Esporte Clube Bahia

Bahia
Full nameEsporte Clube Bahia
Nickname(s)Tricolor
Bahiaço (mix of Bahia and aço, steel)
Baêa
Maior do Nordeste (Greatest in the Northeast)
Esquadrão de Aço (Steel Squadron)
Founded1 January 1931 (1931-01-01)
GroundArena Fonte Nova
Capacity50,025
SAF OwnerCity Football Group (90%)
Others (10%)
PresidentEmerson Ferretti
Head coachRogério Ceni
LeagueCampeonato Brasileiro Série A
Campeonato Baiano
2024
2024
Série A, 8th of 20
Baiano, 2nd of 10
Websiteesporteclubebahia.com.br
Clubs owned by CFG
Listed in order of acquisition/foundation.
Bold indicates the club was founded by CFG.
* indicates the club was acquired by CFG.
§ indicates the club is co-owned.
2008Manchester City F.C.*
2009–2012
2013New York City FC§
2014Melbourne City FC*
Yokohama F. Marinos*§
2015–2016
2017Montevideo City Torque*
Girona FC*§
2018
2019Shenzhen Peng City F.C.*§
Mumbai City FC*§
2020Lommel S.K.*
ES Troyes AC*
2021
2022Palermo F.C.*§
2023Bahia*§

Esporte Clube Bahia (Portuguese pronunciation: [isˈpɔʁtʃi ˈklubi baˈi.ɐ]) is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Salvador, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Bahia. Known mainly as the Esquadrão de Aço (Steel Squadron), the club competes in the Campeonato Baiano, Bahia's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the highest division of Brazilian football league system.

Bahia has won the Brasileirão title twice: in 1959, where they defeated Santos' Santásticos with the likes of Gilmar, Mauro Ramos, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pepe and Pelé in the final, and in 1988 over Internacional. They have appeared in the Copa Libertadores four times, reaching the quarter-finals in 1989 – their best-ever performance. After 22 years out of international competition, Bahia returned in 2012 when they qualified for the Copa Sudamericana, an achievement repeated seven more times, the last in 2021. The club has also won their state title a record 50 times. The club also has four titles in the Copa do Nordeste, in: 2001, 2002, 2017, 2021.

Bahia had played its home games with 66,080 people capacity Estádio Fonte Nova since 1951 but after a section of the stadium collapsed in 2007, the Tricolor played at the Estádio de Pituaçu. With the reopening of the Fonte Nova stadium in 2013 as the Arena Fonte Nova, a modern arena built for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Bahia resumed playing its matches there. The club's home uniform consists of white shirts with blue shorts and red socks. It has a fierce long-standing rivalry with Vitória, known as Ba-Vi.

In December 2022, it was announced that City Football Group, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi United Group, had bought a majority stake of Bahia's SAF, after the takeover was approved in a voting session between club members. The acquisition was completed in May 2023, as CFG officially acquired 90% of the club's shares.