Santos FC Information & Santos FC Links at HealthHaven.com

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	Marcelo Pirillo Teixeira
Head coach	Vanderlei Luxemburgo
League	Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
2008	Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 15th

Santos Futebol Clube, usually known simply as Santos, is a Brazilian football team from the city Santos, State of São Paulo. It has been nicknamed Peixe (literally, "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 was founded as Santos Foot-Ball Club on April 14, 1912, instead 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, being five 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.

On January 20, 1998, Santos became the first and until now the only 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.

[edit] History

[edit] The Golden Years

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

eight State championships;
six National championships;
two Continental Championships (Copa Libertadores); and
two Intercontinental Cups
beyond others 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.

[edit] Congo

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, to be allowed to return to Kinshasa, Santos had to play against a Congo-Kinshasa national team, which the club 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]

[edit] 1974-onwards

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

From then onwards, Santos won:

two Brazilian Championships (2002 and 2004);
four State championships (1978, 1984, 2006, and 2007) &
one Continental championship - The Copa Conmebol, precursor of the current Copa Sudamericana (1998).

[edit] Recent years

Santos started enjoying success again when team president Marcelo Teixeira, having spent several million reais on players, decided to try a new management formula to run the football team during financial difficulties. His plan was to stick to the players coming up the club's ranks and hire Leão as coach in an attempt to develop new emerging talent for the professional league. Teixeira also honored former Santos' president Modesto Roma with a bust located inside the Estádio Vila Belmiro.^[3] The club renewed its stadium by increasing its capacity, signed players, and invest in infrastructure, such as training fields and medical and physiotherapist facilities.

This rehabilitation policy proved effective and the club was soon replenished with numerous players (among them Robinho, Diego, Elano, Léom and Renato). In 2002, Santos were national champions for the first time since 1968, and in 2004, the team won the league again.

[edit] Stadium

Main article: Estádio Vila Belmiro

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.^[4]

[edit] First team squad

Competition: Campeonato Paulista, Copa do Brasil, Campeonato Brasileiro.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Fábio Costa
		GK	Felipe
		GK	Sérgio
		GK	Douglas
		DF	Adaílton
		DF	Eli Sabiá (on loan from Paulista)
		DF	André Astorga
		DF	Edu Dracena
		DF	Fabão (captain)
		DF	Paulo Henrique R.
		DF	Luizinho
		DF	Léo
		DF	George Lucas
		DF	Pará
		DF	Triguinho

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Rodrigo Mancha
		MF	Germano
		MF	Rodrigo Souto
		MF	Madson
		MF	Felipe Azevedo (on loan from Paulista)
		MF	Paulo Henrique Lima
		MF	Róbson
		FW	Fabiano
		FW	Kléber Pereira
		FW	Maikon Leite
		FW	Neymar (Serving the national U-17)
		FW	Jean
		FW	André
		FW	Gil