Why the Fluminense and Vasco rivalry has escalated in recent years | OneFootball

Vasco and Fluminense’s rivalry has sharpened in recent years, and now culminates in a 2025 Copa do Brasil semi-final starting on Thursday at the Maracanã.

According to Globo.com, a long dispute over the Maracanã’s right-hand, Setor Sul, stoked tensions. Vasco cite a 1950 arrangement, but after the 2013 reopening and concession, Fluminense assumed the sector. In 2019, a state TPU formalised tricolore management with Flamengo.

At the reopening, a mosaic read É o Destino. Vasco won 3-1 on Juninho Pernambucano’s return, and the phrase became shared taunt. Today an agreement has cooled the row, though Setor Sul remains Fluminense’s this Thursday, to many Vasco fans’ dismay.

Vasco lead the head-to-head, 155 wins to 125, with 115 draws. The gap grew from 2001 to 2019, 67 meetings yielding 29 Vasco victories and 11 tricolore. From 2020 to 2023, Fluminense went four years unbeaten with seven wins.

Roots stretch to 1923, when a largely black, working-class Vasco won the state title. After AMEA demanded 12 exclusions, the club refused in the Resposta Histórica, later marked by 2023 and 2024 centenaries and a Camisas Negras kit for derbies.

Online spats deepened things. After a 4-2 win in 2023, a Vasco post used sensação sensacional, linked to a Djonga lyric that includes Fogo nos racistas, angering Fluminense. The clubs have also sparred over diagonal sashes and high-profile moves, from Leandro Amaral and Conca to Germán Cano, now a 2023 Libertadores top scorer.

Source: Globo.com