On 1 May 1911, employees of Adams Footwear Factory founded an association. In that day, during the celebrations of the Worker's Day, as it used to happen every year, took place a social gathering event between the employers and employees of the factory. After the barbecue ended, they always played football. Manoel Lopes Mattos, João Scherer, Aloys Auschild, Manoel Outeiro, João Tamujo and Adão Steigleder decided to found a football club. The suggested name was Adams Futebol Clube, but the name they chose was Sport Club Novo Hamburgo, later renamed to Esporte Clube Novo Hamburgo (). As Brazil entered
World War II in 1944 war joining the
allies side, Novo Hamburgo had to change its name, as it was of German origin – Novo Hamburgo means New
Hamburg. The city was renamed to
Marechal Floriano Peixoto and the club turned into
Esporte Clube Floriano. In 1968, the club reverted to its previous name. Despite that, the 1940s and 50s were a golden age for the team, being the
Campeonato Gaúcho runner-ups on 1942, 1947, 1949, 1950 and 1952. The famous player
Garrincha, who won the
1958 and the
1962 World Cups, played once for Novo Hamburgo. On 2 July 1969, he wore the number 7 of the club. The friendly match, played at
Beira-Rio stadium ended 3–1 in favour of
Internacional. He played the whole first half, and the first 15 minutes of the second one. Novo Hamburgo was champion of the
Campeonato Gaúcho Divisão de Acesso twice in 1996 and 2000. As well the champion of the local state cup
Copa FGF in 2013. The club also has some participations in national competitions. It played once at the
Brasileirão on the
1979 season, at the time, the championship was formed by a single division and had 80 teams, with 8 groups of 10 teams. Novo Hamburgo finished in 7th of Group A and 74th in the overall ranking of the championship. The best result was finishing in 4th at the
2005 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C. However, at that time the regulations were that only the top two teams would be promoted for next year's
Série B, and thus Novo Hamburgo wasn't promoted.
Campeonato Gaúcho 2017 In 2017, Novo Hamburgo conquered its greatest title: the
2017 Campeonato Gaúcho. The club started the season with an extremely well campaign, the team organized by head coach
Beto Campos was able to win seven games of the first round and have only two losses, finishing in first in the table, ahead of traditional powerhouses like
Grêmio and
Internacional. At the playoffs, Novo Hamburgo defeated
São José at the quarterfinals with victories in both legs. The team met Grêmio in the semi-finals, tying both games and winning at the penalties. The finals were against Internacional, in the first leg at the
Beira Rio, the match ended with a 2 × 2 tie, the championship was decided in a neutral field at the
Estádio Centenário in
Caxias do Sul; the match again ended in a tie and Novo Hamburgo won in the penalties with a 3 × 1 score. It was the first time a team outside the
Grenal duo to win the title since
Caxias in
2000, and it was a remarkable
underdog victory. ==Rivals==