Fluminense Greatest All-Time Team

This blogger Artur Yanturin of Russia copied many of my blog teams.  This blog was one of them.  It was my Russia All-Time Team here.  His team was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.   His Spartak Moscow All-Time team entry of was published in October 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2017.  His entry of the Dutch-German rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.  He also copied many many of my blog entries.

His Facebook and Instagram

Campeonato Carioca 2012

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Santos, Flamengo, Sao Paulo, Corithians, Botafogo
Vasco Da Gama, Palmeiras, Internacional
Fluminense, Gremio, Cruzeiro, Atlético Mineiro, Bahia.

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for the club.  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.

Fluminense Football Club was founded on July 21, 1902 by the sons of Carioca aristocrats, being led by Oscar Cox, a Brazilian sportsman, in the bairro of Flamengo, a direct contrast between the aristocratic founders and the modest ground it was founded on. Cox was elected as the club's first president. Fluminense has been state champions on 31 occasions, second only to Flamengo with 33. The team has been national champions four times, most recently in 2012, and won the Copa do Brasil in 2007.

Cope Rio Winner in 1952

Team
GK: Carlos Jose Castilho (Brazil)
Carlos Jose Castilho went to 4 World Cup Finals: 1950, 1954, 1958 and 1962, but only played in 1954.  He had a reputation for being lucky, earning the nickname "Leiteira".  He played over 695 games for Fluminense. He was diatonic and he believed he was favored because he saw yellow balls as if they were red, though he had trouble at night with white balls.  He also decided to partially amputate a finger so that he did not need to rest for an injury.

Carlos Jose Castilho

GK: Felix (Brazil)
Felix played goalkeeper for  Atlético Juventus and Associação Portuguesa de Desportos and Fluminense. With Fluminense, he won won Campeonato Carioca: 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1976.  He has 47 caps with the Brazilian Seleção.  He was known for being the starting keeper for the 1970 World Cup-winning squad.

GK: Batatais (Brazil)
In career, Batatais started at early 1930s at Comercial Futebol Clube of Ribeirão Preto, he played for Portuguesa, Palmeiras, Fluminense and América-RJ where close his career in 1948. He won five Rio de Janeiro State Tournament in 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940 and 1941. For Brazil national football team he participated at 1938 FIFA World Cup and played two matches.

RB: Carlos Alberto (Brazil)
Carlos Alberto was one of the greatest rightback ever played the game. He was the captain of the 1970 World Cup winning team in Mexico.  His goal in the Final against Italy was considered one of the greatest goals in the history of the tournament. He missed the World Cup in 1974 through an injury.  He began his career with Flummense in 1963.  He played with Pele both at Santos and NY Cosmos. He had 53 caps for Brazil.

Carlos Alberto Torres

RB: Píndaro (Brazil)
Pindaro was an all-time great playing for Flumiense.  Together with Castilho and Pinheiro, he formed a great defensive unit for the club in the late 1940's and early 1950's.  The club won the Copa Rio in 1952.  It was an intercontinental tournament, involving teams from Europe. Despite being a top defender, he did not attend the World Cup Finals in 1950.

CB: Pinheiro (Brazil)
Pinheiro held the second highest appearance record for Fluminense. He was involved with over 600 games.  Pinheiro was Rio de Janeiro's champion in 1951 and 1959, Rio's 1952 Cup, Rio-São Paulo Tourney in 1957 and 1960, as well as several other lesser-known titles. Before Fluminese, he played for Americano.  At the club, he played for many position, including goalkeeper. He earned 17 caps, attending the WC Finals in 1954.

CB: Thiago Silva (Brazil)
Thiago Silva  became the most expensive defender in history when he moved from Milan to Paris St. Germain.  Before moving to play in Europe, he played for Juventude and Fluminense in Brazil. He was a key player as Fluminense to the Final of Copa Libertadores in 2008.  For the national team, he was the captain of Brazil ill-fated team in World Cup 2014, but did not play against Germany in the semifinal. He was an unused sub at the WC Finals in 2010.

Thiago Silva

CB: Edinho (Brazil)
Born in 1955, Edinho played 45 times for Brazil.  He went to three World Cup Finals: 1978, 1982 and 1986.  He was the captain of the 1986 team.  Edinho was also in the team which finished fourth at the 1976 Summer Olympics. He spent most of his career with Fluminense, but also played with Flamengo and Fluminense FC.  In  Europe, he played with Udinese in Italy and Gremio.

CB: Ricardo Gomez (Brazil)
Ricardo Gomez started his career with Fluminense at home before joining Benfica in 1988.  He would then join Paris St.Germaine in 1991.  He went to play in Italia 1990, where Brazil was known for their defensive tactics.  In 1994, he was selected as the captain for USA 1994.  However, he was injured before the Finals and did not attend the World Cup Finals.

LB: Branco (Brazil)
Branco appeared 72 times for Brazil, between April 1985 and February 1995.  He went to both Italia 1990 and USA 1994.  In 1994, he scored a powerful against Holland that sent Brazil to the semifinal.  On the club level, Branco played for Internacional (1980–81), Fluminense (1981–86), Brescia (1986–88), FC Porto (1988–91), Genoa (1991–93), Grêmio (1992–94), Flamengo (1995), Corinthians (1995), Middlesbrough (1996), and MetroStars (1997). 

Branco

LB: Altar (Brazil)
Altar has spent his entire career with Fluminense, for which he played 551 games, scoring twice. He was called “magro” (slim) because he was skinny and despite his modest physical appearance, was a tough tackler and tremendous marker. His duels with Garrincha were legendary. He retired from playing in 1971 aged 33. He was a member of Brazil's 1962 WC winning squad.

DM: Denilson (Brazil)
Denilson played entire career (1962–1974) at Fluminense, and won four Rio de Janeiro State Championship (1964, 1969, 1971, 1973), and three Guanabara Rio Cup (1966, 1969, 1971). At international level, he made 9 appearances for Brazil, scoring 2 goals, and participated at the 1966 World Cup, making two appearances against Bulgaria and Portugal. He is known as the 'king of step-overs'.

CM: Didi (Brazil)
Didi is considered one of the greatest players ever from Brazil.  He won two World Cups.  He was voted the best player in World Cup 1958.  He was also on the 1954 and 1962 team.  At the club level, he joined Real Madrid in the 1950's, but returned after less than a year because of a personal feud with Alfredo di Stefano. He also played with Garrincha at Botafogo, a team considered among the best ever club side in Brazil.

Didi

CM: Delei (Brazil) 
Delei started his career in 1979, playing for Fluminense. During his spell at the club, he won the Campeonato Carioca in 1980, 1983, 1984 and in 1985, and won the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 1984. He had brief careers with Palmeiras, Botafogo, Belenenses in Portugal and Atlético Paranaense.  He was capped once by Brazil in 1984, but played for the Olympic team in 1979.

CM: Pintinho (Brazil)
In his career, Pintinho played for Fluminense and Vasco da Gama in Brazil, Sevilla and Cádiz in Spain, and Farense in Portugal.  For Fluminense, he played in 381 matches and scored 23 goals between 1972 and 1980.  his second longest career was with Sevilla, which lasted from 1980 to 1984. He earned 3 caps with the Seleção.

RW: Tele Santana (Brazil)
Telê started his career as a goalkeeper, but switched to an attacker.  He played for clubs such as Fluminense, Madureira and Vasco da Gama.  With Fluminense's shirt, he played 557 matches and scored 165 goals.  He was the third highest player in appearance to play for the club and also the third highest scorer. He was better known for being the manager of Brazil's World Cup team in 1982, which was considered one of the best ever national team.

Tele Santana

LW: Hércules de Miranda (Brazil)
Hércules started his career in 1930, playing for Juventus. , leaving the club in 1933, joining São Paulo da Floresta. With Fluminense, he won  the Campeonato Carioca in 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940 and in 1941. Hércules de Miranda played Corinthians from1942 to 1948.  He played six games for Brazil, scoring three goals. His debutwas against Poand at the 1938 World Cup Finals.

LW/AM: Rivelino (Brazil)
Rivelino is considered to be one of the greatest left-sided midfielder ever.  His signature move was the "flip-flap". He was a member of Brazil's great 1970 team and also played in the 1974 team.  He had 92 caps for Brazil.  He started his career with Corinthians, but in one of the club's worst period in history. He moved to Fluminense in 1974, forming a great team with Carlos Alberto.  He also played for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

Rivelino

AM: Julio Cesar Romero "Romerito"  (Paraguay)
Julio Cesar Romero was considered the best outfielder in Paraguay's history.  He had careers in Paraguay, the USA, Spain, Mexico, Chile and Brazil.  His two most famous stints were with NY Cosmos and Fluminense.  He led Paraguay to win the Copa America in 1979 and to qualify for the World Cup Finals in 1986.  He was selected as the South American Footballer of the Year in 1985. 

AM: Dario Conca (Argentina)
Conca played for Tigre and River Plate in Argentina, but he made his name with Brazil's Flumiense. He played an important role in the 2008 Copa Libertadores campaign. In 2011, he made a dramatic transfer to Guangzhou Evergrande, which the transfer fees was a domestic record.  It was reported that Conca's annual was among the highest paid players in the world. He helped the club to win the AFC Champions' league in 2013.

Dario Conca

ST: Benedito Assis (Brazil)
Benedito Assis played for São Paulo between 1980 and 1981. In 1982, he went to Atletico-PR. He formed an offensive partnership with Washington.  His career reached its height when he joined  Fluminense in 1983, where he was reunited with Washington.  Assis played 177 games for Fluminense and scored 54 goals between 1983 and 1987. He was capped twice.

ST: Ezio (Brazil)
During his career (1986–1998) he played for Bangu, Olaria, Portuguesa, Fluminense (he scored for this club 118 goals in 236 matches), Atlético Mineiro, Americano Rio, CFZ do Rio, Rio Branco-ES and Internacional Limeira. He won, as a Fluminense player, one Rio de Janeiro State Championship in 1995, and two Guanabara Cup titles, in 1991 and 1993.

ST: Waldo (Brazil)
Waldo was best known for his time at Fluminense, being top scorer in the former club's history by scoring 314 goals in 401 matches.In 1961, he joined Valencia, winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1962 and 1963. He won the Pichichi Trophy in 1967 for the topscorer in the league. He also played one season with Hércules CF.  He was capped 5 times.

ST: Henry Welfare (England)
Welfare was an early icon for Fluminense.  He arrived at Rio de Janeiro in 1913 to work as an English teacher. In England, he had played for Northern Normals, Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers. With Fluminense, he scored almost a goal per game(163 goals in 166 games). Welfare ended his career after scoring the winning goal for Fluminense against Botafogo, in 1924. 

ST: Fred (Brazil)
Fred began his career at América Mineiro before transferring to local rivals Cruzeiro in 2004. In France, he won three consecutive Ligue 1 titles there with Lyon, but he had poor performance at the end of his stay.  He joined Fluminense in 2009.  He won the MVP of Campeonato Brasileiro in 2012.  At the time of writing, he earned 39 caps. He went to the World Cup Finals in 2006 as backup striker.  At the ill-fated Brazil 2014, he was the starter.  

Fred

Honorable Mention
Marco Antonio, Bigode, Jair Marinho, Pintinho, Gerson, Paulo Cezar Caju, Carlos Brant, Jandir Bugs, Tim, Russo, Francisco Rodrigues, Romeu Pellicciari, Pedro Amorim Duarte, Orlando Pingo de Ouro, Arthur Machado, Zeze, Renato Gaucho, Ademir de Menezes, Washington César Santos, Washington Stecanela Cerqueira, Assis, Marco Antônio.

Squad Explanation
-- For his loyal service to the Club, Henry Welfare was elected a Member For Life of the Fluminense's deliberative council. He was honoured for his role in the early history of the club.  He remained the 6th highest goal scorer for the club. He is one of the few European born player selected on my all-time teams for Brazilian clubs. Dejan Petković of Flamengo is the only modern era player who had the honour.
-- In 1952, Fluminense won the Copa Rio.  The tournament was one of the first major trophies won by the club.  It was a tournament, involving European teams. From the winning team, I selected Didi, Píndaro and Pinheiro. 
-- Didi's longest stint was with Fluminese.  This was where he earned his first cap for Brazil.
-- In 2008, Fluminense reached the Final of Copa Libertadores, but they lost to LDU Quito of Ecuador. Dario Conca was a star at the 2008 Copa Libertadores campaign. He was also voted the best player in Serie A for the 2010. Thiago Silva was an important player at Copa Libertadores in 2008. He also made over 100 appearances of the club and voted the best defender in Brazil while he was playing there. 
-- The club built a bronze bust of Carlos Jose Castilho.  That showed how much they adored him.  Felix was playing for Flumiense when he won the 1970 World Cup Finals.
-- Carlos Alberto Torres started over here.  He also made a name before joining Pele's Santos.  Branco also made a name here before moving to play overseas.  He also had two other spells with the club later in his career.  Ricardo Gomez also made a name with the club before heading to Europe.
-- The club also had another famous Carlos Alberto. In an unfortunate event in 1914, Carlos Alberto, a mulatto playing for Fluminense, decided to cover himself in face powder to disguise the color of his skin. This ultimately led to one of the club's nicknames, pó de arroz, which is the Portuguese for 'white powder'.
-- Denilson and Altar played his entire career with the club.
-- Tele Santana is the third highest in both goal scoring and appearance record for the club.  
-- Julio Cesar Romero was the South American Player of the Year in 1985 while he was a member of the team.  He is one of Paraguay's greatest players. 
-- Fluminense also had two famous forwards named Washington. Washington César Santos is eight best top goalscorer in club history with 118 goals. Washington Stecanela Cerqueira was the 2008 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A top scorer, with 21 goals.  Both made honorable mention only.
-- Rivellino joined the club in the 1970's, where the team earned the nickname "maquina tricolor(tricolor machince)". 
-- Gerson only played for them at the end of his career.  Paulo Cezar Caju also played two seasons. I only put them on honorable mention.
-- I do not have spaces for attackers:  Escurinho, Renato Gaucho, Ezio, Zeze, Orlando Pingo de Ouro, Tim, Russo and Romeu Pellicciari.  
-- Ademir de Menezes only played one season with Fluminense, but he was sensational that year. He won the Campeonato Carioca by scoring 24 goals in 23 games. I nearly selected him to the team. I only put him on honorable mention.
-- Waldo is the club's all-time leading scoring. 
-- From 2009 to 2016, Fred played for Flumiense.  In 2012, he won the Player of the Year ("Craque do Brasileirão")award.  he was Serie A Top scorer twice while playing here.  In 2012, he scored 44 goals, which broke the record for the most goals in a single season.
-- " Russo "(Adolpho Milman) played once for Brazil in 1942.  However, his birthplace had been a question mark.  He was a naturalised Brazil of Ukrainian Jewish background via Argentina.  He was born in 1915.  Some source claimed that he was born in Afghanistan, which was then a part of Russia.  He later settled down in Entre Ríos, Argentina. He refused to discuss his birthplace, but his children said that he was born in Argentina. One blog said that he moved to Brazil as a one year old.  As of 2018, he was one of five foreign born footballers to have represent Brazil. 

Formation