Botafogo Futebol Clube (SP)

In the beginning of the century, the city of Ribeirão Preto had at least three clubs: União, Paulistano Tiberense and Ideal Futebol Clube. In 1918, representatives of Ideal, proposed a merger of the clubs in the neighborhood. Besides the members of the boards of the three clubs, employees from the old Mogiana Railroad, and employees from the Antarctica Paulista Company participated in the meeting.

There was a consensus regarding the formation of a new club that would represent the neighborhood, but the choice of the name did not reach a conclusion. After a heated discussion, one member was quoted as saying: "Either you define the name or just 'put fire' (Bota Fogo) in everything and end this story ..." Because of what that member said, the club's name discussion had an unexpected conclusion. The threat of the incendiary leader ended up helping in the choice of name. The proposal was accepted, and in 1918 the club was named Botafogo Futebol Clube (contrary to popular belief, Botafogo of Ribeirão Preto was not inspired by Botafogo Football Club of Rio de Janeiro, defunct in 1942).

Botafogo's debut was in Franca, against local club Esporte Clube Fulgêncio. The match ended 1–0 in favor of the team from Ribeirão Preto. The first title of Botafogo was the São Paulo State Countryside Championship in 1927. In 1956, the club won the Ribeirão Preto Centennial Cup, beating Commercial in the final 4–2. Botafogo also won the Undefeated Cup after a series of 19 games unbeaten. In the same year, the team was also champion of the Second Division of the São Paulo State Championship.

Estádio Santa Cruz, owned by Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto, a major stadium of Brazil

In the year 1977, Botafogo won the São Paulo City Cup (first stage of the São Paulo State Championship), playing the final against São Paulo Futebol Clube, and beating the opponent team after normal time and overtime. The game ended 0-0 giving the title to Botafogo, as the club have done better a campaign in the competition.

In the 1990s, the club was runners-up twice, thus being promoted twice in the national league pyramid: the Série C in 1996, and Série B in 1998. In the following year, Botafogo was relegated and in 2000 competed in the Copa João Havelange, in the Yellow Module (equivalent to the Série B). In 2001, Botafogo was São Paulo State Championship's runners-up, an extraordinary achievement for a countryside club, playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the football world. In 2002,it was relegated again, this time to the Série C. Botafogo was relegated to the São Paulo State Championship Série A3 in 2005 because of problems fielding a player without registration with the Federação Paulista de Futebol, the famous "tapetão." In the following year, they won access to the São Paulo State Championship Série A2 after winning the Série A3.

In the 2018 edition, Botafogo finished 1st in Group B and achieved promotion to Campeonato Brasileiro Série B after defeating Botafogo-PB in the penalty shootout at the quarter-finals. They lost to Cuiabá in the next round, as all the semifinalist were already promoted.

As of 27 April 2023[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  BRA Brenno — GK  BRA Levy — GK  BRA Matheus Albino — GK  BRA Victor Souza — DF  BRA Carlinhos — DF  BRA Diogo Silva — DF  BRA Ericson — DF  BRA Gustavo Cipriano — DF  BRA Lucas Dias — DF  BRA Márcio Silva (on loan from Coritiba) — DF  BRA Jean Victor — DF  BRA Patrick Brey (on loan from Água Santa) — DF  BRA Thassio — DF  BRA Vidal — MF  BRA Carlos — MF  BRA Fillipe Soutto — MF  BRA Guilherme Madruga — MF  BRA Guilherme Mantuan

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  BRA Marcos Júnior — MF  BRA Tárik — MF  BRA Gustavo Xuxa — MF  BRA Lucas Lourenço (on loan from Santos) — MF  BRA Luiz Henrique — MF  BRA Pedro Rodrigues — MF  ARG Tomás Andrade — FW  BRA Jonas Toró (on loan from Panathinaikos) — FW  BRA Dentinho — FW  BRA Edson Carioca (on loan from Azuriz) — FW  BRA João Veras — FW  BRA Lucas Cardoso (on loan from Cuiabá) — FW  BRA Lucas Oliveira (on loan from Vasco da Gama) — FW  BRA Osman — FW  BRA Robinho — FW  BRA Salatiel — DF  MEX Juan Pablo Martínez (on loan from Atlético San Luis)

One of the biggest stadiums on the State of São Paulo and one of the most modern on the countryside, Estádio Santa Cruz was inaugurated in 1968, with a maximum capacity of 29.292 people.

On the year of 2019 the Stadium went on modernization and today an sector of the stadium is called Arena Nicnet Eurobike with the capacity to hold 15.000 people, the modernization also made the stadium suitable for many music concerts from bands from all around the globe such as Kiss, Iron Maiden, Guns'n Roses and more.

Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto's greatest rival is Comercial, which is also a Ribeirão Preto club. The derby between the two clubs is known as Come-Fogo.

• Botafogo is the most supported club in its region, with about three million inhabitants, and a proven 68% (survey conducted by Sports Brunoro in 1998). It has the third largest private stadium in Brazil, "Santa Cruz", and the thirty-seventh in the world with a capacity of 50,000 people.
• The club was the inspiration for the founding of the Botafogo of Cordinhã, Portugal in 1971. Besides adopting the name, the Portuguese club has a similar logo as Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto's and sport club Paulistinha city São Carlos, Brazil.
• The fan club, Fiel Força Tricolor (or FFT), founded in 1992, has one of the largest flags in Brazil, and the eighth largest in the world, measuring 135x33 meters, 90% painted. In 2008, the FFT participated in the carnival parade as a block of Ribeirão Preto, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of Botafogo. The current president of the FFT is Andrew Trinity fans.
• In 2009, there is more of a fan club Botafogo FC Called Youth Force, the new group of fans will be present at all club games. Founded by former president of Tri Márcio True Terror Force, the Youth Force comes as a further incentive to the club, always striving for peace in stages.

The panther has as main features the strength and flexibility in the animal world. In the football field, Botafogo won the nickname "Pantera da Mogiana (Mogiana's Panther)" after beating clubs from that region of São Paulo state. They won the Campeonato do Interior in 1927, making justice to the club's nickname.

• Position: 37th
• Points: 554 points (Ranking created by the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol, it awards points to clubs that participate in national competitions).

• Official website
• The Come-Fogo derby Archived 6 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine