Audax Rio

São João de Meriti's club goes into the 2025 Campeonato Carioca Série A2 rebuilding after the worst season in its history: in 2024 Audax Rio finished bottom of the Série A1 without a single point. Luciano Moraes, appointed head coach in April 2024, is the man tasked with getting it back up.

The club did not start out as Audax at all. Founded on 8 May 2005 as Sendas Esporte Clube, it carried the name and the orange branding of the Sendas supermarket chain owned by Arthur Sendas — the source of the nickname "Laranja" that has stuck ever since. The Audax name only arrived in 2011, once the Pão de Açúcar Group sold the club to the Casino Group and it was aligned with Grêmio Osasco Audax in São Paulo; the Bradesco Group took it over in 2013.

Between those ownership changes the club's fortunes swung sharply. A Carioca Série B1 title in 2007 and the Copa Rio in 2010 opened the door to the national Série D, and by 2013 Audax had reached the Campeonato Carioca's top flight for the first time — only to go straight back down the following year. Winning the Série A2 in 2021 earned it a second promotion, one that lasted just three seasons.

Stability has been just as hard to find off the pitch. Audax started out at Estádio Arthur Sendas in São João de Meriti, then shifted to Angra dos Reis for 2022 and 2023, and now plays at Estádio Elcyr Resende de Mendonça in Saquarema, which holds around 4,315 people. Against local rival Nova Iguaçu, in the fixture known as the Clássico da Baixada, the early meetings between the sides went the Orange's way.

Of the players to come through the club, Hyuri is the name still recalled for a single moment: a winning goal against Flamengo in 2013 before he moved on to Botafogo and then to China. A first-division place is what Audax has yet to hold onto for more than a season at a time.