Santos FC

Santos Futebol Clube (Portuguese pronunciation:) is a Brazilian professional football club based in Santos, São Paulo They play in the Campeonato Paulista. and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the highest professional leagues in São Paulo state and Brazil, respectively.

Santos is the defending Paulista and South American champion. Domestically, the club have won nineteen Campeonato Paulista titles, one Copa do Brasil, and a joint record of eight Brazilian championships. Internationally, they are amongst Brazil's most successful clubs with seven international titles, including three Copa Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cups. In 1962, Santos became the first club in the world to win the continental treble consisting of the Paulista, Taça Brasil, and the Copa Libertadores. That same year, it also became the first football club ever to win four out of four competitions in a single year, thus completing the quadruple, comprising the aforementioned treble and the Intercontinental Cup. Their international and domestica success has led IFFHS to name Santos as one of the top twenty clubs in South America in the 20th century.
Founded as Santos Foot-Ball Club on April 14, 1912 by the initiative of three sports enthusiasts from Santos by the names of Raimundo Marques, Mário Ferraz de Campos, and Argemiro de Souza Júnior, the club has become a symbol of Joga Bonito (English: The Beautiful Game) in football culture. It is one of Brazil's richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual revenue of $45.1m (€31.5m), and one of the most valuable clubs, worth over $86.7m (€60.6m) in 2011. Santos was a founding member of the Clube dos 13 (English: Club of the 13) group of Brazil's leading football clubs.

Stadiums

Soon after its foundation, Santos held their training in a field located in the district of Macuco. As the pitch did not meet the minimum size standards to dispute official matches, Santos played on the "Igreja Coração de Maria" pitch in Ana Costa Avenue. The field, however, was also used by other clubs in town. In 1915, the situation reached its breaking point, when Santos had constant conflicts with other city clubs on when the field could be used, forcing the club to reject several requests for international friendlies. To solve the problem, the leaders began searching for land in the city. On May 31, 1916, a general assembly approved the purchase of an area of 16,500 square meters, in the bairro of Vila Belmiro. On October 12 of that year, the inauguration of the Vila Belmiro sports park. The first game was held 10 days later, against Ypiranga for the 1916 Campeonato Paulista which Santos won 2–1. Adolfo Millon Jr. scored the first ever goal on that stadium.
The capacity has changed frequently, peaking at 32,989 in a 0–0 draw between Santos and Corinthians for the 1964 Campeonato Paulista. Since then, there have been a number of reductions due to modernizations. The last change was a new illumination system being installed in January 27, 1998, with a illumnination level of 1200 lux, more than the FIFA minimum recommendation. The Vila Belmiro was one of the venues of the 1949 Copa América, hosted the 1962 Copa Libertadores final and the 1998 Copa CONMEBOL final. It has also hosted a Copa do Brasil final in 2010. Due to its relative-low capacity, Santos has used other stadiums for high-profile matches such as the Estádio Palestra Itália, Pacaembu and Morumbi, all located in São Paulo, and the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. Current Santos President Luis Alvaro Ribeiro and other club directors are agreeing on building a stadium in a city nearby Santos called Cubatao, a stadium for 40,000 people which would become Santos' home field for almost 70% of the games during the season which would increase the team's profit.

On October 2005, the Centro de Treinamento Rei Pelé was inaugurated. Located in the Jabaquara bairro, the training ground, one of the most modern in Brazil, includes medical and training facilities for the first team and a hotel, "Recanto dos Alvinegros".
The Centro de Treinamento Meninos da Vila, located in the Saboó bairro, constitutes two fields of equal size to the Vila Belmiro and it is intended for the formation and development of players. The two fields are named in homage to the revelation of players Diego and Robinho. It was inaugurated in August 2006.