Estrela do Norte

The first pitch belonged to a school. Boys from the Liceu Muniz Freire played in the college yard in the northern part of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, and when they put a name to what they had made in January 1916, they took it from that corner of town. The club headquarters then stood where the Tiro de Guerra barracks stands now. Around the 1930s the football moved to Sumaré, and it has not moved since.

For most of the century that followed, Estrela do Norte lived in the second tier of Espírito Santo and won its way up twice, in 1996 and 1999. The state championship itself took until 2014.

Sumaré holds 6,000, which is the frame for one of the odder afternoons in the club's past. In the 1960s Botafogo came to Cachoeiro for a friendly and brought Garrincha, Nílton Santos and Didi with them — three names from Brazil's world-champion side, on a ground that size, against a club that has never had a national player of its own to set beside them. Decades later, for the centenary in 2016, the club gave the Botafogo goalkeeper Jefferson an honorary award.

The name that recurs in the fixture list is Porto Vitória, met year after year in the Troféu Camilo Cola, the unofficial pre-season match Estrela do Norte took in 2021 and 2022. It is a small-state rivalry, decided by proximity rather than history: in Espírito Santo there are only so many clubs to play, and the same ones keep coming back.