Santos FC History

Welcome to Sportmob's Santos FC history! Santos Futebol Clube, generally known simply as Santos or Santos FC, is a Brazilian sports club situated in Vila Belmiro, a Bairro in the city of Santos. It plays in the Paulistão, the State of São Paulo's primary state league, as well as the Brasileirão, the top tier of the Brazilian football league system.

The club was created in 1912 by the initiative of three sports enthusiasts from Santos by Raimundo Marques, Mário Ferraz de Campos, and Argemiro de Souza Júnior as 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 Jogo Bonito (English: the Beautiful Game) in football culture, thus the slogan "Técnica e Disciplina" (technique and discipline).

This was largely due to the Peixe's golden generation of the 1960s, which included players such as Gilmar, Mauro Ramos, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pepe, and, most notably, Pelé, who was named the International Olympic Committee's "Athlete of the Century" and is widely regarded as the best and most accomplished footballer in the game's history.

Os Santásticos, regarded by some as the finest club team of all times, won a total of 24 trophies throughout that decade including five consecutive Brasileirões, a feat that remains unsurpassed today. Os Santásticos won four competitions in 1962, thus completing a quadruple, including the Paulistão, the Brasileirão, the Copa Libertadores, and the European/South American Cup. Now before we start 

Santos FC history

, we will dive into the background of the club.

Santos FC history , the Tecnica e Disciplina

Santos is one of the most successful clubs in the Brasileirão, becoming national champions eight times. It has also won 22 Paulistãos, three Copa Libertadores, two Intercontinental Cups, one Supercopa de Campeones Intercontinentales, one Copa CONMEBOL (the ancestor of current Copa Sudamericana), 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 whole history of football and was selected by FIFA as one of the most successful clubs of the 20th century.

The Peixe play their home games in the Vila Belmiro, which now accommodates up to 20,120 spectators. Santos' normal outfit is white shirts, with white short, complemented by white socks. The best renowned Santista anthem is the "Leão do Mar" penned by Mangeri Neto.

In 2013, the club was the 2nd most valuable club in Brazil and South America, and the 38th most valuable club in the world according to Brand Finance, valued over $65 million. In terms of income, Santos is Brazil's fourth-richest sports club and one of the largest football clubs in the world, earning an annual turnover of over $114 million in 2012. Santos has numerous long-standing rivalries, most notably against

,

, and São Paulo. Now let's start 

Santos FC history

with its birth.

Santos FC birth

At the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Santos expanded to become of considerable significance 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.

With the infusion of riches, the affluent socialites of the city grew increasingly interested in having the city represented in sports. Being a port, water sports like rowing were typically the most practiced activity by the city's children, although the city had teams strong enough to play in the Campeonatos Paulista or Paulistão, with Clube Atlético Internacional and Sports Club Americano being the two strongest representatives. Football was brought to Santos in 1902 via the Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie, and the students founded the two aforementioned clubs as a consequence.

However, Atlético Internacional collapsed in 1910 and Americano went to São Paulo in 1911. With the city students disgruntled with this turn of events, a conference was organized at the offices of the Concordia Club, with the intention of organizing a football club.

The discussion, which lasted 14 hours, was chaired by three sportsmen from the city: Raymundo Marques Francisco, Mário Ferraz de Campos, and Argemiro de Souza Junior. During the discussion, the participants unanimously agreed on the concept of Edmundo Jorge de Araujo: Santos Foot-Ball Club.

Thus, the club was legally founded on 14 April 1912, hours before the RMS Titanic fell into the Atlantic Ocean. As is often claimed, " One Giant sunk into the water, and on the same day Another One was born". The club's initial president was Sizino Patuska.

The beginning of the story

The club's first practice match took place on 23 June 1912 at the Villa Macuco field, against a local club called Thereza. Santos won 2–1. The first Santista goal was scored by Anacleto Ferramenta da Silva, with Geraule Moreira Ribeiro adding another one later on.

The first official match was held on 15 September of that same year, beating Santos Athletic Club 3–2. Arnaldo Silveira, one of the founding founders of Santos, scored the first official goal of the club.

Although Santos earned their first victory against Corinthians, a 3–6 away win at the Parque Antárctica, the 5–1 and 6–1 thumpings that Santos suffered at the hands of SC Internacional and Americano, respectively, and the high cost of travel, forced the team to abandon the tournament and make much-needed improvements.

However, in 1913 the Campeonato Santista was first contested, with the Alvinegro claiming their first-ever title after winning all six matches, scoring 35 goals, and allowing only seven. In 1914, due to an internal financial difficulty, Santos only played friendly matches, winning all seven of them. In 1915, Santos changed their name briefly to União Futebol Clube in order to play in another city competition owing to funding problems. With economic stability in hand, the Vila Belmiro sports park was launched on 12 October 1916.

Between the 1917 and 1926 seasons, Santos was acknowledged as a good and skilled squad, but one that could not mount a genuine threat for the state crown, placing no higher than fourth place.

That changed in 1927 when the tradition of the Alvinegro became defined throughout the 1920s: the discovery and creation of emerging talent. With the Kraken, Patusca was the first Santista to compete in a World Cup, as a member of the Brazilian national team squad in the

in 1930, the inaugural World Cup.

Santos finished as runners-up in 1927, 1928, and 1929, scoring 100 goals in 16 games in the 1927 season, resulting in an astounding pace of 6.25 goals per match.

 The milestone of 100 goals was a consequence of work qualities that later would become an extract in the official hymn of the club: Técnica e Disciplina. The 10-1 thumping of Espanha at the hands of Santos offered the highlight of its preseason training.

In the penultimate match of the state championship, Santos defeated Corinthians 2–0 at the Estádio Parque São Jorge, Corinthians' home field at the time, to win their first state title ever, due to goals by Raul and an experienced Araken Patusca. This momentous consecration confirmed Santos' first major title and laid the path for future generations to follow. 

Although Santos failed to regain the state title next season, the club remained undefeated in international matches during the 1930s, with seven victories and one tie. The most overpowering triumph was against the

, which arrived at Santos on 30 July following the FIFA World Cup in Uruguay and opted to use the stop to play against a local team, handily losing 6–1 with four goals by Feitiço.

The ups and downs

Following their success in the 1935 Paulistão, many important players of the winning side left or retired soon afterward, depriving the club of its veterans. Santos would finish in 4th place in their failed bid to defend the state title in 1936.

Patusca's departure in 1937 proved to be the final chapter of his generation and the beginning of disastrous campaigns in the Paulista competition for the following 10 years, finishing no higher than 5th place.

However, Santos' fortunes altered when former goalie Athié Jorge Cury became club president in 1946 and promptly set out to reconquer the state championship. After getting the club's finances in order, he sanctioned a trip into the Brazilian northern and northeastern areas to meet the elite teams in Belém, Fortaleza, Natal, and Recife, among other locations, and offer the next generation much-needed experience.

Santos easily defeated several of the areas' premier teams such as Paysandu, Fortaleza EC, ABC, Santa Cruz, etc. Led by the club's second chronological idol Antonino, the club went on unbeaten in what was, until then, the longest football tour any Brazilian club had done. It ran from 29 November 1946 to 2 February 1947 with Santos scoring 12 victories and three ties. The leading goal-scorers of the tour were Caxambu, with 19 goals, and Adolfrise, scoring 18.

It was in 1955 when Santos finished developing its base and institutions that would make it a success in the future. Despite opening that year's Paulistão with a disappointing 0–0 draw against

, the club would go on to remain undefeated for the first 11 matches in the tournament which featured a 7–1 triumph against Jabaquara, the greatest loss they would inflict in that competition's edition.

A 4–2 defeat to Guarani and an 8-0 hammering by Portuguesa brought setbacks and uncertainty. A 3–1 defeat to São Paulo and successive losses to São Bento and Corinthians put the club's dreams to the state crown at risk.

However, the club's strong team spirit, the goals of Emanuele Del Vecchio, its reasonably steady campaign, and the 2–1 victory against

, Santos' last match in the league, assured the club would win their second state title ever, the first in 20 years.

Del Vecchio's 38 goals were the club's biggest season tally since Patusca's 53 in 1927. He was also the Paulistãos' top scorer with 23 goals. A notorious club hymn, "Leão do Mar", was composed in order to remember this success.

In order to build upon the moment and offer a capable defense of the state title, Cury set in action a number of plans and contracts after forecasting that some of its veterans could choose to quit the club in a rerun of the aftermath in 1935. He obtained the services of some prominent players such as Zito. Cury also invested to maintain some young potentials like Pepe and the forthcoming Pagão.

Wining the Paulistão

The club president also granted Lula latitude to scout bright players who were trying out for the team. Perhaps the best signing Cury approved of was that of a 15-year-old lad brought over to Vila Belmiro by Waldemar de Brito.

De Brito, who was a manager of Bauru Atlético Clube's juvenile squad, won three successive São Paulo state youth championships between 1954 and 1956 with the child. The child, named Edson Arantes do Nascimento and who would be better known as Pelé in the near future, was the key driving force behind those triumphs. The deal between Santos and the young Pelé was concluded in June 1956.

The club managed to finish in 2nd place in the 1948 edition of the Paulistão, due to Antonino, Pinho, and Odair dos Santos. Odair becomes the club's season topscorer with 20 goals; he will repeat this achievement for the next three seasons.

Odair and Antoninho would also assist the club finish 3rd in the 1950 edition of the state championship. This was the first time Santos had two top-three finishes in three seasons in the Paulistão since the O Ataque dos 100 gols generations.

Santos also competed in the Torneio Rio – São Paulo for the first time in 1952, coming in third place overall. The entrance of younger possibilities like Formiga, Manga, Tite, Zito, and Vasconcelos coincided with the retirements of Odair and Antoninho in 1952 and 1953 respectively, guaranteeing the club had the quality to sustain its assault on the state title. Antonio would become the club's deputy manager in 1954 with Lula becoming the club's manager that same year.

The club's golden era

After 50 years Santos began to be considered the best squad in the world. When Pelé made his debut in the Campeonato Paulista in 1957, the squad was previously twice state champion. The King had as fellow players Zito, Pagão, Formiga, Hélvio, Jair da Rosa Pinto, Urubatão, Tite and Pepe.

Santos won the third state trophy in 50 years, the wonderful year of 1958 - in which Brazil won the World Cup in Sweden, with Zito Santos, Pelé, and Pepe, and triumphed in a spectacular way. Santos scored 143 goals in 38 games, averaging 3.76 per game, and surrendered just 40 goals.

Pelé set a record that has never been equaled in any state competition in the country: he scored no less than 58 goals. Santos' regular adversaries were brutally crushed in 1958, notably a 10–0 triumph over the Nacional.

In addition to state titles, Santos won the Rio-São Paulo in 1959, beating Vasco in the final by 3–0 with two goals by Coutinho, who was only 16 years old. Coutinho also scored five goals against Ponte Preta, and Santos won the game by 12–1 despite without Pelé.

No other team had dominance in Brazilian football as great as Santos in the 1960s. The club won eight titles: six Brazilian Championships, two Copas Libertadores, two Intercontinental Cups, three Rio-São Paulo, a South American Recopa, a World, and several foreign events. A survey in the magazine El Gráfico saw dozens of experts from South America and Europe identify the Santos side of 1962/63 as the finest squad of all time.

In demand globally, Santos became the first globetrotting football team and performed exhibition matches in dozens of nations. A battle in Africa was paused so that the two sides could witness Pelé's squad play.

Under pressure from the CBD, which the team did not want to risk its best players in hazardous venues in South America, Santos did not compete in the editions of the Libertadores 1966, 1967, and 1969. Players from Santos and Botafogo formed the core of the Brazilian World Cup squads in Chile (1962) and Mexico (1970). (1970).

In two instances — against

and England – the national team featured eight Santos players on the side. In six games of qualification for the 1970 World Cup "The animals of the Saldanha" played with six Santos players : Carlos Alberto, Djalma Dias, Joel Camargo, Rildo,

and Edu.

The effect of Santos was so significant that the defense played with the national team the same numbers that were used at Santos: right-back with the shirt 4, right center-back with the second, left center-back with the sixth, and left-back with three.

Finally, left-winger Antônio Simões, Benfica, and Portugal said: "I compare the Santos 62 team with the national team of Brazil in 70. These are the two finest football teams I have ever watched. The 70 side is the validation of a game concept that Santos previously revealed long ago." Now let's talk about what's happening these days in our article about Santos FC history.

Stepping into 2000

It's time to finish Sportmob's Santos FC history! In the 1990s Santos won only two tiles: the Rio – São Paulo Tournament in 1997 and the Copa CONMEBOL in 1998. In the final of the National Championship of 1995, Santos played Botafogo, but could not overcome the team from Rio de Janeiro Santos's players in 1995.

The new chairman Marcelo Teixeira, son of the previous chairman Milton Teixeira, attempted to prepare Santos for supremacy in the 21st century. No cost was spared to assemble a comprehensive squad, with names like Freddy Rincón, Marcelinho Carioca, Edmundo, Márcio Santos, Carlos Germano, Valdo and Carlos Galván.

Those huge stars could not transfer their notoriety into performance on the pitch, resulting in a runner-up and a semi-final loss in the state championships of 2000 and 2001. In the national league, Santos fared sub-par, with 18th place in 2000 and a 15th in 2001. Thanks for reading our article 

Santos FC history.

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