Rio Branco

Rio Branco Esporte Clube, also known as Rio Branco de Americana and whose acronym is RBEC, is a sports club based in the city of Americana, in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Founded on August 4, 1913, its colors are black and white, and its nicknames are Tigre da Paulista and Alvinegro Americanense. The club currently competes in Série A3 of the Campeonato Paulista, equivalent to the third level of the state championship. It is the first football team in Brazil to use a Tiger as its official mascot. The club's main sport is football, which in its first historical phase was two-time champion of the São Paulo state championship in the 1920s, and six-time champion of the São Paulo region in the 1940s. With the institution of the "Access Law" in 1948, Rio Branco was unable to become professional and only played in amateur competitions between 1949 and 1959, when the club's football department was closed. In 1979, therefore, twenty years later, Rio Branco's football was reactivated with the incorporation of Americana Esporte Clube (AEC), beginning its second historical phase. In 1990, Tigre gained access to the elite of São Paulo football, and remained there for 17 years (1991-2007), which places it among the teams from the interior that played in Série A1 for the longest time without interruption. During this period, they defeated all four major São Paulo football clubs, both at home and on their opponents' turf, a considerable feat for a team from the interior of the state. In 2012, they won the Campeonato Paulista Série A3, their first title since the re-professionalization of their football department. They currently compete in the Campeonato Paulista Série A3 and the Copa Paulista. Rio Branco is known for developing great players for Brazilian and world football. The main names are: Mineiro, Flávio Conceição, Marcos Assunção, Marcos Senna, Macedo, Sandro Hiroshi, Marcelinho Paraíba, Romarinho and Thiago Ribeiro. In 2006, Rio Branco was the only team in the world to develop three players for three different national teams in the same World Cup, with Marcos Senna playing for the Spanish national team, Zinha for the Mexican national team and Mineiro for the Brazilian national team. The club is currently seeking to restructure its youth academy and once again develop great players. To this end, the project called "Meninos do Rio Branco" was launched.