Fluminense and Africa, a historic, many-layered bond | OneFootball

While most Fluminense fans follow the club’s matches at the Maracanã or on television, an 18-year-old lives his tricolor passion thousands of kilometers away. In Maiduguri, a city in northeastern Nigeria marked by serious public security problems, Mohammed Kale dreams of one day leaving Africa to wear the Fluminense shirt in Xerém.

Known on social media as “Marcelo Júnior,” in tribute to tricolor idol Marcelo, the Nigerian recently went viral after his story was revisited by ge.com. The four-hour time difference makes it hard to watch matches live, but that does not stop Kale from following the club. He watches highlights online, collects official jerseys acquired with difficulty, and nurtures the desire to build a career in Brazilian football.

Nigerian Fluminense fan — Photo: Personal Archive

The story caught the attention of tricolor supporters and surpassed 40,000 likes on TikTok. But the case is far from isolated. In practice, it represents another chapter in a relationship Fluminense has built with the African continent over more than six decades, marked by historic tours, sporting exchanges, player development, and initiatives aimed at valuing Black heritage.

Historical roots and integration tours (1961–1980)

Fluminense’s presence in the African sports scene goes hand in hand with the international expansion of Brazilian football itself in the postwar period. At a time when international tours served as a tool for cultural rapprochement between countries, the Rio club was one of the pioneers in establishing ties with different nations on the continent.

Fluminense’s first match against an African team took place on May 26, 1961. During an international tour, the team coached by Zezé Moreira faced Al Ahly at the newly inaugurated Cairo International Stadium in Egypt. In front of about 18,000 spectators, the Tricolor won 2–1, with goals from Waldo and Telê Santana. Saleh Selim scored for the Egyptians.

Fluminense beat Al Ahly in the teams’ 1961 meeting

The match became known as the club’s first official commitment on African soil. Years later, Fluminense would return to the continent for other historic encounters, including a draw against the Algeria national team at the July 5 Stadium in Algiers. On that occasion, Ricardo Gomes scored for the Tricolor, while Rabah Madjer, who would later become one of the biggest names in Algerian football history, also got on the scoresheet.

Twelve years after its debut on the continent, Fluminense carried out one of the most important international tours in its history. Between June 1 and 24, 1973, the club traveled through Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and Lesotho in a sequence of nine matches.

The performance was impressive: eight wins and one draw, with 33 goals scored and only nine conceded. Dionísio finished the tour as top scorer with 14 goals, while Manfrini contributed another nine.

More than the results, the trip had a direct impact on the building of the team that would win that year’s Campeonato Carioca. In his work “Carioca de 1973: Uma Glória Tricolor Semeada em Solo Negro Africano,” historian Eduardo Coelho highlights that the tour served as an important test of physical endurance and collective strengthening for the squad. Journalist Roberto Sander, in the book’s foreword, points to the experience in Africa as one of the factors that contributed to the historic state title over Zico and Zagallo’s Flamengo.

Fluminense’s connection with Nigeria, Mohammed Kale’s home country, had its most emblematic chapter in April 1978.

During a tour of the African country, the club played a historic episode with the participation of Pelé, recently retired from the pitch and present in the region for institutional commitments.

In the first match of the trip, in Lagos, Fluminense faced the Nigeria national team itself, in a game in which Pelé temporarily played as an opponent of the Tricolor.

A few days later, on April 26, in the city of Kaduna, public pressure and the interest of local authorities made the King of Football more than just an honored guest. Pelé took the field wearing Fluminense’s white number 10 shirt during the first half of the match against Racca Rovers, then the Nigerian champions.

PHOTO: FLU-MEMÓRIA

In front of approximately 30,000 fans, Fluminense won 2–1, with goals from Marinho Chagas and Arturzinho. Former right-back and assistant coach Edevaldo recalled the episode as an unforgettable experience, symbolizing the power of football as a tool for bringing peoples and cultures closer together.

Decades before a young Nigerian dreamed of playing in Xerém, Fluminense was already building on African soil a history that would help turn the club into a sporting reference for fans and athletes from different countries on the continent.

Modern exchange and Fluminense’s presence on the African continent

The relationship Fluminense built with Africa throughout the 20th century has taken on new contours in recent years. What was once marked mainly by international tours has come to include sporting exchanges, player development projects, and institutional partnerships aimed at the development of football.

One example of this closer relationship came with the visit of Orlando Pirates, one of South Africa’s most traditional clubs, to Fluminense’s facilities. The South African delegation visited the Laranjeiras headquarters and the Xerém training center, praising the structure the club offers for the development of young athletes.

Fluminense hosts a visit from Orlando Pirates at Laranjeiras Photo: Mailson Santana/FFC

On the pitch, the visitors faced the tricolor reserve team, coached by assistant manager Valber, in a friendly aimed at developing youth players. Orlando Pirates won 3–1 in a match marked by physical intensity and an exchange of experiences between the two clubs.

In addition to welcoming African teams to Brazil, Fluminense also expanded its activities directly on the continent. In September 2025, the club held an international football school in Luanda, the capital of Angola, aimed at children and teenagers.

Held at Estádio dos Coqueiros, the initiative was part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Angola’s independence and was developed in partnership with the Angolan agency Mbondo Sports & Entertainment, chaired by Yuri dos Santos.

The tricolor delegation was led by Professor Pinheiro, a professional with more than two decades of work in the club’s youth categories. During the activities, young Angolan athletes came into contact with the development methodology created in Xerém, considered one of the most renowned in Brazilian football.

More than a one-off action, the project opened the way for future talent scouting and development initiatives, consolidating Angola as a strategic market for the expansion of Fluminense’s activities on the African continent.

Photos: Fluminense FC

This closer relationship was also reflected in the commercial environment. First Class, sponsor of Fluminense’s youth categories, chose Angola to begin its internationalization process, opening a unit in the African country.

According to the company’s founding partner, André Pivetti, the investment reinforces the connection between the brand and the development project carried out in Xerém, in addition to strengthening the economic and institutional ties built between Fluminense and the Angolan market.

Xerém as a frontier for attracting and developing talent

The international reputation of the Vale das Laranjeiras Training Center, in Xerém, has consolidated Fluminense as one of the main destinations for young African athletes seeking visibility in South American and global football. The club structured a recruitment area focused on mapping young international prospects.

The pioneering nature of this recruitment is shown by a recent story: Metinho, a young player born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who arrived in Brazil as a war refugee. Developed in Fluminense’s youth ranks, the midfielder stood out for his technical quality before being transferred to the City Group, symbolizing the humanitarian and sporting potential of the Xerém methodology.

In September 2023, Fluminense announced the signing of 18-year-old Ghanaian forward Abraham Baffor to join the Under-20 squad. Monitored by the club’s scouting network, Baffor signed his contract in Xerém and celebrated the opportunity as the fulfillment of a childhood dream. The youngster joined the squad then coached by Ricardo Resende for the Copa Rio and the Copa do Brasil in the category.

More recently, on January 30, 2026, Fluminense strengthened its junior squad with the signing of Kgomotso Madiba, a South African football prospect, on a deal running until 2029. Born in Pretoria, the 18-year-old attacking midfielder belonged to the Stars of Africa Football Academy, where he debuted for the first team at age 15. Madiba, who has represented his country’s Under-20 national team since he was 17 and won the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, began working under coach Felipe Canavan and expressed great gratitude for the opportunity to develop in Brazilian football.

Reinforcement for the Under-20s, Kgomotso Madiba signs with Fluminense until 2029 Photo: Leonardo Brasil/FFC

Historical deconstruction and affirmation of Black identity

Alongside its sporting and commercial fronts, Fluminense has undertaken a profound institutional effort to review its own historiography, fighting stigmas and restoring the central role of the Black population and African heritage in the construction of its social identity.

For decades, the term “pó de arroz” was associated by rival fans with an alleged elitist and racist policy of exclusion, based on the narrative spread by journalist Mário Filho in his classic work O Negro no Futebol Brasileiro. According to the mythologized version, Black athlete Carlos Alberto, after transferring from América-RJ to Fluminense in 1914, would have been forced to powder his face with rice powder to hide his skin color and try to pass as white.

Through research and awareness campaigns, Fluminense clarified the falsehood of this interpretation. Carlos Alberto’s use of the product stemmed from an aesthetic and dermatological habit common among men at the time to soothe the skin after shaving, a practice he already adopted at his previous club. The mockery originated from América supporters as club banter over the loss of their former player, not from an institutional imposition by Fluminense. By restoring the truth, the club re-signified the nickname, transforming what had once been a racial insult into one of the most festive symbols of its stands.

To consolidate Fluminense as the “Team of Everyone,” FluTV produced the web series Herdeiros de Chico Guanabara, directed and written by Daniel Cohen and Leandro Carvalho. Divided into 12 monthly episodes released starting on Black Awareness Day in November 2021, the production brings back the historic figure of Chico Guanabara, a Black man, capoeira practitioner, and tricolor supporter considered Brazil’s first football fan. The series uses Chico’s story to discuss structural racism, the professionalization of sport, and the importance of Black idols in Fluminense’s history, such as Waldo, Didi, Paulo César Caju, and the “Casal 20” (Assis and Washington).

Chico Guanabara’s importance was officially recognized in February 2023, when Fluminense displayed a commemorative patch designed by artist Marcelo Ment on the chest of its professional kit for the clássico against Vasco da Gama at the Maracanã. The action was part of the institutional campaign “Team of Everyone,” aimed at fighting racism, homophobia, misogyny, and antisemitism.

patch honoring Chico Guanabara in the clássico Photo: Comunicação/FFC

Fluminense’s work also extends to welcoming vulnerable populations from the African continent. The club is one of the institutional supporters of the Rio de Janeiro stage of the Refugees Cup, an event organized by the NGO África do Coração in partnership with agencies of the United Nations (UN) and Sesc RJ.

More than six decades after its first match played on African soil, Fluminense continues to find on the continent a space for exchange, identification, and opportunities. From the historic tours of the 1960s and 1970s to development projects in Angola, through the arrival of young African athletes in Xerém and initiatives to value Black heritage, the club has built a relationship that goes beyond the four lines.

It is in this context that Mohammed Kale’s story gains meaning. The young Nigerian’s dream of wearing the tricolor shirt did not arise only from his admiration for Marcelo or from the videos he watches on the internet. It reflects a connection built over generations, capable of crossing oceans, languages, and borders. On a continent thousands of kilometers from Laranjeiras, Fluminense continues to inspire identification, belonging, and hope, exactly as it has done for more than 60 years.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.