On 21 August 1898 a group of rowers in Rio de Janeiro founded a club named after a navigator. Vasco da Gama turn 129 on 21 August 2027. Its story is one of caravels, a black shirt with a white sash and a letter that became a symbol against racism.

Rowers and 400 years since a voyage

Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama was born on Rua da Saúde with 62 founding members. The idea came from four clerks from the city centre, and many of the founders were Portuguese.

The name honours the 400th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's voyage, which in 1498 found the sea route to India. For several years the club was devoted only to rowing.

Black, white and the caravel's cross

According to club tradition, black stands for the unknown seas of the East and white for the route that was discovered. The first rowing shirt of 1898 was black, with a white diagonal stripe across the body.

The first crest, from 1903, was round, with a caravel and the Cross of the Order of Christ, as on the sails of Portuguese ships. Fans call it the "Maltese cross", although technically it is a cross pattée, and it gave the club the nickname "Cruzmaltino".

The Black Shirts and the Historic Reply

Football arrived in November 1915 through a merger with Lusitânia, and the 1916 debut was a 10-1 defeat. The first football shirt was all black, with white collar and cuffs and the cross on the left chest.

In 1923, in its first year in the top division, Vasco won the Rio championship with a squad full of Black and poor working-class players. The "Camisas Negras" beat the city's aristocratic clubs.

In 1924 the big clubs demanded that twelve of its Black players be excluded for having a "dubious profession". President José Augusto Prestes refused in a letter, the "Resposta Histórica"; Vasco walked out and won another league's championship unbeaten. In 1925 it returned on its own terms.

A stadium built by the fans

São Januário opened on 21 April 1927. It was built in ten months with supporters' donations, and until 1930 it was the largest stadium in the Americas.

It stands on an estate that Emperor Pedro I once gave to the Marchioness of Santos, and today it holds 21,880 fans. For derbies and big finals Vasco often plays at the Maracanã.

The white shirt with a black sash came later, but sources disagree on when. Some point to 1938, while another version has coach Ondino Viera proposing it in 1945, inspired by River Plate.

From the Victory Express to Romário

In the 1940s the "Expresso da Vitória", with Ademir and goalkeeper Barbosa, won Rio titles and, in 1948, the South American Championship of Champions. Four Brazilian titles followed, in 1974, 1989, 1997 and 2000.

In 1998 came the Copa Libertadores and in 2011 the Copa do Brasil. Its academy produced Bellini, Roberto Dinamite, Romário, Edmundo and Philippe Coutinho.

Celebrate with us

From the rowers of Rua da Saúde to the letter of 1924, Vasco proved that a shirt can mean far more than a colour. Happy 129th birthday to the Cruzmaltino!

See our Vasco da Gama jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: aerial view of the São Januário stadium – Diego Baravelli, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.