The 2018 season was Clube de Regatas do Flamengo's 123rd year of existence, their 107th football season, and their 48th in the Brazilian Série A, having never been relegated from the top division.
The club will participate in the Brazilian Série A, the 2018 Campeonato Carioca (the Rio de Janeiro State League), Copa do Brasil and the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores.
For the first time since 2010 Flamengo advanced past the Copa Libertadores group stage but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Cruzeiro. Flamengo finished runner-up in the Brasileirão behind Palmeiras after leading the league for much of the first half of the season before the league's pause during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Kits Flamengo unveiled their 2018-2019 home kit ahead of their first match of the 2018 Brasileirão season against Vitória. Flamengo renewed their outfit partnership with Adidas, originally signed in 2013. They unveiled their new white away kit ahead of their 31 May match against Bahia.
Adidas unveiled Flamengo's third kit for the 2018-2019 season on 23 July. It is part of Adidas' line of kits produced from recycled plastic, and its blue color is an allusion to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
Supplier: Adidas / Sponsor: Caixa / Back of the shirt: MRV / Lower back: Descomplica / Shoulder: Universidade Brasil / Sleeves: Carabao / Numbers: TIM / Socks: Kodilar
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Season overview
Pre-season
Flamengo finished 6th in the 2017 Brasileirão and therefore qualified directly to the 2018 Copa Libertadores group stage and the 2018 Copa do Brasil round of 16.
On 8 January it was made official that head coach Reinaldo Rueda would be leaving Flamengo to manage the Chile national team (who had failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup). Ruelda took Flamengo to the finals of the 2017 Copa Sudamericana and the Copa do Brasil, failing to win either. Under him, promising youth academy players Vinícius Júnior and Lucas Paquetá were given opportunities to play larger roles for the club. At the time of the announcement, Flamengo had already come to an agreement with coach Paulo César Carpegiani, manager of Flamengo for their 1981 Copa Libertadores and world championship season. This would be his third spell at Flamengo. The possibility of Ruelda leaving and Carpegiani coming in were already presumed in December.
The first player to depart Flamengo in 2018 was Márcio Araújo, one of the longest-serving players currently on the squad. He arrived in 2014 and had played 219 matches for the club. He left for a two-year contract with Chapecoense.
On 16 January, Marlos Moreno was announced as Flamengo's first loan signing of the season. Moreno was on loan to Girona in Spain and is under contract with Manchester City.
On 24 January CONMEBOL, the football governing body of South America, announced that Flamengo would be forced to play their first two home matches of the Copa Libertadores behind closed doors with no fans present. This was a punishment for the chaos during the second leg of the 2017 Copa Sudamericana final where crowds of Flamenguistas forcefully attempted to enter the Maracanã stadium without tickets. CONMEBOL determined that insufficient security and planning on Flamengo's behalf were at fault. The club was also fined $300,000. It was also announced at this time by the CONMEBOL Disciplinary Tribunal that Colombian defensive midfielder Gustavo Cuéllar would be suspended for Flamengo's first two Libertadores matches for insulting comments made to the referee while receiving the silver medal after the Copa Sudamericana finals.
On the 29th Flamengo announced the return of goalkeeper Júlio César after 13 years of playing in Europe. He signed a 3-month contract with his home club before his planned retirement. He will wear the number 12 shirt (a retired number in honor of Flamengo supporters as the "12th man"). On 1 February the club announced the signing of striker Henrique Dourado from Fluminense until the end of 2021 for $3.5 million.
On 7 February, Italian club Udinese announced the signing of 21 year-old striker Felipe Vizeu for $6 million. He remained with Flamengo until the World Cup break.
Paolo Guerrero In December 2017 Peruvian striker Paolo Guerrero, under contract with Flamengo until August 2018, was banned by FIFA from all competitive fixtures for one year after testing positive for traces of cocaine. Twelve days later on appeal, his ban was reduced to six months thus making him eligible for the World Cup in June. For this period he was not permitted to train at Flamengo's facilities and the club supervised his pre-season activities from off-site. On 14 January Flamengo suspended his contract and withheld salary for a period of three months, a permissible act for an ineligible player. In February it was announced that the World Anti-Doping Agency planned to appeal against his reduced ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Guerrero participated in three matches for Flamengo after his six-month ban ended in May, but on 14 May WADA's appeal was successful and Guerrero was suspended for an additional two months on top of the year-long ban, making him ineligible until 2019. At this time Flamengo suspended his contract again, further damaging ties between the player and the club. Guerrero was not pleased that the first contract suspension was made public and he sought retroactive payment of wages.
On 31 May the Swiss Federal Court granted a temporary freeze of his ban, permitting him to participate in the World Cup with Peru. On 2 July after Peru's elimination from the World Cup, Guerrero was re-presented at Flamengo. It was unclear if the Swiss court's decision to freeze the ban was still in effect. On 18 July, after seeking clarification from CAS, CBF, FIFA and the Brazilian Superior Court of Sport Justice, the club received confirmation from CAS that the striker was free to participate in the Brazilian championship. He appeared on the Flamengo bench that evening against São Paulo.
After the expiration of his term with Flamengo on 10 August, the striker signed a 3-year contract with Internacional.
January As one of Brazil's largest clubs, Flamengo's season always begins with high expectations from supporters and media. The club's first test is the traditional Campeonato Carioca – the Rio de Janeiro State league – contested among clubs in the top flight of the FERJ's league (separate from the national league pyramid). The most important matches in the state are between the "big 4" clubs in the city of Rio – Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama, and Botafogo.
Flamengo debuted in 2018 against Volta Redonda on 17 January with a team of young players and won 2-0 with two beautiful goals from Lucas Silva and Pepê. Flamengo had contested the final of the 2017 Copa Sudamericana only a month prior, so much of the Flamengo starting lineup had only just begun preseason training. With mostly young players, Flamengo carried a perfect record through the first three matches of the state league with goals from "wonderkids" Vinícius Júnior and Lincoln.
The Rubro-Negro’s first real test, the Clássico of Millions against Vasco in the Maracanã, was a 0-0 disappointment featuring many of Flamengo's first-team starters. Nevertheless, the draw guaranteed a top finish in the group stage and qualification to the Taça Guanabara semifinals. On 10 February against Botafogo, new signing from Fluminense Henrique Dourado made his Flamengo debut and scored. In the final minutes of stoppage time the youngster Vinícius Júnior scored, guaranteeing the victory by a 3-1 scoreline and taunting the Botafogo supporters with a "crybaby" gesture, earning a yellow card after being swarmed by the Botafogo players. Three days later on the 13th, the president of Botafogo announced that they would not allow their home stadium of Nilton Santos to be used for the Taça Guanabara final after the "disrespectful" gesture by Vinícius Jr. and no apology from Flamengo. Flamengo went on to defeat Boavista in the final the following week, played at the Kleber Andrade Stadium in the neighboring state of Espirito Santos. Vinícius scored again and claimed Flamengo's 21st Taça Guanabara title, closing out the first phase of the Rio de Janeiro league and qualifying for the Campeonato Carioca final stage.
February The second phase of the Rio de Janeiro State League, the Taça Rio, coincided with Flamengo's first matches in the 2018 Copa Libertadores group stage. The long period of ill-will between the presidents of Flamengo and Botafogo appeared to be coming to an end prior to the "crybaby" incident. However, heavy winds and rain on 15 February caused two stadium light towers at Estádio Luso Brasileiro to collapse. Flamengo had been renting Luso Brasileiro from Portuguesa since the beginning of 2017 after failures to come to agreements with the state government of Rio de Janeiro and the operators of the Maracanã over costs and match revenue.
After the judgement from CONMEBOL in January for Flamengo to play two home matches in the Libertadores behind closed doors, Flamengo made the decision to play their matches at the smaller Luso Brasileiro instead of the Maracanã. After the lighting fixture collapse, Flamengo was under pressure to announce a new venue prior to 16 February. They reached a "peace treaty" with Botafogo in time to announce the rental of Nilton Santos stadium for two matches: their first match of the Taça Rio against Madueira on 21 Feb and their first match of their 2018 Copa Libertadores campaign against River Plate on 28 February.
Flamengo rolled out their starters against Madureira in their Taça Rio opener for preparation against River Plate the following week and created 4 goals from some of their most important playmakers: Diego, Henrique Dourado, Lucas Paquetá, and Vinícius Júnior. Three days later, Flamengo preserved their starters (resting all but goalkeeper Diego Alves) and were soundly thrashed by rival Fluminense 4-0.
On 28 February Flamengo hosted Argentine giants River Plate at an empty Nilton Santos Stadium. River Plate took advantage of the calm atmosphere throughout the scoreless first half, before the "Grim Reaper" (“Ceifador”) – Henrique Dourado – broke the deadlock. Rodrigo Mora equalized for River. Éverton gave Flamengo the lead again with an assist from Paquetá, but Camilo Mayada scored a goal from outside the box to finish the match 2-2, two leads lost by the Brazilians.
March
Flamengo returned to Rio action with a third "disappointing" result in a row: an uninspiring 1-0 victory over Botafogo, the credit of an allowed offside goal. On 7 March, beloved former Flamengo and Brazilian National Team goalkeeper Júlio César made his return to the club after 13 years in Europe. He signed a three-month contract with Flamengo prior to retirement and captained the match against Boavista, a 3-0 win. The congested schedule took its toll on the club another time: Flamengo rested their starters for Copa Libertadores again and lost to Macae on 10 March for the first time in their history.
Flamengo travelled to Guayaquil, Ecuador for their mid-week Copa Libertadores encounter with Emelec on 14 March and youngster Vinícius Júnior cemented his legacy as a rising star. With his club trailing 1-0 after a goal from Brayan Angulo, Vinícius was put on in the 67th minute and scored twice before the final whistle. This was Flamengo's first victory away from home in the Libertadores since 2014 (also against Emelec).