Grupo Candeias was founded at the SESC Club in the university sector in 1977 in Goiania, Goias, Brazil.  In that time the group was called Grupo de Capoeira Anglo Regional and the first groups teacher was Carlos Antonio (carlinhos chuchu).

 

In 1978 Mestre Passarinho took on the group changing the name to Grupo de Capoeira Sao Bento Pequeno. Two years later, he decided to leave the SESC in Goiania bringing Grupo Sao Bento Pequeno and part of the student body with him, in the same year Mestre Suino took on the group that was left, using the name Grupo de Capoeira Anglo Regional temporarily until he could create a new name for the group.  The group grew very fast, and some of the teachers were founding other groups of their own. Due to this, the Anglo Regional became an association with a high number of followers resulting in a lot of "problems" going on, and questions about how to get all the groups together as one.  Then in 1991 they had a contest to change the name of the group, so all of them could follow the same graduation system, same philosophy and most importantly the same name.  Since 1992 all of the individual groups started to use only one name, Grupo Candeias de Capoeira.  Nowadays you can find Grupo Candeias in most of Brazil, USA, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Portugal, Italy, Bolivia, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Germany and Ireland. Grupo Candeias is considered one of the most expressive groups of capoeira with over ten thousand students.