This is not the Flamengo anthem, but the guy who made this translation, wrote a new letter not losing the meaning of the original one. He also kept the metrics and rhymes. So, I think it’s worth a look at it.

Below the video you can find the original version.

Keep in mind that Flamengo and São Paulo have three matches left and that Palmeiras has only two.

Theoretically these are the title and Libertadores contestants. São Paulo and Flamengo will struggle for the title, say the critics and there is a great chance that Flamengo finishes next round in first position. I’ll show you why.

As you can see, Flamengo will play at home against Goiás. The tickets are sold out since last week and Goiás gave up their rights to have visitor tickets, so it can be said that it will be a match only with our supporters. São Paulo will face Botafogo on an away match and for your information, Botafogo have to win or they’ll probably get relegated.

Our next matches will be against Corinthians and Grêmio, the first being away, but against a team that has no more motivation, because they are not fighting for the title and already are on next year’s Libertadores. Will finish the season facing Grêmio at beautiful, impressive and crowded Maracanã, celebrating the title after 17 years (I hope so).

São Paulo also have two easy rounds left after the match against Botafogo. At first, they’ll face Goiás and despite been an away game, Goiás, as Corinthians, have no more intentions. Then, counting for the last round, São Paulo have a match against Sport – the only team that has already been relegated – and until now nobody knows where the match will take place. São Paulo lost the right to play at home on the next match, but they are trying to cancel the decision taken by the court. Also, three of their players will be suspended for the next two matches and two other players will be judged by the court next week.

The last time Flamengo reached the title was the day I became their supporter. Not because of the championship victory, but as a consequence to the amazing show the supporters were doing at Maracanã. When I saw it on the television I thought “I wanna be part of this”.

And here I am right now, 17 years later, expecting a national title after Flamengo nearly being relegated on almost all these 17 years with a great chance to watch my team becoming victorious live, in the stadium, on the match against Corinthians. You have no idea how excited I am.

I know that this decade Flamengo has failed year after year when it comes to important decisions, such as the matches against Santo André and Cruzeiro (valid for the Copa do Brasil), and Defensor and América (valid for the Libertadores). And I also know that if I say that Flamengo will become champions they will fatefully lose it. So, I’ll only say that we have HUGE chances.

And to prove that we have players capable of winning the title, here is a video with Petkovic scoring a magnificent goal only two minutes before the referee blew his whistle pointing the end of the match. Pay attention to the video when it reaches 6:34. Do you recognize that player, number 17 player, behind the coach? Yes, that is Adriano.

Finally we have the chance to see Flamengo making more than 35 million people happy.

The two tables are adapted from GloboEsporte.com

Not everybody knows, but Brazil is the largest Catholic nation in the world and Flamengo being the most popular football team in Brazil, maybe in the world, you can say we have a huge nation of St. Jude Thaddeus devotes.

As our fans are also devoted to this team, Flamengo, better, we, the supporters, earned a commemorative date in the city of Rio de Janeiro calendar. That happened in 2007, while we were going through a great moment on the Brasileirão leaving the 19th place and reaching the 3rd one. The City Mayor decided to turn the Flamengo supporters a Cultural Patrimony of the City for promoting shows in Maracanã, turning October 28 not only St. Jude Thaddeus’ day, but also Flamengo supporters’ day.

And what can I tell you about our supporters? Nothing. They speak for themselves, being the only fans that have their official date, which goes to Maracanã and turn a boring match in to a spectacle, that have a team and the power to command this team. Our fans are never satisfied, but are always in love with the team, no matter how bizarre the players are, how bad they shot on goal, how much the boards steals from the club’s money, we, fans, can say we are not Flamengo fans, but Flamengo is our team. We have a team and not the opposite – the team doesn’t have us.

We also have a God; Zico. A true God. One who gave us happiness for years, who lead the fans and the other players to the glory and who become a symbol of what this nation represents. He turned misery lives in to moments of joy. We can say he had his Apostles, as Jesus had. Júnior, Andrade, Adílio, Nunes, Mozer, Leandro, Tita, Raul, Carpegiani, Bebeto and Zé Carlos. We also had great leaders on ancient times, but they didn’t get even close to this one. This is our God and he is the one we follow.

It has been 17 years since we won the National League and that doesn’t mean our supporters number is decreasing. Surveys say Flamengo has the greatest number of supporters among the kids (23% can you imagine that?) meaning that we’ll be Brazilian greatest forever and just get bigger when talking worldly.
Our supporters are the kind of fans that buy 15,000 anticipated tickets four days before next Saturday’s match even though they know that today we have an away match against Barueri and if we lose we can probably forget about the title.

Now, let me see. We have a God, we have a patron saint, we have some Apostles, we have a home and we have a huge number of citizens/fans/supporters/devotees. Those who say Flamengo isn’t a Nation must be wrong. And I add; Flamengo is not only a Nation but it is also a Religion.

With a bigger population than any city in the world, Flamengo supporters are celebrating their day for the third time since it’s been created. Now, they want a good evening as well. Tonight we’ll face Barueri, as I already said, and depending on a combination of results, if we beat them for 3-0 or more, we can sleep as the Brasileirão leaders.

I am not in São Paulo so I won’t be able to watch the game in the stadium, but everybody knows that there will be only Flamengo supporters in there and I expect the team gives them reason to celebrate even more.

Nelson Rodrigues and Zico

During this period, after Nelson was diagnosed with tuberculosis, he started writing his plays, most of them considered outstanding. He also wrote some books, soup operas, movie scripts and novels.
Nelson Rodrigues was a huge Fluminense fan. Crazy about his team and about football, he wrote books and chronicles about the game, especially about the supporters, mainly those who went to stadium to watch a Fla-Flu (our way to call the derby Flamengo – Fluminense). He was the one who said:

Fluminense is the only tricolor team in the world. The rest are only three colors teams.

In the opening day of paradise, there was an opened-gates Fla-Flu, and people ran down the walls.

(And his most famous one)

Fla-Flu came 40 minutes before anything.

He and his brother, Mário Filho, were very important spreading football in Rio and creating the Fla-Flu mystique. Maracanã is officially named after Mário Filho (Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho) and Nelson Rodrigues called his brother as “The Crowds Creator”, honoring him for his role in the popularization of football in Rio as a football commentator on radio.

In 1955, when Flamengo turned 60 years old, Nelson Rodrigues wrote a chronicle about the team, describing poetically how Flamengo used to play football and how he missed that on the other teams. The text was (called “Flamengo Sessentão”) originally published on an old magazine called Manchete Esportiva (November 26, 1955), and later joined the book À Sombra das Chuteiras Imortais (In the Shadow of Immortal Football Boots).

Here is a fragment from the text showing what I consider to be the closest anyone has come to describe what’s the power of Flamengo’s shirt.

To anyone, the shirt is as good as a tie. Not to Flamengo. To Flamengo, the shirt is everything. Has already happened several times that – when the team isn’t good enough, the shirt is hoisted, unfurled, by invisible hands. Opponents, referees, tremble, then, intimidated, cowed, beaten. Maybe there will come the day when Flamengo will not need players as well as managers, or anything else. Will suffice its shirt, opened at the arc. And in the frenzy of a helpless opponent, the red and black shirt will be an impregnable bastille.

Is really exciting to read something like this written by a fan of your rival team, isn’t it? This is the proof that my team is admired and respect, even by my major rivals, even by the most intelligent ones. This is how Flamengo became one of the most glorious teams, with the largest number of fans around the world, winning 31 Rio State Championships, two Brazilian Cups, five Brazilian Leagues, one Libertadores da América and one Intercontinental Cup.

This is why people say you can’t let Flamengo get close to the top. If you let, Flamengo will certainly win the title. Yesterday we beat Palmeiras (1st on Brazilian League) 0-2, growing the streak to 9 matches, and now, with 8 matches to play, we are 6 points behind the leaders. If you say it is too many points and too few matches, you don’t know Brazilian League, because here the champions are known with only two matches to play.

I don’t know if we’ll win the title or even if we’ll be one of the 4 qualified teams to Libertadores da América 2010, but I know the other teams let us get closer and you know what people say. And what people say, tends to be true.

This first video is from the match known as the start of our most glorious time. Flamengo had a great team but never took the championship. Zico crossed from a corner kick and Rondinelli headed to the goal, scoring the championship goal and beginning Flamengo’s golden age.

The second one is known as the “Revenge Match”. I might have written about it here, but it’s never enough. On November 15th (the day of Flamengo’s creation). 1972, Botafogo beat Flamengo 6-0. Almost nine years later, Flamengo did the same (but not on their birthday).

The last one is a friendly against Atlético-MG. Why am I showing you a friendly? Because that day Pelé played for Flamengo and we won 5-1.

Vasco: Hélder, Clebson, Geder (Odvan), Torres and Jorginho Paulista; Fabiano Eller, Paulo Miranda, Pedrinho (Jorginho) and Juninho Paulista; Euller and Viola (Dedé).

Flamengo: Júlio César, Alessandro (Maurinho), Fernando, Juan and Cássio; Leandro Ávila, Rocha, Beto (jorginho) and Petkovic; Reinaldo (Roma) and Edílson.

Goals: Edílson (FLA) 23′, Juninho Paulista (VAS) 40′, Edílson (FLA) 53′, Petkovic (FLA) 88′.

Flamengo won Rio State Championship in the years of 1999, 2000 and 2001, beating Vasco on all these years and becaming a 3 consecutive winner for the fourth time. This year we have the cance to make it happen one more time.

Fifteen minutes before the game an upper stand in the stadium collapsed, leading to the death of three supportes and almost other 100 being injured (there were 145.000 people at Maracanã that day).

On July 12, 1992, Flamengo, leaded by a 38 year old player, Júnior, beat Botafogo (3-0) on the final first leg. The fans celebrated the title one week before the right day and the on the right day as well. I have no words to describe a victory againt a local rival in a National League final.

I was only five and that was the day I became a scarlet-black.

Here goes two videos. Which one from one final leg. Enjoy.

I have broken our history into five periods. The first one, before Zico, goes from 1895 to 1971. The second, I called First Zicozoic, that goes from 1971 to 1983. The third period is knwon as Zicozoic Break. It goes from 1983 to 1985. The forth one, called Second Zicozoic period, starting on it goes until 1989. That is when Post Zico period started and it continues until today.

Flamengo was founded on November 15, 1985 as a rowing club and officially became a soccer club on December 1911 after some players from Laranjeiras had a disagreement and joined Flamengo founding the terrestrial sports division and then the soccer team. The first official match was player on May 3, 1912 and the team beat Madureira 16 to 2.

The team used to pactice on a field located on Russel Beach and then began to play on a field on Paiçandu Street. So from 1930 to 1938 two brothers worked hard to get a piece of land and build a stadium. By the end of this period, the city mayor made a land donation to the club. The Gávea Stadium was finished by September 4, 1938 and the first game was a lose against Vasco da Gama.

At first, our mascot was Popeye, a famous character that represented our strenght and persistence. However, it has never been a success between the fans. On the 60’s the rivals started calling the scarlet-black fans “urubu” (in English, vulture) on a racist aggression to the fans which embraced the name on a Sunday game against Botafogo on May 31, 1969, when a fan brought a vulture to the stadium, letting him fly with our collors tied on his feet during the game.

During these years, the team won 15 Rio State Championship, one Rio-São Paulo Tournament and one Taça Guanabara. There wasn’t a National wide championship, so the teams concentrated their games on local derby. After being founded on 1912, the team reached a two time Rio Statet Championship on 1914/1915 and then on 1920/1921 and turned into a three champion on 1942/1943/1944 and 1953/1954/1955.

On 1971 a young player called Arthur Antunes Coimbra, made famous as Zico (Galinho, White Pelé, God (to us), God Soccer Phi (to the Japanese) or even King Arthur (to the Turkey)) came to Flamengo and on a victory against Vasco da Gama on 1971 started playing. It was the beginning of a Golden Age.

The video shows the 1963 Rio State Championship Final between Flamengo and his historical major rival Fluminense. The game score was 0×0 an we became champions.