Santos FC is a football club based in Santos,[1] that competes in the Campeonato Paulista,[2] São Paulo's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or Brasileirão,[3] Brazil's national league. The club was founded in 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, and played its first friendly match on 23 June 1912.[4] Initially Santos played against other local clubs in the city and state championships, but in 1959 the club became one of the founding members of the Taça Brasil, Brazil's first truly national league.
Santos has amassed various records since the foundation. Regionally, domestically, and continentally, they have set several records in winning various official and unofficial competitions. On 20 January 1998, Santos became the first in the history of football to reach the milestone of 10,000 goals, scored by Jorginho.[5] 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.[6] The Santista club is the most successful club in Brazilian football in terms of overall trophies, having won nine national, six continental and three international titles. 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.[7][8][9] 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.[10]
Santos has employed several famous players, with eleven FIFA World Cup, six Copa América and one FIFA Confederations Cup winners among the previous and current Santos players. Arnaldo Patusca was the first Santista player to participate with the national team during the 1916 Copa América. Araken Patusca was the first player from the club to participate with Brazil at a World Cup in 1930. The first Peixe to participate with the national team at the Confederations Cup was Léo at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup. Pelé, often ranked as the greatest player of all time,[11][12] was voted South American footballer of the year in 1973, won the FIFA World Cup Best Young Player award in 1958 and FIFA World Cup Golden Ball in 1970. Pepe is often considered one of the greatest wingers of all time, and is the player who won the most Brasileirãos, with seven titles in total. He has also won the most Campeonato Paulistas, with 13 titles in total, and is the only player to spend his entire player career with Santos. Coutinho, considered one of the greatest forwards in the sport, was the top scorer during Santos' victorious campaign during the 1962 Copa Libertadores and scored Santos' 5000th goal in a 10–2 rout of Guarani in 1961.
