Cardoso Moreira

Búzios stood between Cardoso Moreira and a return to professional football. In 2026 the club beat them in the final of the Campeonato Carioca Série C, a fifth-tier title that sent them back up into Série B2, when the club suspended its professional activities.

Founded in 1935, the club spent long stretches moving between the amateur and professional ranks of Rio de Janeiro football, playing its games at a ground known locally as the Ferreirão, which holds around 10,000.

Its clearest run had come earlier. The 1994 Série B2 title was followed by a retreat from professional football over administrative trouble, then a comeback sealed by beating Silva Jardim in the 2006 Série B1 final. Promotion followed promotion, and by 2008 Cardoso Moreira were playing in Série A1, the state's top flight, with the forward Neném on the books near the end of his career. The elite lasted one season: they finished bottom and went straight back down.

There is no fixed derby to speak of, but the sharpest matches remain against Búzios, this year's opponents in the final, and against Campos AA, the other reference club of the region.