No more yo-yos
Brazil’s reputation as a footballing powerhouse is built on a collection of improbable success stories. Some of the game’s greatest talents – Pele, Romario, Garrincha, Socrates, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, to name just a few – honed their skills barefoot on the street or on wastelands of dirt and stone, with access to grass pitches severely limited.
Many Selecao superstars grew up in abject poverty. Rivaldo, for example, spent his young years in Encruzilhada, a violent and run-down favela in the city of Recife. As a child he was so malnourished that he lost several teeth and developed bowed legs.
His fellow 2002 World Cup winner, Cafu, was raised in Jardim Irene, one of the poorest parts of Sao Paulo, as was Gabriel Jesus.
In a country still divided by extreme inequality and staggering wealth gaps, such rags-to-riches stories are common, particularly in football. Time and again, the sport has proven to not only be a source of joy and solace to Brazilians, but also a way out of hardship.
Almost every on-pitch Brazilian success, it seems, is the culmination of an underdog’s determination to triumph; it is a country infused with footballing fervour and an insatiable desire to defy the odds. And, if there is a club that embodies this mentality, it is Avai FC.
Established in1923 in the southern Brazilian city of Florianopolis, Avai – nicknamed The Lion of the Island – is a club that has carved out a reputation for striving, battling and struggling to reach the heights of not only the country’s
more recognised sides, but also bitter local rivals Figueirense.
Throughout 99 years of existence, Avai have experienced more lows than highs, but now the club is on the verge of establishing themselves as a top-tier regular, and consigning to the past their long-time status as a yo-yo club.
Avai, as with most Brazilian clubs, emerged from humble beginnings. The team was created by Amadeu Horn, a successful merchant who resided on the island Florianopolis – which makes up 90 per cent of the city’s territory – who traded mainly in medicines. On a whim, he bought a batch of rudimentary football shirts, handed them out to boys in the city for no reason other than to give them a leisurely focus, and the team was born.
From1923 until1926 Horn acted as the club’s first president, using his house as the club’s headquarters. He named the club Avai in honour of1868’s Battle of Avay, a decisive moment in the Paraguayan War that, ultimately, saw the alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay claim victory over – and economically cripple – neighbouring Paraguay.
On the pitch, Avai saw regional success almost immediately. In1924, they won the inaugural Santa Catarina State Championship, conquering Trabalhista in the final. This victory handed Avai the first of four state championship titles in the space of five years. This was, however,
their peak purple patch, and as good as things would get for quite some time.
Regional state tournaments, such as the Santa Catarina State Championship, are incredibly important in Brazilian football, especially for small teams such as Avai. Most sides in Brazil, especially those outside of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, never get close to capturing national titles or the Brazilian Cup, and so regional competitions present the only feasible way to lift a trophy.
Indeed, since the national league was introduced in1959, only17 different teams have been crowned champions. Since then, Rio and Sao Paulo-based clubs have claimed two thirds of the available league titles between them. The power in Brazilian football very much sits in the hands of the established sides, and clubs like Avai do not belong to that crowd.
Santa Catarina is, in Brazilian terms, small. Of the 26 states in the country, it is the seventh-smallest, and doesn’t contain a great number of professional football clubs. As a result, and because the regional championship is so valued in this part of the country, Avai has developed a deep, passionate
rivalry with Figueirense, a side based just ten miles away.
Avai play on the island of Florianopolis, while Figueirense’s stadium is on the Brazilian mainland, and this geographical divide has undoubtedly added an element of tribalism to the decades-long feud.
In terms of on-pitch success, Figueirense have been the region’s dominant force in recent history. Though Avai and Figueirense have both won18 regional titles – making them the two most successful teams in the history of the Santa Catarina State Championship – half of Avai’s victories came prior to 1946. Figueirense, on the other hand, have won half of their titles since1999.
Additionally, Figueirense, in the early 2000s, established themselves as one of the country’s most exciting sides. After gaining promotion to Serie A – Brazil’s top division – for the 2002 season, they spent eight consecutive years in the top flight, finishing as high as seventh in 2006. This was unprecedented for a team from Santa Catarina, and firmly cemented them as the region’s most revered team.
During the same period, Avai were floundering in the lower divisions. After struggling in Serie C for much of the ’90s, Avai’s blue and white shirt became a semi-permanent feature of Serie B’s mid-table. The club was, to a large extent, lacking in ambition and drive, and with each passing year became increasingly overshadowed by their noisy, more prosperous neighbours.
Now though, the tide has turned in Santa Catarina. Figueirense were relegated from the top division in 2008 and, although they have been promoted again a couple of times since, they have now plummeted down the divisions. Following two dismal seasons in Serie B, in which they finished15th and16th, Figueirense were relegated to Serie C in 2020, where they remain.
Avai, meanwhile, have gone from strength to strength. Promotions to Serie A in both 2017 and 2019 may have only lasted one year, but they gave the fans and owners a taste of the high life: Serie A was where they belonged.
This season,
Avai are back in
This season, Avai are back in Serie A and optimism around the club has never been higher. There is a strong feeling that this time the season’s outcome will be different
Serie A and optimism around the club has never been higher. There is a strong feeling that this time the season’s outcome will be different. The owners are adamant the appropriate foundations are now in place; the managerial team certain that the team has never been more unified; and, perhaps most importantly, the supporters truly believe they could soon witness achievements the likes of which no Avai fan throughout the club’s 99-year existence has experienced.
Now it is Figueirense’s turn to live in their local rivals’ shadow, with Avai on the cusp of doing something that has been beyond any side from Santa Catarina: becoming a mainstay in the country’s top division. Doing so will certainly be a challenge, and there will be bad times as well as good in the near future, but there is no reason to doubt that, as Avai close in on their100th birthday, the very best is yet to come.