Santos Futebol Clube

Santos Futebol Clube

 Santos Futebol Clube (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈsɐ̃tus futʃiˈbɔw ˈklubi] ) is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a bairro in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals in football history.[1] It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the state of São Paulo's premier state league, as well as the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, the second tier of the Brazilian football league system, after getting relegated in the 2023 season for the first time in the club's history.

The club was founded in 1912 by three sports enthusiasts from Santos: Raimundo Marques, Mário Ferraz de Campos, and Argemiro de Souza Júnior. The initiative was a response to the lack of representation the city had in football. Since then, Santos has become one of Brazil's most successful clubs, becoming a symbol of Joga Bonito (English: The Beautiful Game) in football culture, hence the motto "Técnica e Disciplina" (technique and discipline). This was largely thanks to the club's golden generation of the 1960s, with players like Gilmar, Mauro Ramos, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pepe, and most notable of all, Pelé, named the "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee,[2] and widely regarded as the best and most accomplished footballer in the game's history. Os Santásticos, considered by some the best club team of all times,[3] won a total of 24 titles during that decade including five consecutive league titles, a feat that remains unequaled today. Os Santásticos won four competitions in 1962, thus completing a quadruple, comprising the Campeonato Paulista, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the Copa Libertadores, and the European/South American Cup.[4]

SANTOS FC

SANTOS FC is one of the most successful clubs in the Brasileirão, becoming national champions on eight occasions. It has also won 22 Paulistãos, three Copa Libertadores, two Intercontinental Cups, one Supercopa de Campeones InterContinental's, one Copa CONMEBOL (the precursor of current Copa Sudamericana),[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] one Copa do Brasil, and one Recopa Sudamericana. On 20 January 1998, Santos became the first team, in any category in the world, to reach the milestone of 10,000 goals in the entire history of football[12] and was voted by FIFA as one of the most successful clubs of the 20th century.

The team plays their home games at the Vila Belmiro, which currently holds up to 20,120 spectators. Santos' regular kit is white shirts, with white shorts, accompanied by white socks. Santos is nicknamed the Peixe (pronounced [ˈpejʃi]; "fish"), in reference to significance of the city's port. The most recognized Santista anthem is the "Leão do Mar" written by Mangeri Neto. In 2013, the club is the 2nd most valuable club in Brazil and South America, and 38th most valuable club in the world according to Brand Finance, worth over $65 million.[13] In terms of revenue, Santos is Brazil's fourth-richest sports club and one of the biggest football clubs in the world, generating an annual turnover of over $114 million in 2012.[14] Santos has many long-standing rivalries, most notably against Corinthians, Palmeiras, and São Paulo.

History

Birth of Santos FC: 1912

My time in football was short, but it had interesting moments. I started playing for Americano, which was founded by Sizino Patusca and Benedito Ernesto Guimarães. I was only 11 when I started playing football in 1906. My father, Turíbio Silveira of the Xavier da Silveira family, was a city sportsman. We had a great relationship with the Patusca, our relatives. We played together in Americano...me, my brother and my cousins while the club was in Santos. In 1911, Americano moved to São Paulo. Then, my cousins and I founded Santos Futebol Clube, which was registered in 1912.

—Arnaldo Silveira, one of the original founders of Santos, in an interview by O Estado de S. Paulo in 1980.

In the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Santos grew to become of great importance to Brazil. Its port became one of the largest in the world with coffee, a major product in those times, being the most exported product.[16] With the influx of income, the wealthy socialites of the city became increasingly interested in having the city represented in sports. Being a port, water sports such as rowing were generally the most practiced activity by the city's youth, but the city had teams strong enough to compete in the Campeonatos Paulista or Paulistão, with Clube Atlético Internacional and Sport Club Americano being the two strongest representatives. Football was introduced to Santos in 1902 via the Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie, and the students created the two aforementioned clubs as a result.

However, Atlético Internacional dissolved in 1910 and Americano moved to São Paulo in 1911. With the city students dissatisfied at this turn of events, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the Concordia Club (located in Rosario Street No. 18, at the top of the old bakery and Switzerland confectionery, currently Avenida João Pessoa), with the aim of creating a football team.[15] The conference, which lasted 14 hours, was spearheaded by three sportsmen from the city: Raymundo Marques Francisco, Mário Ferraz de Campos and Argemiro de Souza Junior.[15] During the meeting, there was doubt as to the name that should be given to the club. Several suggestions emerged: África Futebol Clube, Associação Esportiva Brasil, Concórdia Futebol Clube, among others. But the participants unanimously approved the proposal of Edmundo Jorge de Araujo: Santos Foot-Ball Club.[15] Thus, the club was formally born on 14 April 1912, hours before the RMS Titanic sank into the Atlantic Ocean. As is commonly said, " One Giant sank into the ocean, and on the same day Another One was born". The club's first president was Sizino Patuska (who had participated in the founding of Atlético Internacional and was the founder of Americano).