Santos FC

Santos

Full name	Santos Futebol Clube
Nickname(s)	Peixe (Fish) Santástico (Santastic) Alvinegro praiano(Beach black-and-white)
Founded	1912
Ground	Vila Belmiro, Santos, Brazil (Capacity: 20,120)
Chairman	Luis Álvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro
Head coach	Dorival Júnior
League	Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
2009	Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 12th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Santos Futebol Clube, usually known simply as Santos (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsɐ̃tus]), is a Brazilian football team from the city Santos, State of São Paulo. It has been nicknamed Peixe (IPA: [ˈpejʃi], Fish) for decades, but the usual mascot is a whale. The nickname evokes that the city of Santos is a seaport, when all other big clubs from the state of São Paulo are from inland Brazil. A fan of Santos FC is known as a Santista. Santos FC is the record owner of most goals made by a football team in all history: more than 11.500 goals. On April 14, 1912, the initiative of three sports enthusiasts from Santos: Raimundo Marques, Mário Ferraz de Campos, and Argemiro de Souza Júnior. The club won its first state tournament in 1935, and then again in 1955.

They play in an all-white strip, with an alternative kit with black and white vertical stripes and black shorts. However, according to the club's statute, the team's first choice kit is a striped shirt with white shorts and white socks.

Pelé

(chosen as "Athlete of the Century" by the IOC in 1999) started his career with the team in 1956, at the age of 15, and remained with Santos for 17 years. With him, Santos became a record holder Club winning two Copa Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cups in 1962 and 1963; six National Championships, five being in a row (Taça Brasil 1961-65) — still a national record — and one Robertão" (1968); which, with the addition of the two National titles from Post-Pelé era (2002 and 2004) make Santos FC the Brazilian team with the most national cups with eight.

The favorite every day activity of the little boy Edson Arantes do Nascimento was to put his soccer shoes on to play soccer. The skinny 11-year-old was already admired at that time. He ruled over himself and over the ball. Dribbling, heading, goal kicking. At that time not one of the supporters in the city of Bauru could ever imagine that the skinny boy Dico, as he was originally nicknamed by his family, would one day become Pelé, the greatest athlete of all time. Years later, playing for Santos Futebol Clube he would become known as “The King”.

The dream of that little boy from the state of Minas Gerais, originally from Três Corações, was to be a soccer player just like his father. However life surprised Dondinho (Pelé’s father) by giving him the one who went far beyond just playing the game. He overcame obstacles to follow his dream and to fulfill a promise made to his father: to win a World Cup.

“In the 50’s Brazil was defeated by Uruguay and my dad was really moved by that. When I saw him in tears, I told him not to cry because one day I'd win the World Cup for him.” He won not only one, but three World Cups. Pelé collected more than 50 titles and 1281 goals during his glorious career.

When he was 5 his family moved to the state of São Paulo and by then Dondinho was playing for Bauru Atlético Clube (BAC). Following the magnificent footsteps of his father, the little Dico was already a shining star in the amateur teams of that area such as Ameriquinha and Baquinho. His closeness to the ball made him become a top scorer, and a new nickname was born: Pelé.

In a short space of time the puny boy’s way would take a new direction. At the age of 17 Pelé was spotted by Waldemar de Brito, who would invite him to join the team he was managing: Clube Atlético de Bauru. This very same person who spotted Pelé was the one who would take him to Santos Futebol Clube years later. Playing for Santos Futebol Clube, Pelé won both, Intercontinental Cup and Taça Libertadores da América, twice in a row during a period in which he led one of the greatest soccer teams in history.

On January 20, 1998, Santos became the first team in football history to pass the 10,000-goal mark. More recently, on October 26, 2005, Geílson scored the team's 11,000^th goal, the first scored in the team's away match against Vasco da Gama at the Estádio São Januário. Santos went on to win the match 3-1.

Youth Department

The main goal of the Youth Division Department at Santos Futebol Clube is to discover talented players to play for Santos’ first team. Throughout the years Peixe has always been presenting outstanding players to Brazilian soccer such as: Pelé, Pepe, Coutinho, Clodoaldo, Pita, Juary, Elano, Alex, Diego, Robinho, Ganso, Neymar, André and many others.

It hasn’t been any different lately. The Santista team which won Brazilian Championship in 2002 and 2004 was composed by players that blossomed at the Youth division team. It only happened due to the club’s policy that values the talents discovered there.

Many of the Brazilian Champions of 2004 came from the Youth teams from Peixe; eight athletes out of all that formed team: Domingos (Under-17 Paulista Champion, 2001), Leonardo (Under-17 World Champion – National Team 2003), Elano (Brazilian Champion, 2002), Robinho (Brazilian Champion, 2002), Deivid (discovered in 2000). In Santos’ first team for the 2007/2008 season players such as Renatinho, Felipe, Marcelo, Adriano, and Carlinhos, all came from the youth teams, in which they won the U-17 Campeonato Paulista (state competition) in 2004.

Whenever one works hard, being rewarded is just a consequence. So, titles came as a consequence of hard work. Here we name just some of the most significant ones: U-17 Campeonato Paulista 2001 and 2004, Copa Federação Paulista (Copa FPF) 2004- Santos B.

The Youth Divisions Department has the experience of several outstanding players from the past like Chico Formiga (soccer supervisor), Abel Verônico (coordinator), Rubens Salles and Urubatão Calvo Nunes (scouts).

Santos Futebol Clube is responsible for over 100 young athletes in 5 different categories: U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17, U-20. These young athletes stay in two modern dormitories, which are located inside Urbano Caldeira Stadium, with living room, recreation room and cafeteria. The athletes also have medical, odontological and psychological assistance. The club’s work of physiology directed towards its youth divisions is also a pioneer one within Brazilian soccer scene.

As Santos is widely known all over the world its youth teams are often invited to participate in championships and friendly matches in other countries. One of the most important titles won by Santos’ U-20 team was the Turin Tournament. This competition took place in Italy and Santos’ team became the champion after playing against very strong opponents from Italy and other countries.

Trying to always get the very best in each athlete during their way to becoming professionals the club developed the Centro de Desenvolvimento à Performance ao Futebol (Center of Performance Development to Soccer). The aim of this center is to set a pattern in physical preparation for all youth teams, including futsal. This project starts at the very first category, the youngest one, for boys over 6 years old and it covers a total of 270 young athletes.

Corroborating to this project, the club has also remodeled the gym that is used by the youth teams. This gym is located on the third floor at Vilabelmiro Stadium, and it is equipped with top-notch technology similar to that available for Santos’ first team (photo). In this room there is also equipment for physio and other medical activities.

All this structure is set so that the young athletes from Santos’ youth teams can have an excellent performance during the matches. The education of the athlete is also considered very important and, due to that, the club created the Centro de Estudos Luiza Neófiti (Luiza Neófiti Study Center) which is also on the third floor at Vila Belmiro Stadium. The aim of this center is to help the young athletes reinforcing the topics learned at school.

The Golden Years

The club enjoyed its zenith in the 1960s, when having players like Pelé, Coutinho, and Pepe^[1] and won:

• 2 Intercontinental Cups;
• 1 Recopa Intercontinental;
• 2 Continental Championships (Copa Libertadores);
• 6 National Championships;
• 13 State Championships.

The club also won several other informal (not officially organized by FIFA) short-term international tournaments, a very common event on the 1960s. The present FIFA Club World Cup's format, for example, resemble much of them. These tournaments had as lead entrants, the European, and South American Champions.

The two Congo states pause their Civil War for Santos

In 1969, Kinshasa (the former Belgian Congo) and Brazzaville (the former French Congo) governments were engaged in a war when Santos arrived at the Kinshasa airport heading to Brazzaville, where it would play against the Congo-Brazzaville national team. On January 19, 1969, Santos beat the Congo-Brazzaville national team 3-2.^[2] On January 21, 1969, in order to be allowed to return to Kinshasa, Santos was told that it would have to play against a Congo-Kinshasa national team, which the club did, and won 2-0.^[2] On January 23, 1969, Santos played against a Kinshasan club called the Leopards, losing 2-0. After that match, they returned to Brazil.^[2]

1974-onwards

In 1974, team superstar Pelé officially retired from professional football.

From then onwards, Santos won:

• 1 Continental Championship - The Copa Conmebol, precursor of the current Copa Sudamericana: 1998
• 2 Brazilian Championships (Campeonatos Brasileiros): 2002 and 2004
• 1 Brazil Cup (Copa do Brasil): 2010
• 5 State Championships (Campeonato Paulista): 1978, 1984, 2006, 2007 and 2010

Stadium

FC Santos' home stadium is the Urbano Caldeira (also known as the Vila Belmiro), inaugurated on October 12, 1916. It has a capacity of 20,120, but its record attendance is 32,989 people in a game against Corinthians in 1964.^[3]

First team squad

Competitions: Campeonato Paulista, Copa do Brasil, Campeonato Brasileiro, Copa Sudamericana.
As of July 2010, according to combined sources on the official website^[4].

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Rafael 2 DF Edu Dracena 3 DF Léo 4 DF Pará 5 MF Arouca 6 DF Durval 7 MF Marquinhos 8 MF Rodrigo Possebon 9 FW Keirrison (on loan from Barcelona) 10 MF Ganso 11 FW Neymar 12 GK Felipe 13 DF Bruno Aguiar 14 MF Madson 15 DF Vinicius

No. Position Player 16 FW Zé Eduardo 17 DF Danilo 18 FW Marcel (on loan from Benfica) 19 MF Breitner 20 MF Rodriguinho 21 MF Roberto Brum 22 DF Maranhão 23 FW Tiago Luís 24 GK Vladimir 25 MF Alan Patrick 26 DF Alex Sandro 27 MF Zezinho (on loan from Juventude) 28 DF Diego Monar 29 MF Adriano 30 MF Elivelton

Achievements

International titles

The 1962 Copa Libertadores trophy.

• Copa Libertadores

• Winners (2): 1962, 1963.
• Runners-up (1): 2003.

• Copa CONMEBOL

• Winners (1): 1998.

• Intercontinental Cup/ FIFA Club World Cup

• Winners (2): 1962, 1963.

• Recopa Intercontinental

• Winners (1): 1968.

Brazilian professional titles

Santos' trophy memorial.

Nationalwide titles

• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

• Winners (2): 2002, 2004.
• Runners-up (3): 1983, 2003, 2007.

• Copa do Brasil

• Winners (1): 2010.

• Taça Brasil

• Winners (5): 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965.
• Runners-up (2): 1959, 1966.

• Robertão

• Winners (1): 1968.

References

External links

• Official website (Portuguese)
• Resgate Santista Association (blog) (Portuguese)
• SANTÁSTICO - news website about the team (blog) (Portuguese)