The old Estádio Otacílio Negrão de Lima or Estádio da Alameda, in Belo Horizonte, saw América-MG, Atlético-MG, Vasco and São Paulo, some of the main forces in Brazilian football at the time, meet in 1948, in the so-called Quadrangular de Belo Horizonte. Seventy-seven years later, Coelho will try to have the title recognized as the equivalent of a Brazilian Championship.
The guarantee is the club president, Márcio Vidal. In a press conference on Tuesday, the director confirmed his intention to take the topic, discussed a few years ago between fans and directors, to the CBF.
— We still have an unrecognized Series A title. It’s a fight that I still have ahead of me, which is the 1948 title. Everyone knows that in 1948, Vasco was recognized as South American champion with a small tournament (South American Championship of Champions, the first continental one in South America), which is what they had at the time. That same year, there was a tournament in Belo Horizonte, with the biggest teams in Brazil, and América was champion. So, we will ask for this recognition. Let’s see what the CBF will say,” he said.
The 1948 Belo Horizonte Quadrangular was a competition commemorating the reopening of the Alameda Stadium, then home of América — the stadium would be sold and demolished in the 1970s. Coelho came in first place after beating Vasco (4-2) and São Paulo (3-0), in addition to drawing with Atlético-MG (1-1). Vasco was second, with Atlético in third and São Paulo in fourth. The tournament was played between May 28th and June 6th.
That same year, América would win its first title of the professional era: the Campeonato da Cidade de Belo Horizonte (which would become the Campeonato Mineiro) in 1948, the first since the club’s historic ten-time championship (1916 to 1925).
At the time, Vasco was the current champion of Rio de Janeiro (its seventh title), while Galo was the champion of Minas Gerais (12 titles). São Paulo had four state titles and became five-time champions in December 1948.
In the pages of GLOBO on June 7, 1948, the day after the final round of the Quadrangular, the American title was highlighted, even though the tournament was not described as a Brazilian or national championship. Interestingly, the sports section also highlighted English Southampton’s 3-1 victory over Flamengo, in São Januário, which ended the club’s tour of the country.
“In the second stage, América appeared more secure in its lines, dominating Atlético almost the entire time. With this advantage over the contender, América knew how to guarantee the draw that ultimately earned them the title of champion of the Quadrangular Tournament and possession of the Gerson Coelho trophy”, describes the edition about the 1-1 draw between Galo and Coelho, which guaranteed the title for América.
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The first tournament recognized as the Brazilian Championship was the 1937 Tournament of Champions, a decision approved in 2023, one year after sending a dossier by Atlético-MG, winner of the competition. Years earlier, in 2010, the CBF unified the titles of Taça Brasil, Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa and Taça de Prata, tournaments subsequent to the era of the National Club Championship (disputed between 1959 and 1970), as Brazilian Championships. If successful, Coelho could become the second Brazilian champion in history.
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