Ball facts: Flamengo was the last champion of a tournament organized by Sílvio Santos

The presenter and greatest communicator in the country's history, Silvio Santos passed away this Saturday, aged 93, and one of the clubs that paid tribute on social media was Flamengo. However, there is a similarity between the presenter and the Rio club. This is because Rubro-Negro was the last champion of the tournament created and promoted by the owner of SBT.

In 1995, in partnership with the company "Sport Promotion", SBT invented the World Champions Cup, which brought together the Brazilian teams that had already won the Interclub World Cup until then: Flamengo (1981), Grêmio (1983), São Paulo (1992 and 1993) and Santos (1962 and 1963). The tournament, on a friendly basis, was played in July, after the state tournaments and before the start of the Brazilian Championship, and in two fixed venues.

SBT covered all logistics costs and provided each club with a quota of 200 thousand dollars for the first phase, played in an all-against-all format with the best two advancing to the final. The champion received another 200 thousand dollars, and the runner-up, another 100 thousand dollars, according to the press at the time. The teams still received 60% of the revenue from each game (ticket fees deducted from costs) in case of victory, 50% if they drew and 40% in defeats.

And everything was worth it to promote the dispute. For example, Renato Gaúcho, who was from Fluminense and had been Flamengo's tormentor in the 1995 Carioca final, played the tournament for Grêmio, where he had won the world title in 1983, and faced Flamengo again in his debut. Jornal do Brasil at the time said that SBT also invited Zico (at 42 years old) and Raí (who was at PSG) to reinforce Rubro-Negro and São Paulo in that edition, respectively, but they did not play.

São Paulo won the competition over Santos, and SBT had an average of 25 audience points with its World Cup. According to the channel's sports director, Osmar de Oliveira, to "Jornal do Brasil" at the time, Silvio Santos was satisfied with the investment in sport and the idea for the following year was to invite a European team. But in 1996 the tournament entered the CBF calendar.

The following year, Flamengo reached the final for the first time, but in the final at Mané Garrincha they lost 2-1 to São Paulo, who he was two-time champion. But in 1997, Rubro-Negro gave it back, even without star player Romário, who was with the team at the Copa América. The team led by coach Sebastião Rocha debuted 0-0 against Santos at the Pedro Pedrossian stadium, in Campo Grande, and then drew 2-2 with São Paulo at Mané Garrincha, with goals from Iranildo and Maurinho.

Needing to win the third and final game, again in Brasília, Rubro-Negro overpowered the already eliminated Grêmio 4-2, with two goals from Lúcio, one from Fabiano and one from Maurinho. With the result, Flamengo qualified for the final with five points, one more than Santos. In the decision, São Paulo was once again on the way, which had had the best campaign with seven points.

Tricolor had a great team, with Denílson, Dodoô and Aristizábal at the front. Flamengo could even have had Romário in the final after the end of the Copa América, but the star returned injured from the national team and went to Brasília just to cheer. Rubro-Negro started the game better and wasted good chances with Júnior Baiano and Lúcio, but São Paulo didn't take long to balance the match and had a great opportunity with Denílson and Dodô.

In the 40th minute, Iranildo took advantage Fabio Baiano's cross to score and become a hero. In the second half, Lúcio even hit the post in the 12th minute and almost scored the second. From the 25th minute onwards, São Paulo pressed in search of a draw, but stopped due to the great performance of goalkeeper Júlio César. Flamengo prevented the third São Paulo championship and was champion of the last edition of the extinct tournament linked to Silvio Santos.