Nova Iguaçu U20

Nova Iguaçu has taken the Copa Rio twice, in 2008 and 2012, and climbed out of the Rio state second division three separate times — 2005, 2016 and 2020 — each promotion earned the hard way through the Campeonato Carioca's lower tiers. None of that matched 2024, when the club reached the final of the top-flight Carioca championship for the first time in its history and lost only to Flamengo.

The orange kit dates back to the 1930s, when the town shipped oranges out of the Baixada Fluminense, and it later gave the club its nickname, Carrossel da Baixada, a nod to the Netherlands side that wore the same colour at the 1974 World Cup. The team plays at the Estádio Jânio Moraes, known locally as Laranjão, in the suburbs east of Rio de Janeiro.

What the academy is actually known for is sending players elsewhere. Bill came through the youth ranks, moved to Flamengo, where he was properly discovered, drifted through several clubs, and then came back to Nova Iguaçu in 2024 — the year he ended up named in the Campeonato Carioca team of the tournament. Marcos Paulo followed a similar path out through Flamengo and on to Red Bull Bragantino, while Kayque Pereira left for Botafogo after five years in the academy, 2015 to 2020, and has since played in Belgium, Serbia and the UAE.

Matches against Madureira are known as the Clássico Suburbano, and against Volta Redonda as the Clássico da Baixada, both fixtures rooted in the working-class districts the club has always drawn from rather than in any old rivalry from the trophy years.

The Jânio Moraes holds 1,810 people.