On the national level the club – nicknamed "Gualicho" after a successful race horse of the early 1950s – took part in the cup competition, the Copa do Brasil of 2000, where it was eliminated in the first round.

In 1976 a merger of the football operations with the traditional rivals América FC gave birth to the Joinville Esporte Clube, which since has won more than ten state championships.

The club was named in honour of Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, a military leader of imperial Brazil.

In 1933 the club inaugurated its own stadium which it built on terrain bought on favourable conditions from Ernesto Schlemm Sobrinho with a 3–1 win over Coritiba FC from the state capital of neighbouring Paraná.

By 1996, a few years after the old rivals América, Caxias returned on the scene and fielded a team in the amateur divisions and won the title of Joinville.

This led to admittance to the 2004 Copa do Brasil, where the club in its sole participation in a national competition exited in the first round with a 1–3 home defeat against Fluminense FC from Rio de Janeiro.