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| Full name | Ceará Sporting Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Vozão (Big Grandpa) Vovô (Grandpa) Alvinegro Cearense (Black and White ofCeará) O Mais Querido (The Dearest) Campeão da Popularidade (Champion of Popularity) | |||
| Founded | June 2, 1914; 111 years ago (1914-06-02) | |||
| Ground | Castelão | |||
| Capacity | 63,903[1] | |||
| President | João Paulo Silva | |||
| Head coach | Mozart | |||
| League | Campeonato Brasileiro Série B Campeonato Cearense | |||
| 2025 2025 [pt] | Série A, 17th of 20 (relegated) Cearense, 1st of 10 (champions) | |||
| Website | www | |||
 Current season | ||||
Ceará Sporting Club (Brazilian Portuguese:[seaˈɾa(i)sˈpɔʁtʃĩˈklubi]), or simplyCeará, is aBrazilian professional football club from the city ofFortaleza,capital city of theBrazilian state ofCeará.
Founded on June 2, 1914, Ceará is one of the most traditionally successful clubs[citation needed] in the Northeast region ofBrazil alongsideBahia,Santa Cruz,Sport,Náutico,Vitória and their city rivalsFortaleza.
Ceará is the most popular team in the state, proven in several research and communication vehicles. It also has an advantage in direct confrontations, with 203 wins, 211 draws and just 184 defeats over its rival. It is the pioneering and most traditional team in its state and one of the largest in its region.
On June 2, 1914, the club was founded as Rio Branco Football Club by Luiz Esteves Junior and Pedro Freire. Later, seventeen members joined the club. As Rio Branco Football Club, the team colors were white andlilac. In 1915, on their first birthday, the club changed its name to Ceará Sporting Club, and later won their first title in 1922.
In 1941, Ceará won theCampeonato Cearense, the same year of the inauguration ofEstadio Presidente Vargas. From 1961 to 1963, the club was three times consecutive state champion. In 1969, Ceará won theNortheast Cup. In 1964, Ceara finished third in Serie A, their best campaign in the top flight to date.
In 1970 the club ended a seven-year state championship title drought. In 1971, Ceará was the last placed team inCampeonato Brasileiro Série A first edition. From 1975 to 1978, the club was state champion four times in a row.
In 1985, Ceará finished seventh in the league, their second best ever position In 1994, the club finished asBrazilian Cup runners-up, beaten byGrêmio in the final. In 1995, Ceará participated in theCopa CONMEBOL, the club's first international championship, becoming the only club ofCeará State to play an international tournament. In 1996, the team administrator wasForró bands businessman Emanuel Gurgel. The team changed its home shirt color to all black. Because of this, the team was nicknamed "Urubu do Nordeste" (Northeast Vulture). From 1996 to 1999, the club was state champion four times in a row .
In 2005, Ceará reached theCopa do Brasil semifinals, where the club was defeated byFluminense.
In 2010, after a 17-year absence, Ceará was promoted back to theBrazilian League, after finishing third in the2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B. In their first campaign back, Ceara had a great start, unbeaten for eight matches and kicking off their campaign with a win against championsFluminense. However, their form began to drop with a run of only one victory in twelve matches, including a heavy 5–0 loss toAvaí. Ceara eventually finished in 12th position, achieving a place in theCopa Sudamericana.
In the 2011 Copa Sudamericana, they were eliminated by Sao Paulo in the first round, despite having won the first leg. Later that year, Ceará reached theCopa do Brasil semi-finals.Vozao endedRonaldinho'sFlamengo's unbeaten streak in the quarter-finals with a victory in theEngenhao, then drew the home game, eliminating the Rio de Janeiro team in a notorious upset. Ceará, however, was defeated byCoritiba in the semi-finals. Also that year, they won their first Campeonato Cearense in five years, paving the way for four consecutive state titles from 2011 to 2014. However, the club was relegated from the Serie A. After having begun the season poorly, a run of four wins in seven matches seemed to steer the club to safety in the ninth position after a win againstAthletico Paranaense, but then a spell with only one win in thirteen matches, including four successive defeats brought them into the relegation zone, and their relegation was confirmed with a loss toBahia.
In February 2014, the Cidade Vozao – Luis Campos Training center was inaugurated. This is where the club houses its youth teams and where the first-team trains.[2]
In 2015, Ceara won their firstCopa do Nordeste, eliminatingVitoria on away goals before defeatingBahia over two legs. However, the team struggled inSérie B, only finishing two points above the relegation zone. In 2018, they achieved promotion and finished 15th in the league that season. In2020, the club won their second Copa do Nordeste, finished eleventh inSerie A, and gained qualification to the Copa Sudamericana, their first in a decade.
In 2021, they finished eleventh again, and qualified for the2022 Copa Sudamericana, where they had a great campaign, winning all matches in the group stage which included powerhouseIndependiente de Avellaneda, then beatingThe Strongest 5–1 on aggregate before losing to finalistsSão Paulo on penalties in the quarter-finals. However, the Copa Sudamericana campaign put stress on the squad and they were not able to keep up with the pace of the league, causing relegation after a seventeenth-placed finish.
| Regional | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitions | Titles | Seasons |
| Copa do Nordeste | 3 | 2015,2020,2023 |
| Torneio Norte-Nordeste | 1s | 1969 |
| State | ||
| Competitions | Titles | Seasons |
| Campeonato Cearense | 47 | 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1922, 1925, 1931, 1932, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1948, 1951, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2011,2012,2013,2014,2017, 2018, 2024, 2025 |
Ceará's home venue isEstádio Carlos de Alencar Pinto, capacity 3,000, but the team also plays atEstadio Castelão for big games and finals, which has a capacity of 60,326,[3] and atPresidente Vargas Stadium, which has a 22,228 capacity.
Ceará's greatest rival isFortaleza, and the match between the two clubs is known asClássico Rei. It has been played 603 times, with Ceará winning 213 times, Fortaleza winning 187 times and 203 draws. Ceará's second biggest rival isFerroviário, the third biggest club of Fortaleza city, and the match is known asClássico da Paz. This derby has been played 302 times, with 140 wins for Ceará, 71 wins for Ferroviário and 91 draws.
The team's mascot, an old man known as "Vovô" ("Grandpa") was designed by cartoonist Mino, a native of Ceará, for the "Ceará: Paixão Total" Project ("Ceará: Full Passion" Project).
The "grandpa" figure appeared in late 1919, when Meton de Alencar Pinto, former president of Ceará SC, coached young players of América Football Club, a small club from the city, in the Porangabussu training center. Meton, who used to call these young players as his "grandsons", asked them to "go easy on grandpa". Afterwards, the nickname started to apply to the team of Ceará as well, helped by the seniority of the club; Ceará Sporting Club was the first football team founded in the state.
Ceara is the best supported club in the state, and third in the Northeast, behind Bahia and Sport, according to a recent study byGloboEsporte.com.[4][5][6]Vozao has approximately 1.6 million supporters.[5]
The first logo was the club's first as Ceará Sporting Club, and was used from 1915 to 1954.
The second logo was used from 1955 to 1969 and was inspired by theSantos logo.
The third logo was used from 1970 to 2003, which removed the ball found in the top left corner of the previous logo, and added a white outline.
The fourth logo is the current team logo, and was adopted in 2003. The logo is a restyled version of the previous logo created by Adman Orlando Mota. This logo introduced the white stars and the foundation date.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Coaching staff | |
| Head coach |  Léo Condé |
| Assistant head coach | Anderson Batatais |
| Assistant head coach | Renatinho Negrão |
| Goalkeepers trainer | Everaldo Santana |
| Goalkeepers trainer | Marcos Paulo |
| Performance analyst | Alcino Rodrigues |
| Performance analyst | André Maranhão |
| Performance analyst | Renato Bennata |
| Medical staff | |
| Fitness coach | Valdir Nogueira de Oliveira Júnior |
| Fitness coach | Eduardo Ballalai |
| Fitness coach | Roberto Farias |
| Doctor | Joaquim Garcia |
| Doctor | Leandro Rêgo |
| Doctor | Daniel Gomes |
| Doctor | Pedro Guilme |
| Physiotherapist | Adolfo Bernardo |
| Physiotherapist | Lucas Freire |
| Physiotherapist | Perez Maciel |
| Physiotherapist | Matheus Carneiro |
| Physiologist | Filipe Lourenço |
| Nutriotionists | Camila Mazetto |
| Nutritionists | Walter César |
| Nutritionists | Matheus Rodrigues |
| Dentist | Antônio Teixeira |
Arnaldo Lira (1999)Lula Pereira (1999)
Sérgio Ramirez d'Ávila (1999)Celso Teixeira (1999–00)Cláudio Duarte (2000)José Carlos Serrão (2000)Arnaldo Lira (2000–01)Júlio Espinosa (2001)Flávio Araújo (2001)Artur Neto (2002)Luis Carlos Cruz (2002–03)Dimas Filgueiras (2003)Celso Teixeira (2003)Ricardo Barreto (2004)Roberto Fernandes (2004)Lula Pereira (2004)Arnaldo Lira (2005)Lula Pereira (2004)Jair Pereira (2005)Valdir Espinosa (2005)Zé Teodoro (2006), (2009)Paulo César Gusmão (2009–10)René Simões (2010)Estevam Soares (2010)Mário Sérgio (2010)Vágner Mancini (2011)Estevam Soares (2011)Paulo César Gusmão (2012)Ricardinho (2013)Sérgio Guedes (2013)Sérgio Soares (2013–14)Paulo César Gusmão (2014)Dado Cavalcanti (2015)Silas Pereira (2015)Geninho (2015)Marcelo Cabo (2015)Lisca (2015–16)Sérgio Soares (2016)Gilmar Dal Pozzo (2017)Givanildo Oliveira (2017)Marcelo Chamusca (2017–18)Jorginho (2018)Lisca (2018–19)Enderson Moreira (2019)Adílson Batista (2019)Argel Fuchs (2019–20)Enderson Moreira (2020)Guto Ferreira (2020–21)Tiago Nunes (2021–22)Dorival Júnior (2022)
Lucho González (2022)
Gustavo Morínigo (2023)Eduardo Barroca (2023)Guto Ferreira (2023)Vagner Mancini (2023–2024)Léo Condé (2024–present)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
