Cuiabá Esporte Clube, commonly referred to as Cuiabá, is a Brazilian professional club based in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso founded on 12 December 2001. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top flight of Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeonato Mato-Grossense, the top flight of the Mato Grosso state football league.

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Cuiabá

Full name	Cuiabá Esporte Clube
Nickname(s)	Dourado (Golden Dourado Fish) Auriverde da Baixada (Green-Gold from the Lowland)
Founded	12 December 2001; 22 years ago (2001-12-12)
Ground	Arena Pantanal
Capacity	42,968
SAF Owner	The Dresch family[1]
President	Alessandro Dresch
Head coach	TBA
League	Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Campeonato Mato-Grossense
2022 2023	Série A, 16th of 20 Mato-Grossense, 1st of 10 (champions)
Website	Club website
Home colors Away colors Third colors

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The club plays at Arena Pantanal, one of the stadiums of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.^[2] It was founded in 2001 by former player Luís Carlos Tóffoli first as a football academy and amateur club, later it became a fully professional team in 2003, winning a Campeonato Mato-Grossense on its first year, but it soon closed in 2006.^[3][4] In 2009 it was bought and reactivated by the Grupo Dresch and in 2021 the club reached the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.^[5]

Its main achievements include a two-time Copa Verde title^[6] and twelve Campeonato Mato-Grossense championships.

The club was founded on 12 December 2001 by former player Gaúcho,^[4] who was the manager in the club's amateur era. In 2003, they took part of their first professional tournament, the Campeonato Mato-Grossense, and lifted the trophy after defeating Barra do Garças in the finals.^[4]

Cuiabá also played in the 2003 Série C, being knocked out by Palmas. In 2004, the club again won the Mato-Grossense, but was knocked out in both the 2004 Copa do Brasil and 2004 Série C.

In December 2006, after a disappointing ninth position in the year's Mato-Grossense, Cuiabá closed their football department.^[3] The club only returned to an active status in 2009, after being acquired by the Grupo Dresch, owners of Drebor Borrachas Ltda, a local industry specialized in tires,^[5] and competed in the Campeonato Mato-Grossense Segunda Divisão, where they finished second and achieved promotion back to the top tier.

In 2011, Cuiabá lifted the Mato-Grossense after seven years. They also played in that year's Série D, and achieved promotion after finishing third.^[7][8] In the following year, they lost the Mato-Grossense on penalties to Luverdense, and managed to avoid relegation from the Série C.

The club won two consecutive Mato-Grossense titles in 2013 and 2014, and avoided relegation from the Série C. In 2014, the club left their stadium Estádio Eurico Gaspar Dutra [pt] and moved to the Arena Pantanal, built for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

In 2015, Cuiabá won the greatest title in its history to date. After losing the first match to the Remo by 4–1, it obtained a historic turnaround and won by 5–1, obtaining the title of Copa Verde of that year. With the title, the club secured a place in the Copa Sudamericana the following year and participated for the first time in an international competition. Cuiabá was eliminated in the second round by Chapecoense.

In 2018 and 2019, Cuiabá won two consecutive Mato-Grossense titles without a single defeat, and was promoted to the Série B in 2019. In 2021, the club was promoted to the Série A for the first time in their history after finishing in 4th place, and became the first team from Mato Grosso to play in the first division since CEOV's participation in the 1986 edition.^[9]

Since 2010 when Cuiabá began to invest more in its cast and was gaining prestige in its city earning local titles and having access to the third national division, quickly was gaining strength of the local press and of the inhabitants of the region, and with that strength increased very much their number of fans. In 2011 was founded its first organized fans, who had a reputation at all home games for being very festive, colorful and noisy.

The highlight of this growth was during the 2018 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C finals, where Cuiabá broke the attendance record at the Arena Pantanal, previously belonging to a World Cup game, and gathered more than 41 thousand fans in the final of the competition.^[10]

Cuiabá play their home games at Arena Pantanal. The stadium, which was built for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, has a maximum capacity of 42,968 people. Before the construction of the new stadium, the club played their home games at Estádio Eurico Gaspar Dutra, with a capacity of 4,500 people.

One of the biggest rivalries is against Luverdense from the city of Lucas do Rio Verde located 330km from Cuiabá, known as the Clássico Ouro-Verde (Golden-Green Classic). This game is considered to be the greatest derby in Mato Grosso today because the two teams are the largest forces in state football, as well as being a team match between the capital and the interior of Mato Grosso.^[11]

Mixto is the main inter-city rival, it is a much older and traditional team than Cuiabá but it has been less successful in a national scale. It is known as Dérbi Cuiabano (Cuiabá Derby).^[12]