Cruzeiro Esporte Clube () is a professional association football club based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Cruzeiro is traditionally considered one of Brazil's Big Twelve (G-12), a group of the country's historically most prominent football clubs. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top division of the Brazilian football league system, and the Campeonato Mineiro, the principal state championship of Minas Gerais. Since 1965, its principal home ground has been the Mineirão.
Founded on 2 January 1921 by members of Belo Horizonte's Italian immigrant community as Società Sportiva Palestra Itália, the club initially used the green, white and red colors associated with Italy. Following Brazil's entry into World War II, federal restrictions on organizations bearing references to the Axis powers led to a change of identity. On 7 October 1942, the club adopted the name Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, inspired by the Southern Cross (Cruzeiro do Sul) constellation represented on the flag of Brazil, and subsequently adopted blue and white as its principal colors.
Cruzeiro is one of the most successful clubs in Brazilian football. It has won four Brazilian championships, in 1966, 2003, 2013 and 2014, and a record six Copa do Brasil titles. Internationally, it has won the Copa Libertadores twice, in 1976 and 1997, and finished runner-up in 1977 and 2009. Cruzeiro has also won the Campeonato Mineiro 39 times. Its breakthrough 1966 Taça Brasil triumph over Santos made it the first club from Minas Gerais to win a national championship, while in 2003 it became the first Brazilian club to win its state championship, the Copa do Brasil and the national league in the same season, a feat known as the Triple Crown.
After winning consecutive Copa do Brasil titles in 2017 and 2018, Cruzeiro entered a severe financial and governance crisis and was relegated from Série A for the first time in 2019. The club reorganized its professional football operations as a Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF), with former Cruzeiro player Ronaldo acquiring a 90% controlling interest; Cruzeiro won the 2022 Série B and returned to the top flight after three seasons. In 2024, Ronaldo's controlling stake was acquired by BPW Sports Participações, linked to businessman Pedro Lourenço, while the nonprofit Cruzeiro association retained 10% of the SAF.
Cruzeiro has one of Brazil's largest supporter bases; a 2025 AtlasIntel survey placed it joint fifth nationally, while statewide surveys have identified it as the most-supported club in Minas Gerais. Its principal rivalry is with fellow Belo Horizonte club Atlético Mineiro, with whom it contests the Clássico Mineiro. The club is traditionally identified with the Raposa ("Fox") mascot, the five stars of the Southern Cross and its blue-and-white colors.
History
Cruzeiro was founded on 2 January 1921 as Società Sportiva Palestra Italia by members of the Italian immigrant community of Belo Horizonte. The movement to establish the club had begun during 1920, when members of the community sought to create a sporting association that would represent Belo Horizonte's large Italian population. The first team drew heavily from players associated with Yale, although Yale continued to exist independently after Palestra's creation. The new club adopted green, white and red in reference to the Italian flag, and initially restricted participation to members of the Italian community.
Palestra played its first match on 3 April 1921 at the Prado Mineiro, defeating a combined team from Nova Lima 2–0, with both goals scored by Nani Lazzarotti. Later that year, Palestra defeated future archrival Atlético Mineiro 3–0 in the first meeting between the clubs.
In 1923, Palestra opened its own stadium in the Barro Preto neighborhood, constructed in part through volunteer labor from club members and supporters. The club gradually expanded beyond its original ethnic base, and restrictions linking participation to the Italian colony were removed in 1925. Palestra won its first officially recognized Campeonato Mineiro in 1928 and retained the championship in 1929 and 1930, establishing itself among the leading clubs in Minas Gerais.
The club won another state championship in 1940, its final title under the Palestra Itália name. After Brazil entered World War II against the Axis powers, government restrictions introduced in 1942 prohibited organizations from retaining names associated with enemy nations. The club briefly adopted the name Palestra Mineiro before an extraordinary meeting of its deliberative council approved Cruzeiro Esporte Clube on 7 October 1942. The new name referred to the Southern Cross, a constellation represented on the flag of Brazil, while blue and white replaced the club's original colors. Cruzeiro won three consecutive Campeonato Mineiro titles from 1943 through 1945, and the Barro Preto stadium was substantially rebuilt during the same period.
After a comparatively less successful period in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Cruzeiro returned to state prominence with the 1956 Campeonato Mineiro and three consecutive championships from 1959 through 1961. A generation centered on players including Tostão, Dirceu Lopes, Piazza, Natal and Raul subsequently transformed the club's national standing. The opening of the Mineirão in 1965 gave Cruzeiro a substantially larger home ground and coincided with the beginning of the most successful period in the club's history to that point. Cruzeiro won five consecutive state championships from 1965 through 1969.
The defining achievement of that generation came in the 1966 Taça Brasil, then Brazil's principal national knockout competition. Cruzeiro faced the Santos team of Pelé in the final and won the first leg 6–2 at the Mineirão after leading 5–0 at halftime. In the return match at the Pacaembu, Cruzeiro recovered from a two-goal deficit to win 3–2, securing the first national championship in its history and the first won by a club from Minas Gerais. The title was later recognized by the CBF as a Campeonato Brasileiro championship when the earlier national competitions were unified with the modern league's historical record in 2010.
Cruzeiro remained among Brazil's leading teams during the 1970s, finishing runner-up in the Campeonato Brasileiro in both 1974 and 1975. Its greatest achievement of the decade came in the 1976 Copa Libertadores. After defeating River Plate 4–1 at the Mineirão in the opening match of the final and losing 2–1 in Buenos Aires, Cruzeiro won the deciding match 3–2 at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago. Joãozinho scored the decisive goal from a late free kick, giving Cruzeiro its first South American championship.
The Libertadores-winning side included Raul, Nelinho, Piazza, Zé Carlos, Palhinha, Dirceu Lopes and Joãozinho. Victory qualified Cruzeiro for the 1976 Intercontinental Cup against European champions Bayern Munich. Bayern won the first leg 2–0 at the Olympiastadion in Munich; the return at the Mineirão ended 0–0 before a crowd of more than 110,000, giving Bayern the title.
Cruzeiro reached the Libertadores final again in 1977, losing to Boca Juniors after a deciding match and penalty shootout in Montevideo. The 1980s were considerably less successful. Cruzeiro's principal titles during the decade were the 1984 and 1987 Campeonato Mineiro championships, and the club did not appear in the Copa Libertadores during the decade.
A sustained revival began in 1990. Over the next fifteen seasons, Cruzeiro won at least one official competition every year through 2004. The resurgence produced success in several competitions: Cruzeiro won consecutive Supercopa Libertadores titles in 1991 and 1992, its first Copa do Brasil in 1993, and another Copa do Brasil in 1996.
In 1997, Cruzeiro won the Copa Libertadores for the second time. After a scoreless first leg against Peru's Sporting Cristal in Lima, Elivélton scored the only goal of the return match at the Mineirão to secure the title. The club's international successes during the decade also included the Copa de Oro and Supercopa Masters in 1995 and the Recopa Sudamericana. Cruzeiro added a third Copa do Brasil in 2000 and won the Copa Sul-Minas in 2001 and 2002.
The 2003 season became one of the defining campaigns in Cruzeiro's history. Coached by Vanderlei Luxemburgo and led by captain Alex, Cruzeiro won the Campeonato Mineiro, Copa do Brasil and Campeonato Brasileiro, completing what became known as the Tríplice Coroa ("Triple Crown"). It was the first time a Brazilian club had won its state championship, the Copa do Brasil and the national league in the same season. In the first Campeonato Brasileiro conducted entirely as a double round-robin competition, Cruzeiro accumulated 100 points and scored 102 goals in 46 matches.
Cruzeiro remained regularly competitive at national level during the remainder of the decade and returned to the Copa Libertadores final in 2009. After a 0–0 draw against Estudiantes in Argentina, Cruzeiro took the lead in the second leg at the Mineirão but lost 2–1, finishing as runner-up.
A new period of domestic success began in 2013 under coach Marcelo Oliveira. Cruzeiro moved to the top of the Campeonato Brasileiro during the first half of the season and secured the title with four matches remaining, winning its third national championship. The club retained the title in 2014, becoming Brazilian champion in consecutive seasons for the first time in its history. Cruzeiro also won the 2014 Campeonato Mineiro and reached the Copa do Brasil final that year.
After two seasons without a major trophy, Cruzeiro became dominant in the Copa do Brasil under Mano Menezes. The club defeated Flamengo on penalties in the 2017 final to win the competition for a fifth time, then retained the trophy in 2018 by defeating Corinthians in both legs of the final. The sixth title made Cruzeiro the competition's most successful club and the first to win consecutive editions.
The success was followed by the most serious sporting and institutional crisis in the club's history. During 2019, financial difficulties, administrative instability and investigations involving members of the club's leadership coincided with a sharp deterioration in results. On 8 December, a 2–0 loss to Palmeiras at the Mineirão confirmed Cruzeiro's first relegation from the Campeonato Brasileiro's top division. Cruzeiro remained in Série B for three seasons, with its financial position complicating attempts to rebuild the team.
A fundamental restructuring began in late 2021 after Brazilian legislation allowed football clubs to transfer their operations into a Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF). In December, former Cruzeiro player Ronaldo agreed through his company to acquire 90% of Cruzeiro's newly created football company. The first full season under the new structure produced an immediate sporting recovery. Coached by Paulo Pezzolano, Cruzeiro secured promotion with seven rounds remaining in the 2022 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B and subsequently won the championship, returning to Série A after three years.
Cruzeiro consolidated its return to the top division in 2023. In April 2024, Ronaldo agreed to sell his controlling 90% interest in the SAF to businessman and longtime Cruzeiro supporter Pedro Lourenço, making Cruzeiro the first Brazilian SAF whose controlling stake had been resold after its original acquisition. Later that year, Cruzeiro reached its first continental final since 2009, advancing to the 2024 Copa Sudamericana final, where it was defeated 3–1 by Racing.