 In that same year, the team finished runner-up of Copa Rio do Interior and one of the semifinalists of Copa Rio da Capital, being eliminated by Fluminense.In 1999, already using the fancy name Macaé Sports, the club disputed the State of the Second Division and ended up getting the runner-up.In the year 2000, the club made its second statutory change and, definitively, it was renamed Macaé Esporte Futebol Clube.