Rio de Janeiro Brazil Rio de Janeiro is host to 4 major soccer clubs, but the most successful club of the city, in fact the most popular soccer club in the country, with some 22% of the Brazilian population a fan, is Flamengo.

Flamengo was founded in 1895, first as a rowing club, and it took until 1912 for the club to play their first official football match, after a group of ten dissatisfied players from the nearby Fluminense football club broke away following a dispute.