Talking about Brazilian football, of course it cannot be separated from big names. Whether clubs or players, there are interesting stories. Especially if the story involves a club that is diligent in making big names and has a history of brilliant achievements, both at home and abroad.
One of the few clubs with this profile in Brazil is Santos FC. Until the 2023 season, they are a club that has never been relegated from the highest caste of the Brazilian League, along with Sao Paulo and Flamengo.
Regarding achievements, this Brazilian port city club can also be said to be complete. At international level, 3 Copa Libertadores trophies (South American Champions League), 1 Copa CONMEBOL trophy (Europa League level in Europe), 1 Recopa Sudamericana trophy (South American version of the European Super Cup) and 2 Intercontinental Cup trophies (now the Club World Cup ) achieved success. Domestically, 8 Brazilian Serie A League trophies and 1 Copa Do Brasil trophy complement a number of trophies at state and interstate levels.
In terms of producing star players, the club nicknamed Peixe can be said to be a special club. Understandably, this is where the name Pele, the greatest football legend of the Samba Country, emerged, who also spent most of his playing career at Vila Belmiro.
Together with O Rey too, Santos won most of their domestic and international trophies, in an era known as Os Santasticos, between 1956-1974.
Also read: The Brazilian national team is no longer the same
In this period, the Black and Whites won 6 Brazilian Serie A League trophies, 2 Copa Libertadores trophies and 2 Intercontinental Cup trophies. In this era too, the club which was founded in 1912 often toured the world. The Indonesian national team coached by Endang Witarsa was once a team that competed against each other, in a friendly match at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, 21 June 1972.
Photo with Pele, Risdianto and Iswadi Idris, 21 June 1972 (Tribunnews.com)
When the era of the King ended, the era of Alvinegro’s glory receded. Even though they were able to stay in the top caste and excel at state level, they had to wait until 2002 to win the Brazilian League, after last winning it in 1968.
When they won in 2002, Santos was led by two talented young players, namely Robinho and Diego Ribas. This deadly duet then brought the club back to the league title in 2004, before finally leaving for Europe.
Robinho, who at the start of his appearance was labeled as the New Pele, played for Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester City, among others. Meanwhile, Diego played at Werder Bremen, Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
Uniquely, just like the previous Santasticos era, the club’s performance then became inconsistent again. Sometimes finishing at the top, sometimes struggling to avoid relegation.
The revival of the club which once helped popularize Jogo Bonito only came in 2009, when Neymar and Ganso were promoted from the academy.
Just like in the era of Robinho and Diego Ribas, the duo of Neymar (who received the nickname Pele Baru at the beginning of his appearance) and Ganso became the motor of Santos’ game, and was able to achieve achievements, this time at domestic and international level.
Thanks to winning one Copa Do Brasil trophy (2010), Copa Libertadores (2011), and Recopa Sudamericana (2012) plus the emergence of potential young players like Rafael Cabral and Danilo, Santos entered the “Santasticos” era volume II. However, just like before, when the composition of key players was no longer intact, Santos’ performance declined again and they became an inconsistent club again.
Starting with the departure of Ganso (to Sao Paulo) and Danilo (to FC Porto) in 2012, the Santasticos Volume II era practically ended when Neymar moved to Barcelona and Rafael Cabral moved to Napoli in 2013. Of these four star players, Santos actually earned a lot of money. They even dared to buy Leandro Damio (2012 Olympic top scorer) in 2014, to partner Gabriel Barbosa, a potential young striker who graduated from the club’s academy.
At first glance, this duet looks promising, but the club’s inconsistent performance and management mismanagement have actually plunged the club into a financial crisis. Even though they received an injection of 29.5 million euros (the result of the sale of Gabriel Barbosa to Inter Milan, 2016), the club’s financial crisis remained unsolved.
In this period of turbulence, The Fish is actually still orbiting talents like Rodrygo Goes (now at Real Madrid), Kaio Jorge (Juventus) and Angelo Gabriel (Chelsea). They even qualified for the 2020 Copa Libertadores final at the Maracana Stadium.
Unfortunately, the chronic financial crisis meant that the club’s performance could no longer recover. Ultimately, the club was finally relegated from the highest caste of the Brazilian League in the 2023 season, for the first time in history. Thus, only Flamengo and Sao Paulo are left and has never been relegated in the Brazilian League.
With a long and brilliant history, Santos’ relegation is clearly a tragedy. Moreover, this is a club that produces talents as great as Pele (winner of 3 World Cups) and Neymar (the world’s most expensive player in the current era).
However, this is where the important role of club management becomes decisive. If they are competent enough, they should escape relegation, even achieving it is not a difficult matter. Even if star players leave, there are still suitable replacements, whether from the academy or shopping for players. So, there is no need to wait decades to achieve success.
On the other hand, the story of the rise and fall of Santos FC also shows that no matter how great a club’s academy reputation is, it turns out that it is not completely reliable, because a generation of players with special talents sometimes only emerges every dozen or even decades.
ASL
