Another notable event in the history of world football was the historic invasion in 1976, in Rio de Janeiro and Maracanã, for the semi-final against Fluminense, won on penalties. Another moment that the world knows and admires, as there are several books, documentaries and TV articles all over the world, was “Democracia Corinthiana”, which was twice champion in 82/83, in which I had the honor of participating.
How can we forget the invasion of Japan in Yokohama, in 2012, when the Corinthians dominated the stopover airports until they got there? I am a witness, because I was there, and on the way we stopped in Doha, Qatar, where there were only Corinthians fans everywhere. When I was in the booth for the final against Chelsea, I couldn’t hold back the tears when I saw an ocean of Corinthians fans arriving at the stadium.
Champion, beating Chelsea 1-0, was the last time that a Brazilian team managed to win the Club World Cup against a European team.
There were also tragedies, such as the deaths of full-back Lidu and left-winger Eduardo, in 1969, at a time when Corinthians were leading the championship. Corinthians, in an extraordinary meeting at the São Paulo Federation, asked to be able to register two other players, and the clubs’ response needed to be unanimous; the only one who voted against was Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras.
The year 2007 arrived, when the embarrassment of relegation to Série B of the Brazilian Championship came, but it was also the moment in which the club rose again. Until we reach the worst institutional crisis the club is going through in its history, when dishonest managers led Corinthians to have a debt of almost 3 billion.
For any other club, this would be enough to lead to relegation. There were police pages, investigations, lawsuits, but, incredibly, this calamity did not have a destructive influence on the football team. Yes, it was difficult in the Brasileirãos of 2024 and 2025, but even within the eye of the hurricane, Corinthians won the Campeonato Paulista, defeating the powerful rival Palmeiras, and the Copa do Brasil in 2025, in which, in the round of 16, they eliminated Palmeiras twice and won the final in the middle of Maracanã, against Vasco.
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