🌎 The North remembers

While the result didn’t exactly go to plan, Wednesday night’s 2-0 defeat away to Vitória in the opening week of the 2026 Brazilian championship was a momentous occasion for Clube do Remo, one of the most traditional football teams from the northern Brazilian city of Belém.

Though it puts them at the bottom end of the standings after only one match played, the game marked Remo’s first appearance in the top division of Brazilian football in 32 years. Indeed, Remo is also the first team from Brazil’s massive North region to play in Série A in 21 years, and the first ever northern club to compete in the league’s current 38-game format.

Just for Remo to be on the pitch on Wednesday evening represented more than a sporting achievement; it could also be seen as a victory over the structural barriers that have historically marginalized football in Brazil’s North.

Covered mainly by the Amazon forest, the North of Brazil makes up nearly half of the country’s territory, and is home to major urban centers in Manaus and Belém. Yet, when it comes to football, the region is sorely underrepresented.

While footballing success in the country is the dominion of clubs from Brazil’s Southeast and South, the Northeast and Center-West regions regularly see their biggest clubs competing in the top national divisions. But the same cannot be said of the North, despite being neither Brazil’s poorest (Northeast) or least populous (Center-West) region…

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