Corinthians

São Paulo runs on movement — the rail yards, the docks, the workers who arrived from Europe to build the city's infrastructure. In the Bom Retiro district, five railway employees of the São Paulo Railway — Joaquim Ambrósio, Antônio Pereira, Rafael Perrone, Anselmo Correia and Carlos Silva — watched the touring English amateurs of Corinthian F.C. play an exhibition match and decided the city needed a club of its own kind. They founded it on 1 September 1910, elected Miguel Batalha as first president, and named it after the visitors. It never carried the polish of a university or an elite social club, and the nickname that stuck, Equipe do Povo — the people's team — reflects where it came from more than any badge could.

The rivalry that defines the calendar is the Derby Paulista, against Palmeiras, though the Clássico Majestoso against São Paulo FC carries its own weight in a city with four major clubs squeezed into the same fixture list. Corinthians has answered that competition with 31 São Paulo state titles, a number no explanation really needs.

The national title took longer to arrive — the first Brasileirão only came in 1990 — but by 2012 the club had gone further than any of its São Paulo rivals, beating Boca Juniors 2-0 in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final and holding out for a scoreless draw in Buenos Aires. That continental win opened the door to the Club World Cup the same year, adding to the one already collected in 2000.

Games are now played at the Neo Química Arena, known as Arena Corinthians until 2020, expanded in 2025 to 48,905 seats. What the club has not managed is a second Libertadores — thirteen years on from Buenos Aires, that title stands alone.