2025 is coming to an end and, looking back, I see three colors: red, black and yellow.
I separate the three into two parts: one, containing the black and red, from Flamengo; the other, the color of the sun, yellow, the color of Mirassol.
Focusing exclusively on Brazil, Flamengo is the team of the year. He played for seven titles – I consider only the main men’s team and disregard trophies obtained within another competition, such as the Intercontinental Cup –, he won four: Libertadores, Brasileiro, Supercopa do Brasil and Rio Estadual.
The club Supermundial (defeat in the round of 16), the Intercontinental (defeat in the final) and the Copa do Brasil (elimination in the round of 16) were missing for the red and black team to reach perfection.
“Ah! Without these three, 2025 wasn’t all that”, someone more critical of Flamengo’s performance will say. Yes, it was. What other club had the capacity to compete in so many tournaments and win more than half of them?
A memorable performance for the most popular team in Brazil, which has the vulture as its mascot, adopted by the fanatical fans in 1969 as a symbol of overcoming and identity, transforming a racist provocation into unity and strength.
As if the number of achievements were not enough, the Brazilian Championship title also gave rise to heated discussion: was it the ninth prize in the competition (as columnist Ruy Castro argues) or the eighth (as special reporter Naief Haddad argues, with my agreement)?
As I despise what the CBF did – treating as Brazilian champions the winners of tournaments prior to the 1971 Brazilian Championship (Taça Brasil and Roberto Gomes Pedrosa) –, for me Flamengo is, tied with Palmeiras, the biggest winner of the championship: eight times.
This controversy aside, I move on to Mirassol.
The small club from the interior of SP, in its debut in the national elite, finished in fourth place, with 67 points (18 wins, 13 draws and 7 losses).
He didn’t lose a single match at his stadium, Maião, he earned the nickname Terror of the Interior and got a place in the next Libertadores, which “shirt” teams like Atlético-MG, Grêmio, São Paulo and Santos didn’t achieve.
A historic campaign for those led by hitherto unknown coach Rafael Guanaes, including left-back Reinaldo, known as Kingnaldo, who at 36 is asking for a place in the Brazilian team that will compete in the 2026 World Cup.
Mirassol, in fact, brought me one of the most memorable moments of 2025. After I wrote a text about Leão Caipira, a 91-year-old resident of the city of 66 thousand inhabitants sent me a handwritten letter, saying she was “moved and grateful” for the article.
Still in Brazil, the title of Corinthians, limping in the Brasileirão, in the Copa do Brasil, is worthy of mention. Coach Dorival Jr., 63, really knows how to win this cup – his fourth, always with a different team (previously, he won with Santos, Flamengo and São Paulo). She is predestined for you.
In global terms, highlights in the last 12 months include Paris Saint-Germain, champion of the Champions League for the first time, and the Intercontinental Cup (beating Flamengo in the final), and English Chelsea, super world champion after beating the French team in the first World Cup with 32 participants, a truly prestigious competition.
Individually, the character is French striker Dembélé, from PSG, who won both the Ballon d’Or (from France Football magazine) and The Best (from FIFA), chosen as the best player of the season.
Particularly, he didn’t excite me – I want to see if he will remain at a high level in 2026 –, but there was no injustice. He did enough to deserve the trophies.
I conclude, before suggesting that you read (or re-read) posts from O Mundo é Uma Bola (one per month), praising women’s football: congratulations to Rainha Marta, 39, who won an unprecedented title in the US league with Orlando; for the Brazilian team, winner of the Copa América; for England, two consecutive European Championship champions; and for Corinthians, champion of the Libertadores and the Brazilian Championship (bravo, Bravas!).
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