Santos FC retro

Santos Futebol Clube is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a bairro in the city of Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the state of São Paulo's premier state league, as well as the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top flight of the Brazilian football league system, after winning the 2024 Série B title.

The club was founded in 1912 by three sports enthusiasts from Santos: Raimundo Marques, Mário Ferraz de Campos, and Argemiro de Souza Júnior. The initiative was 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 Joga Bonito (English: The Beautiful Game) in football culture, hence the motto "Técnica e Disciplina" (technique and discipline). This was largely thanks to the club's golden generation of the 1960s, with players like Gilmar, Mauro Ramos, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pepe, and most notable of all, Pelé, named the "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee, and widely regarded as the best and most accomplished footballer in the game's history. Os Santásticos, considered by some the best club team of all times, won a total of 24 titles during that decade including five consecutive league titles, a feat that remains unequaled today. Os Santásticos won four competitions in 1962, thus completing a quadruple, comprising the Campeonato Paulista, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the Copa Libertadores, and the European/South American Cup.

Santos Futebol Clube is one of the most successful clubs in the Brasileirão, becoming national champions on eight occasions. It has also won 22 Paulistão titles, three Copa Libertadores, two Intercontinental Cups, one Supercopa de Campeones Intercontinentales, one Copa CONMEBOL (the precursor 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 entire history of football and was voted by FIFA as one of the most successful clubs of the 20th century. Santos also holds a record as the club with the most goals in football history.