Coritiba Foot Ball Club

thumb|240x240px|First president of the club along with other leaders.

alt=|thumb|240x240px|Supporters at Major Antônio Couto Pereira Stadium.

Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as the Coxa, is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909 by German immigrants, it is the oldest football club and the club with the most titles in the state.

Coritiba's home stadium is the Estádio Couto Pereira, built in 1932, with the capacity of 40,000 fans. Its main rivalry is with Athletico Paranaense, with whom it plays the Atletiba derby, one of the great rivalries in Brazilian football, also competing in the derby Paratiba, which is disputed with Paraná Clube.

Coritiba was the first club from Paraná to win the Brazilian Championship in 1985, breaking the hegemony of teams from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais that had lasted since the 1960s. It has also won three Brazilian Championship Série B titles, in 2007, 2010 and 2025. The club has won the Paraná State Championship 39 times

Overview

Coritiba is the first club from southern Brazil to have won a national title, the 1973 Torneio do Povo, and is also the first southern club to have competed in both main continental competitions, the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana.

It was both the first club from Paraná to have won the Série A (the main title in Brazil), and to reach the semi-finals in the second main competition in the country, the Copa do Brasil, in 1991, 2001, 2009, and to reach the finals in 2011 and 2012.

The only one to have six consecutive Paranaense titles, between 1971 and 1976, Coritiba is also the club with the most appearances in this championship. With more than 30,000 members, it is currently ranked #1 in the FPF, 14th place on the CBF ranking, 83rd place on the Conmebol ranking and 125th on the international IFFHS ranking. The club has more than 30,000 members.

As of 2013, it has partnerships (including loans and exchanges of youth players) with Porto and Benfica of Portugal, Chivas Guadalajara of Mexico, Daegu of South Korea and VVV-Venlo of the Netherlands.

The club still holds the record for the most consecutive victories, 24 (twenty-four), in official competitions, and the longest streak among Brazilian teams, having played more than 4,800 games in its history.

Coritiba is the first football club in the south of Brazil to begin to embrace American football. Coritiba Crocodiles is an American football team formed by the merger of Coritiba (American football) and the Barigui Crocodiles, being three times Brazilian champions, nine state champions and twice in the southern conference.

History

Foundation

thumb|300px|right|Fritz Essenfelder

In 1909, a group of young men met in the Clube Ginástico Teuto-Brasileiro Turnverein (German-Brazilian Gymnastics Club Turnverein – "Turnverein" being the German word for gymnastics club), where the German immigrant community of Curitiba gathered to play a variety of sports. In July of that year, a prominent member of the club, Frederico "Fritz" Essenfelder arrived with a leather ball in hand.

Later, an invitation came to play a match against a club of workers, many of them British, from the Ponta Grossa railway. On 12 October 1909, Fritz called a meeting in the old Theatro Hauer (Hauer Theatre) to arrange the first match.

Another notable character that season was Rei, a young ball boy for Coritiba nicknamed Rei dos Vagabundos (King of Bums) due to his lazy, laid-back attitude. During training for a Sunday match, the regular goalkeeper was late and the coach, Pizzatto, put the sixteen-year-old Fontana in the net. He astonished everyone with his performance and he was promptly registered as a player by the next match. He debuted against Atlético-PR in Baixada, and Coritiba won 1–0. José Fontana was selected as Man of the Match and went on to be known as 'The King'. He became the first goalkeeper from Paraná state to be selected for the national side.

In 1932, Coritiba won both the Torneio Inicio and the Torneio dos Cronista Esportivos. On 7 August 1932, Coritiba beat Atlético-PR 6–1, away from home and with a reserve team. On 19 November, Coritiba inaugurated its new Belfort Duarte stadium. The inaugural match was against América-RJ, a team from Rio who were the defending champions of the Campeonato Carioca, which is the state championship in Rio de Janeiro. Coritiba won 4–2 and began a long period of success, winning many titles including the city's championship, Campeonato da Cidade (1933, 1935 and 1939), the Campeonato Paranaense (1933, 1935 and 1939), the Torneio Arthur Friedenreich (1934) and Torneio Início (1939).

On 23 January 1941, Coritiba played its first match against a foreign team, drawing with Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata of Argentina at Belfort Duarte. On 1 February 1942, Neno scored seven goals in a 10–2 victory over Jacarezinho. On 18 March, the club played a friendly against Avaí and won 4–1, the first match played at night under floodlights in the state of Paraná. In 1943, Coritiba won both the Torneio Imprensa and the Torneio Luis Aranha. 1944 saw Coritiba win the Torneio Getúlio Vargas and, in the following year, the Torneio da Cidade de Curitiba. During this time Couto Pereira left the presidency of the club after two terms (a total of thirteen years). In 1946 and 1947, won the Campeonato da Cidade and were twice champions in the Campeonato Paranaense. Also in 1947, Coritiba won all four categories of the Campeonato Paranaense (aspirant, amateur, juvenile and professional) and was dubbed Campeoníssimo or 'Super Champion'. On 12 July 1949, Coritiba played its first match against a club from outside of continental America. They beat Rapid Vienna of Austria 4–0 in Vila Capanema. Rapid Vienna was the Austrian national champion at the time.

1950s and 1960s

thumb|300px|left|Coritiba 1959

The 1950s was a successful decade for Coritiba. The club won the Torneio Triangular de Curitiba in 1950, and the Torneio Quadrangular Interestadual and Torneio Quadrangular de Londrina in 1953. They won the Campeonato Paranaense six times: 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1959.

In 1960, Coritiba won the Campeonato Paranaense again. In that year, the club lost the famous coin game to Grêmio for the title of Taça Brasil. After three draws between the clubs, the title was decided with the flip of a coin. In 1967, Evangelino da Costa Neves became the new president of Coritiba and he stayed at the helm for more than twenty years. On August 6, Coritiba defeated Atlético Madrid of Spain in Belfort Duarte 3–2, with three goals from Walter. On December 12, Coritiba beat the Hungary national side 1–0 at Belfort Duarte.

In 1968, Coritiba ended a draught of eight years without titles when they became champion of the Campeonato Paranaense, also winning the Torneio Internacional de Verão. On June 2, Coritiba played Napoli of Italy, at Belfort Duarte. On November 13, Coritiba played the Brazil national team, losing 2–1.

In 1969, Coritiba embarked on its first international tour, playing friendlies in Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Belgium, and participating in the III Torneio Cidade de Murcia (III Tournament in Murcia), in Spain. The club won the Pierre Colon Cup in France as well. Coritiba played against the likes of Valencia of Spain, Borussia Dortmund of Germany, Bordeaux of France, Feyenoord of the Netherlands, Austria Vienna of Austria, Levski Sofia of Bulgaria, and Anderlecht of Belgium.

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Krüger, the "Flecha Loira": A life dedicated of Coritiba.
Fedato, the "Estampilla Rubia": He was the biggest defender of history of Coritiba and Paraná soccer.
Duílio: He was the best scorer of history of Coritiba and Campeonato Paranaense.
Miltinho: During 13 years, he was titular of Coritiba and all of Paraná state team

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1970s

thumb|300px|left|Atletiba, 1972

thumb|300px|left|Coritiba 1973

In 1970, in order to rally their fans and boost their finances for an expansion of the Belfort Duarte Stadium, the president Evangelino adopted the strategy used by rivals Atlético-PR, making some major signings. The first wave included players like Rinaldo (Palmeiras), Joel Mendes (Santos) and Hidalgo (XV de Piracicaba). The club embarked on another international tour, this time playing against clubs in France, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Romania and Portugal, as well as the Algeria national side and Sporting CP. Coritiba won the Torneio Internacional de Verão in 1970 and 1971.

In 1971, Coritiba started what is known as The Golden Decade, winning six consecutive state championships (in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976) – a record in Parana state football history. On January 18, 1971, Coritiba played the France national side, who had just beaten Argentina, at Belfort Duarte and won 2–1.

In 1972, on a third international tour, the club played friendlies in Algeria and Morocco, and took part in a tournament in Turkey. On this tour, Coritiba played against Fenerbahçe, as well as the national sides of both Turkey and Morocco. Returning undefeated to Coritiba, they received the Fita Azul. In the same year, Coritiba played Benfica from Portugal, and the national sides of both Hungary and Congo at Belfort Duarte.

In 1973, Coritiba won the Torneio do Povo, becoming the first team from southern Brazil to win a national title. On June 18, Coritiba beat the Paraguaya national side 1–0 at Belfort Duarte. Coritiba won the Quadrangular de Goiás in 1975 and Taça Cidade de Curitiba/Taça Clemente Comandulli in 1976 and 1978. In 1977, the name of the Belfort Duarte stadium was changed to Major Antônio Couto Pereira, and, in 1978 and 1979, Coritiba won two Campeonatos Paranaense. The club ended the 1970s with eight state championships and, in 1979, finished third in the national Brasileirão.

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Jairo, the "Pantera": He was the player who wear shirt of club more time.

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1980s

In 1980, Coritiba finished fourth in the Brasileirão, beating both Ferroviário and Desportiva with a 7–1 scoreline. After this, however, Coritiba encountered both an administrative and a financial crisis, leaving the team without any important titles until 1985.

In 1981, the club won a Quadrangular do Trabalhador, and due to the poor campaigns in Campeonato Paranaense, participated in 1981 and 1983 Taça da Prata, the second division of Brasileirão. In 1983, they beat Torneio Ak-Waba, from the Ivory Coast. In this tournament, Coritiba played Bulgaria national team twice, because the Bulgarians, not disheartened after losing the first match 2–0, challenged Coritiba to a rematch. This ended in a 1–1 draw. In 1984, Coritiba returned to the Brasileirão, finishing in eighth place.

1985 – Brasileirão champion

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<small>Coritiba team that defeated Bangu in the Final of the 1985 Brazilian Football Championship</small>.

1985 saw the most glory for football both in Coritiba and Paraná thus far. The club began the season with Dino Sani as head coach. But after a mediocre start to the season, the club's board decided to appoint Ênio Andrade in search for bigger aspirations. He arrived with a clear tactical philosophy, drastically changing the training sessions to focusing on physical fitness regimens.

However, Andrade's drastic change in tactics had a negative effect in the beginning; in his first five games, his team lost four games in a row. But after these first few games, Andrade changed the tactics once more and found something he could exploit; the attacking line, which was composed of Toby, Lela, and Indio. This physical improvement was essential in the latter stages of the Brasileirao, as Coritiba took advantage of the low stamina of their rivals low stamina in the final minutes of their matches and as a result scored many late goals.

In the semi-finals, Coritiba beat Atletico Mineiro 1–0 over two legs. In the final against Bangu, Coritiba scored first through a free kick by Indio, and ten minutes later Bangu tied the score. The score was 1–1 at the end of 90 minutes, so the match went into extra time, where nobody could find a winner and the match went into penalties. With the penalty shootout underway, and the score at 5–5, Bangu's Ado missed a penalty, which meant if Coritiba scored, they would become champions of Brazil. Gomes stepped up and scored the penalty to make Coritiba league champion for the first time in its history in the iconic Maracana. Due to Bangu being a club based in Rio de Janeiro, fans of Vasco, Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo and other Rio-based clubs attended to support Bangu, totalling more than 90,000 fans.

2010s

In 2010, Coritiba won the Campeonato Paranaense, and the Coritiba fans celebrated the title early against their greatest rival with a 2–0 victory in Couto Pereira. There were goals from Marcos Aurélio and Geraldo. During the Campeonato Brasileiro, Coritiba were not the favorite for the title, because they had lost in Couto Pereira for 10 games. When they returned to Couto Pereira they were first in table. They won again on September 18, with a victory of 2–0 against Portuguesa, with 30,414 fans making a big party.

On November 9, 2010, three games early, Coritiba were back to Série A after a 3–2 win against Duque de Caxias in São Januário. On November 20, with a draw against Icasa in Romeirão, Coritiba were champions of Série B one game early.

On April 24, 2011, the club needed only a draw to win the state championship title a game early, and pulled it off: Coritiba were champion of Campeonato Paranaense again, after defeating Atlético Paranaense 3–0, in a game in Arena da Baixada. The two-time state champions were unbeaten, with only two draws.

On April 28, with a 1–0 win against Caxias in an official game for the 8th-finals of Copa do Brasil of 2011, the club entered the history of Brazilian soccer after beating the record for consecutive wins, replacing Palmeiras in 1996, who made 21 victories. With a win against Cianorte, ending the Campeonato Paranaense of 2011 unbeaten, and having thrashed Palmeiras 6–0 for the Copa do Brasil, Coritiba made 24 consecutive victories and 29 undefeated games.

Coritiba qualified in the 2011 Copa do Brasil final, after defeating Ceará. In the final, against Vasco da Gama, they were defeated 1–0 in the first leg, and won 3–2 in the second leg, but did not win the cup because of the away-goals rule.

In 2012, Coritiba won the Campeonato Paranaense and were the three-time champion. They were once again in the final of the Copa do Brasil. But, in the national tournament, they drew 2–1 against Palmeiras. Coritiba almost lost the first match 2–0, in Barueri.

The following few years were yoyo years as the club was relegated in 2017 and in 2020 and never finished in the top 10 of the league.

2020s

In May 2023, after transitioning to a Sociedade Anônima do Futebol, the club announced that it had reached an agreement to sell 90% of its stocks to Treecorp, a private equity based in Faria Lima Avenue.

Retrospects

<small>Updated in December 2025.</small>

{| class="wikitable" font-size:90%;"

|-align="center"

! colspan="2" | Competition

! Best placement

|-align="center"

| Copa Libertadores

| 2

| 12

| 4

| 5

| 3

| 15

| 13

| +2

| Group stage

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Copa Sudamericana

| 5

| 16

| 5

| 2

| 9

| 17

| 22

| −5

| Quarterfinals

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Campeonato Brasileiro

| 43

| 1.145

| 396

| 303

| 446

| 1.329

| 1.413

| −84

| Winner

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Copa do Brasil

| 32

| 143

| 61

| 39

| 43

| 208

| 147

| +61

| Runner-up

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Copa dos Campeões

| 1

| 4

| 2

| 0

| 2

| 4

| 6

| −2

| Semifinals

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Campeonato Brasileiro Série B

| 15

| 413

| 185

| 107

| 118

| 543

| 421

| +122

| Winner

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Torneio do Povo

| 1

| 8

| 4

| 3

| 1

| 9

| 5

| +4

| Winner

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Copa Sul-Minas

| 3

| 31

| 13

| 10

| 12

| 50

| 57

| −7

| Runner-up

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Copa Sul

| 1

| 10

| 5

| 1

| 4

| 21

| 18

| +3

| Second round

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Campeonato Sul-Brasileiro

| 1

| 10

| 3

| 2

| 5

| 12

| 15

| −3

| 4th

|-align="center"

| 30x30px

| Campeonato Paranaense

| 112

| 2.261

| 1.277

| 536

| 448

| 4.550

| 2.326

| +2.224

| Winner

|-align="center"

<small>In italics, defunct competitions.</small>

Statistics in Campeonato Brasileiro

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|- align="center" style="background:#014F41; color:white;"

! Year

! Position

! Competition