Joaquim Américo, the cosmopolitan | Profile

In the last days of February 2024, the name of Joaquim Américo was one of the most talked about names on social media and in the press across the country. Many people who had never heard of him discovered who the man was who changed the game in football in Paraná.

Military and industrial of the Paraná herbal elite, Joaquim Américo Guimarães was born in Paranaguá and had the opportunity to study in Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires – which would be fundamental in his and our history.

A born sportsman, he was a pioneer in basketball and cricket (which didn’t catch on here in the pine forests) and as he loved horses, he was one of the founders of the Sociedade Hípica Paranaense and president of the Jockey Club.

At the age of 32, uncomfortable with the way football was played here (ethnic groups only played among themselves in what we now call bubbles), he decided to found a club where everyone could join and play. The open spirit of this new association was expressed in the name: Internacional Footbal Club.

We do not know if, due to some metaphysical orientation or a simple vision of the future, he decided to rent a farm plot from the Hauer family in a lowland area of ​​the Água Verde river and there, with his own resources and technological limitations, he built and inaugurated, in 1914, the first stadium of football in Paraná.

Internacional had a plethora of well-born and intelligent young people in its ranks, eventually having six teams to compete against each other. This internal friction generated dissent from young partners and players, who formed a team almost to oppose their older brother, whom they named América FC.

The division weakened both teams, who lost local hegemony to rival Britânia. Joaquim Américo died in 1917, at the young age of 38, and was unable to see the enlightened reunion of his former friends and companions: on March 26, 1924, Club Athletico Paranaense was created.

Both the oppositional spirit of young Americans and the innovative and cosmopolitan ideas of Internacional, the image of its founder, forged the soul of the city’s new red-and-black club.

In 1934, after acquiring the land for their stadium, the Atleticans decided to pay homage to their builder by naming the sacred Atletican temple after him. In ninety years, the stadium has gone through several incarnations, overcome threats and been rebuilt three times while being the home of Athletico’s local, national and international titles and two 2014 World Cup games.

The place I frequented most in my life from 1978 until February 26, 2024 when it changed its name to Mário Celso Petraglia.