who is Corithians fc?

Corinthians: Your bluffer's guide to the club that wants to buy Tevez

 

 

They have made a reported £36million bid for Manchester City's striker and devoted father Carlos Tevez, but just who are Corinthians?

1) Corinthians - or Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, as their nan no doubt calls them - is a Brazilian football club based in Sao Paulo.

2) Formed in 1910, the club took its name from English side Corinthian FC, who toured Brazil at the start of the 20th century.
3) Their home stadium, the Estádio do Pacaembu, holds 37,391 spectators, but the club have plans to move to a new 65,000-seat arena in 2013. The new ground will play host to the opening ceremony for the 2014 World Cup.
4) Tevez can expect a warm welcome - and not just because he played for Corinthians before, spending one of his trademark short-but-sweet spells at the club from January 2005 to August 2006. Corinthians' fans are so passionate, the club even made a documentary paying tribute to them. The film, Fiel, highlights the way the supporters stuck by the club after relegation to the second division in 2007.
5) Corinthians are a football club, but you'd struggle to work that out from their badge, which features crossed oars, an anchor and a length of rope. Hello, sailor!
6) After playing for both sides in recent Manchester derbies, Tevez will have another grudge match to look forward to if he re-joins Corinthians. This one, with cross-city rivals Sao Paulo, is known as O Majestoso - The Majestic One.
7) Silverware hoisted down the years include four league titles and three Brazilian cups but the top of the shop is the 2000 FIFA Club World Cup - aka, the one Manchester United skipped the FA Cup to take part in, causing traditionalists across the land to choke on their cornflakes.
8) Corinthians' home kit consists of white shirts with black shorts. Their original strip, however, paired cream tops with the black shorts. But as the shirts were washed after matches, the cream gradually faded to white. Rather than waste money buying set after set of new cream shirts, canny club officials simply decided to change the official colours!
9) The list of Corinthians' former players is eye-popping. Rivelino, Socrates, Ronaldo, Garrincha, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Deco and Dunga - who captained Brazil to glory in the 1994 World Cup amand managed them in South Africa last year - have all turned out. Closer to home, former Arsenal man Edu and Branco, who was briefly with Middlesbrough in the 1990s, also played for them.
10) Plainly not inclined to hiding their light under a Garry, Corinthians' nickname is Todo Poderoso - The Almighty.