Cuiabá Sport Club

Cuiabá Sport Club is the main football club in Mato Grosso. Founded in 2001, it had a meteoric rise from the lower divisions to Series A of the Brazilian Championship, where it competed for four consecutive seasons between 2021 and 2024.

History

Cuiabá was founded on December 12, 2001 by former striker Luís Carlos Tóffoli, nicknamed Gaúcho, an idol at Palmeiras in the 1990s, alongside his son. The proposal was to create a club with business management in a state without tradition in Brazilian elite football. The club quickly became the main force in Mato Grosso football, accumulating state titles since 2003. In 2015 it won the Copa Verde, a regional competition that it would win again in 2019, guaranteeing national visibility and spots in CBF competitions. The rise was consistent: from Series D to Series C, then to Series B, until the historic promotion to Series A achieved in 2020. Between 2021 and 2024, Dourado competed in Brazilian elite football, playing their matches at Arena Pantanal, a stadium built for the 2014 World Cup, and even reached the Copa Sudamericana before being relegated at the end of the 2024 season.