Águia de Marabá

Águia de Marabá Futebol Clube was founded on January 22, 1982, under the name of Águia Esporte Clube and had as its first president the sportsman Emivaldo Milhomem, who had the support of Valtemir "Bezourão" Pereira Lima to found the association. The team had been created to compete in the Campeonato Marabaense Second Division of that year. The team was composed of amateur players, the most notable being: Déca, Gamito and Keneddi.

The team won the Campeonato Marabaense Second Division title in 1984, which gave the team the right to compete in the Campeonato Marabaense First Division the following year.

Early years and professionalization

At this stage of its history, Águia had José "Zé" Atlas Pinheiro as president. During this period, the team won three municipal championships — in 1989, 1992 and 1993 —, as well as four runners-up championships — in 1988, 1994, 1996 and 1998. At the last vice-championship, Águia's president was already Jorge Nery, who, sought by councilor Sebastião "Ferreirinha" Ferreira Neto in 1999, agreed to professionalize the team. The proposal gained support from the then president of the Federação Paraense de Futebol (FPF; Pará Football Federation), Coronel Nunes [pt], from the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Doce River Valley Company; today Vale) and from the local business community.

In the 1999 Campeonato Paraense [pt], Águia’s debut competition as a professional team, the team finished among the top six clubs, with a strong squad, of which stood out: Marcos Garça, Damião, Berg, Paulinho Santarém, Gilberto Pereira, Maurinho and Corujito; the latter scored three goals in the competition and became the team's top scorer in the championship.

In 2000, the following year as a professional, Águia won the title of the Copa Ferreirinha (the first edition of the "Copa Meio-Norte" [Mid-North Cup]), a tournament created to honor the idealizer of the team's professionalization, played by teams from Pará and the states of Maranhão and Tocantins, in addition to the host team, which in the following year was in second place in the tournament, having lost the final to Clube do Remo.

In the 2000 Campeonato Paraense [pt], the team placed fifth in the championship and became runner-up of the interior, and in the 2001 edition [pt], although it ended up again in sixth place, it was finally crowned champion of the interior, a symbolic title given to the best classified interior team in the Campeonato Paraense. Precisely due to this good performance in the 2001 state championship, the team from Marabá was guaranteed the right to compete in the 2001 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C (the third division of Brazilian football), where they had discrete performances, however, above the expectations of the board and Águia fans.

Decade of consolidation: 2002–2012

In 2002, the team did not have a good participation in the state championship [pt] as well as in the Série C, and ended the season being coached by football director João Maria Galvão Gonçalves. However, under the command of Galvão, the team won the Maranhão-Pará-Tocantins Cup (the third edition of the "Copa Meio-Norte" [Mid-North Cup]) title.

In the 2003 Campeonato Paraense [pt], still coached by Galvão, the team achieved its best campaign in the history of the championship, achieving fourth place. From the 2004 [pt] to the 2007 Campenato Paraense [nl], the team had average performances, but remained competing in the main division.

In 2008, Águia won the "Taça Cidade de Belém" [pt] (City of Belém Cup), equivalent to the first round of the state championship [pt], finishing runner-up in the championship after a dispute with Remo. By being the runner-up in the state championship, the team gained access to the 2008 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C. From this season onwards, Águia had a period of greater regularity, adding eight consecutive appearances in the Série C. In 2008, in fact, the team came very close to being promoted to the 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, placing fifth overall (only four teams were promoted).

The runner-up championship in the 2008 Campeonato Paraense earned the team a place in the 2009 Copa do Brasil (Brazil Cup). In this competition the team qualified for the second stage by eliminating América Mineiro, winning the first match 2–1 at home and 1–0 in Belo Horizonte. In the second stage, Águia won the first game, in Belém, by 2–1 over a powerful Fluminense. In the away game, Fluminense won 3–0, eliminating Águia.

In 2010, the team won the Taça Estado do Pará [pt] (State of Pará Cup), the title of the second round of the state championship [nl]. However, when competing in the final against Paysandu, Águia lost the dispute for the Taça Açaí, the 2010 Campeonato Paraense title. The team almost repeated its good campaigns in the 2009 [pt] and the 2012 Campeonato Paraense [pt], by finishing, respectively, in fourth and third place overall. The following participations in the Copa do Brasil and Série C were more timid, with the exception of the campaign on the latter competition in 2010, when Águia reached the quarter-finals.