History of Clube Atlético Mineiro
The team was founded on 25 March 25, 1908 by twenty-two students from Belo Horizonte, led by Margival Mendes Leal and Mário Toledo.
Three other young men were not present in the founding meeting, but are also considered as founders of the club: Francisco Monteiro, Jorge Dias Pena and Mauro Brochado.
The team won 3–1 in a match played at the Presidente Antônio Carlos Stadium, which had opened earlier that year and which would be the club's home ground for the following two decades.
This was the 1937 Copa dos Campeões Estaduais, which was organised by the Federação Brasileira de Foot-Ball, the federation for professional clubs that would later merge into the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD).
[15] Success continued in the 1940s, with a squad that included Bigode (international in the 1950 FIFA World Cup), Murilo Silva, Carlyle, Lucas Miranda, Nívio Gabrich and Kafunga.
In 1950 the club's home moved from Antônio Carlos to the newer and larger Estádio Independência and Atlético had another Campeonato Mineiro triumph.
The team played a series of friendly football matches in Europe, becoming the first club of Minas Gerais and also the first Brazilian at professional level to compete in the continent.
[17] Atlético Mineiro played ten matches from 1 November to 7 December, touring through Germany (where it took part in a Winter Tournament), Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and France.
[19] Upon the return of the club's delegation from the tour, the team was honored by the Brazilian Sports Confederation[20] and received a standing ovation at the Maracanã before a Campeonato Carioca match.
[2][22] Despite not having an unbeaten run, sports media lauded Atlético Mineiro's tour as a historical success for the country's football,[23] which had suffered a major setback with the Maracanazo in the same year, and the results achieved under adverse conditions and snowy grounds led to the dubbing of the team as Campeões do Gelo (Portuguese for "Ice Champions"), a feat remembered in the club's official anthem.
In 1959, Atlético took part in the first edition of the Taça Brasil, an annual nationwide cup competition contested between state league champions, created by the CBD to select Brazil's entrants in the newly formed Copa Libertadores.
[25][26] Between the decades of 1940 and 1960, players of national relevance who played for Atlético included as Bigode (part of the Brazilian squad in the 1950 FIFA World Cup), Carlyle (the first Atlético player to play for the Brazilian national team in 1949), Nívio Gabrich, Murilo Silva, Lucas Miranda, Orlando Pingo de Ouro, Paulo Valentim, Mussula, Marcial de Mello and Djalma Dias.
[28] With the arrival of Telê Santana as the club's manager in 1970, Atlético broke Cruzeiro's sequence and won its first state league title in the Mineirão,[29] also finishing third in the last Roberto Gomes Pedrosa.
[32][33] Reinaldo, Toninho Cerezo, Éder, Luisinho, Paulo Isidoro and João Leite were central to the team that took Atlético to six consecutive state league victories between 1978 and 1983, and to good results in the Série A.
Left with seven players, Atlético's goalkeeper João Leite simulated an injury at the restart of the match, but Wright refused to stop the game.
[15] Atlético was one of Brazil's top sides of the 1980s, providing many players to the Brazilian national team, being dominant at state level and having good performances in the Brasileirão, but failed to win the competition due to a tendency to lose in its final knockout stages.
[49] As champion of that competition, the club took part in the 1993 Copa de Oro, in which it eliminated rivals Cruzeiro in the semi-finals but eventually lost to Boca Juniors.
[50] After finishing fourth in the 1994 Brasileirão, the following year saw the club win the state league and reach the finals of the Copa CONMEBOL for a second time, this one ending in defeat to Rosario Central.
[54] The second leg was played at the Mineirão, and this time the team's advantage was secured with a 1–1 draw, and Atlético won its second international title undefeated.
[53] In 1999, after another Campeonato Mineiro title, an Atlético side led by Marques and Guilherme, the top scorer in the league, reached the Série A finals for the fourth time, but lost to Corinthians.
The following season, despite a good performance in the Brasileirão with a squad that included Marques, Guilherme and Gilberto Silva, the team once again was eliminated in the Série A semi-finals, eventually finishing in fourth place.
[58] In 2009, with Diego Tardelli in good form, Atlético led the Brasileirão for eight of the thirty-eight rounds, before eventually finishing in seventh place.
[59] Despite some highlights at the beginning and end of the decade, the 2000s were not a successful period in the club's history, marked once again by bad administration and frequent managerial changes.
After an unsuccessful year in 2011, coming close to relegation, the arrival of Cuca as manager at the end of that season marked the beginning of another successful era for the club.
The arrival of Ronaldinho in the middle of the season was an important event for the club,[62][63] which eventually finished as runner-up in the Série A and earned a spot in the following year's Copa Libertadores.
After drawing 2–2 away and with the score 1–1 at home, Leonardo Silva fouled a Tijuana player inside the box at the 87th minute, and a penalty was awarded, subsequently saved by Victor with his foot.
A Jô goal in the beginning of the second half and a header by Leonardo Silva at the 87th minute equalised the aggregate, and the match ended with the same score after extra-time.
[73][74] Atlético won its first Copa do Brasil defeating rivals Cruzeiro twice in highly anticipated finals, the first at national level to feature both Belo Horizonte clubs.
[76] The team's successful run in the decade continued with its 43rd state league triumph in 2015,[77] and Nepomuceno announced that Atlético had a four-year project to build a new stadium in Belo Horizonte, with a 45,000 capacity.
