having good performances in the Brasileiro, but a tendency to lose in its final knockout stages prevented a new title in this competition.

Continental efforts and financial turmoil (1990–2009)

In the following decade, Atlético won the state league in 1991 and first saw success at continental level in 1992, when it won the inaugural Copa CONMEBOL. The team, managed by Procópio Cardoso, defeated Paraguay's Olimpia in the finals to claim its first official international title. As champion of that competition, the club took part in the 1993 Copa de Oro, in which it eliminated local rival Cruzëiro in the semi-finals but eventually lost to Argentina's Boca Juniors. After finishing fourth in the 1994 Brasileirão, the following year saw the club win the state league and reach the finals of the Copa CONMEBOL for a second time. This one ended in defeat to Argentine team Rosario Central on penalties, after Atlético won the first leg by 4–0 and lost the second one by the same score. In 1996, Atlético participated in the Copa Masters CONMEBOL, a competition between past winners of the Copa CONMEBOL that was played in Cuiabá; Atlético eliminated Rosario Central in the semi-finals but lost to São Paulo in the final match. The team also finished third in that year's Brasileiro and fourth in the following edition, falling in the semi-finals of both seasons. Another triumph came in the 1997 Copa CONMEBOL, when an Atlético team that included Marques and Cláudio Taffarel defeated Argentina's Lanús in the finals, and won the trophy for a second time. In 1999, after another Campeonato Mineiro title, a Galo side led by Marques and Guilherme, the top scorer in the league, reached the Série A finals for the fourth time, but lost to Corinthians. Despite international success and good performances in the Série A, the decade was marked by bad club administration by Atlético's presidents and deteriorating finances, which made the club one of the most indebted in Brazilian football.

In 2000, Atlético won the Campeonato Mineiro, reached the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals and the semi-finals of Copa Mercosur, but had a bad season in the national league, the Copa João Havelange. The following year, despite a good performance in the Brasileirão with a squad that included Marques, Guilherme and Gilberto Silva, the team was eliminated in the competition's semi-finals, eventually finishing in fourth place. Atlético then finished in the upper part of the national league table in the following two seasons, but in 2004 it barely escaped relegation. In 2005 the club was demoted to the Série B, the second level of the Brasileirão.

On the following year with Levir Culpi as head coach, the club won promotion at the first attempt as Série B champion in 2006, returning to the Série A for the 2007 season. That year, Atlético won the Campeonato Mineiro, its first trophy in seven years, and finished eighth in the national league. Alexandre Kalil was chosen as the club's new president in 2008, and tried to improve its finances and status. In 2009, with Diego Tardelli in good form, Galo led the Brasileirão for eight of the thirty-eight rounds, before eventually finishing in seventh place. Despite some highlights at the beginning and end of the decade, the 2000s were not a successful period in the club's history, again marked by bad administration and frequent managerial changes.

Resurgence and international success (2010-2017)

The team won its 40th Campeonato Mineiro in 2010, but finished 13th in the Série A. After an unsuccessful year in 2011, coming close to relegation, the arrival of Cuca as head coach at the end of that season marked the beginning of another successful era for the club. The club moved back to the Independência in 2012, as the Mineirão was closed for renovation, and won the Campeonato Mineiro undefeated. The arrival of Ronaldinho in the middle of the season was an important event for the club, which eventually finished as runner-up in the Série A and earned a spot in the following year's Copa Libertadores.

Diego Tardelli and Gilberto Silva returned to the club in 2013 and joined Ronaldinho, Jô and Bernard towards another Campeonato Mineiro triumph. The quarter-finals of that season's Copa Libertadores saw an iconic moment for Atlético, when a penalty kick was awarded to Mexican Club Tijuana in injury time. It would have meant elimination if it had been scored, but was saved by Atlético's goalkeeper Victor with his left foot. The save, according to sports commentators and fans, represented the "kicking out" of the club's historic "jinx". Atlético then defeated Argentina's Newell's Old Boys in the semi-finals and Olimpia in the finals, both on penalties, after losing both first legs by 2–0 and winning the second ones by the same score, to achieve its first Copa Libertadores title. The club's participation in the FIFA Club World Cup was unsuccessful, as Atlético failed to reach the final, losing to Moroccan hosts Raja Casablanca; Galo eventually finished in third place after defeating China's Guangzhou Evergrande.

Under Levir Culpi, who returned to the club in 2014, Atlético won its first Recopa Sudamericana, defeating Lanús for the second time in a continental final. In that season's Copa do Brasil, after trailing 0–3 on aggregate in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals (against Corinthians and Flamengo, respectively), Atlético made 4–3 comebacks and advanced. The competition's finals were the first at a national level to feature them and Atlético defeated Cruzëiro on both encounters to win its first Copa do Brasil. The club's successful run in the decade continued in 2015, when it won the Campeonato Mineiro and finished second in the Campeonato Brasileiro. In 2016, however, Atlético Mineiro ended the season without official trophies, finishing as runner-up of the Campeonato Mineiro and the Copa do Brasil, and in fourth place in the Brasileiro. The club achieved its 44th Campeonato Mineiro title in 2017.

New Golden age (2021–)

On 2 December 2021, after finishing 3rd place in the last edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro, Atlético won its second Série A title after 49 years, beating Bahia in a thrilling 2–3 comeback to take the title. Less than two weeks later, on 15 December, they beat Athletico Paranaense in the 2021 Copa do Brasil Finals after a 4–0 win at home, the largest thrash ever in a Copa do Brasil finals match, followed by a 1–2 away win to secure Galo's second Copa do Brasil trophy. On 20 February 2022, after a 2–2 draw with Flamengo, Atlético Mineiro took the 2022 Supercopa do Brasil title after a long penalty shootout, in which Galo won 8–7. On 7 April 2024, Atlético won the 2024 Campeonato Mineiro for the fifth consecutive year (2020-2024), a feat that was last achieved 42 years prior (1978–82), being the third time in the club's history.