In 2021 Athletico had a scare, only managing to get rid of its 4th relegation (1989, 1993, 2011) in the Brazilian Championship in the penultimate round, after starting a draw against an alternative team from Palmeiras.
We know that the Hurricane Board prioritizes the big knockout tournaments, choosing to play the Campeonato Paranaense with a team made up of athletes from the youth category, leaving the starters for more important tournaments.
It has been a successful strategy, since despite doing so poorly in the 2021 Brasileirão, he ended up making good money by winning that year’s Copa Sudamericana, the second in four editions.
Successful trajectory, but year of possible reconstruction
For many, the club from Paraná can certainly be considered one of the great clubs in Brazil. With an enviable administration, the president of the Board Mario Celso Petraglia manages to keep the club’s accounts up to date and still does good business by selling his players, thus reinforcing the club’s cash.
In 2019, Hurricane ended the year with the highest profit in Brazilian football, around BRL 63 million.
Furacão has a beautiful stadium, the Arena da Baixada, the only covered stadium in Brazil and the first to use synthetic grass approved by FIFA in Brazil.
A great club must have great achievements in its history and Athletico has them, it was Brazilian Champion in 2001, Champion of the Copa Sudamericana in 2018, Champion of the Copa Sudamericana in 2021 and Champion of the Copa do Brasil in 2019, in addition to numerous titles in the Campeonato Paranaense.
But 2022 may be a tougher year. The defeat by Palmeiras in the match played at Allianz Parque for the Recopa Sul-Americana leaves Paraná fans apprehensive.
At bookmakers like bet365 brazil Hurricane was the underdog against Palmeiras and even did a good job at one point, but the difference is big right now because it’s still the first steps of the season and the changes at Athletico were big.
The team is in need of some renewal, especially when it comes to some older athletes and also needs to fill the open spots like the Nikão winger who went to São Paulo. Goalkeeper Santos, a big name in recent years, is of interest to Flamengo and his departure would highlight the moment of reconstruction of Hurricane. Therefore, when betting on Athletico at bookmakers, note that defeats and draws can be more frequent than usual, especially in the first half.
However, the board has been looking for new pieces on the market to provide a good set of athletes to their coach Alberto Valentim, who is also not unanimous.
The arrival of 21-year-old Argentine striker Tomás Cuello, who belonged to Atlético Tucumán-ARG and was on loan at Red Bull Bragantino, was announced by Hurricane. This was the biggest acquisition in the history of the club from Paraná, disbursing 2.5 million dollars for 50% of the economic rights, with the Argentine team keeping the other 50% of the athlete. A transaction very close to what was spent on hiring center forward Matheus Babi, hired from Botafogo🇧🇷
This year some changes took place in the Football Department of the club, the first of which was the departure of technical director Paulo Autuori and football executive Ricardo Gomes. The two directors left the club claiming interference in their work.
The second decision is in relation to the use or not of the main team in the Campeonato Paranaense. It was decided that the main team will play the games held at Arena da Baixada for the Campeonato Paranaense.
The base team or also called aspirant will enter the field in games held outside the capital of Paraná.
To command the aspirants, Athletico has just hired a new coach, Wesley Carvalho, who will occupy the vacancy after the dismissal of James Freitas, who had been coaching the team.
Wesley Carvalho was the coach of the under-20 team at Palmeiras and despite having an agreement with Santos Futebol Clube to train their under-20 team, he gave up that commitment by going to Hurricane.
What lays ahead
This year’s competitions will be difficult and extremely exhausting, as the team from Paraná will participate in the State Championship, Copa do Brasil (third phase), Copa Libertadores da América and the Brazilian championship🇧🇷
The Hurricane will face in 2022 big teams to be challenged like Flamengo, Atlético Mineiro and Palmeiras that are getting stronger.
See the Athletico calendar in 2022:
Paranaense Championship – January 23
Copa Libertadores da América (group stage) – April
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A – April 10
Copa do Brasil (third phase) – Abri
