Santos FC is a football club based in Santos, that competes in the Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or B, 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 June 23, 1914. 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. Up until 2023, Santos was one of only five clubs never to have been relegated from the top level of Brazilian football, the others being São Paulo and Flamengo.
The club first participated in an international competition in 1956. The first international cup they took part in was the Torneio Internacional da FPF. Santos is the most successful club in the Brasileirão, alongside Palmeiras, and was voted by FIFA as the 5th most successful football club of the 20th century. The Santista club is the most successful club, alongside São Paulo, in Brazilian football in terms of overall trophies, having won 19 state titles, a record 8 national titles, 3 Copa Libertadores, 2 Intercontinental Cups, 1 Recopa Sudamericana, 1 Intercontinental Supercup, 1 Copa CONMEBOL and 1 Copa do Brasil. 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.
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International seasons
Copa Libertadores
The Copa Libertadores, originally known as the Copa Campeones de América, is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the most prestigious club competition in South American football and one of the most watched events in the world, broadcast in 135 nations worldwide. The tournament is named in honor of the Libertadores (Portuguese and Spanish for Liberators), the main leaders of the South American wars of independence. The competition has had several different formats over its lifetime. Initially, only the champions of the South American leagues participated. In 1966, the runners-up of the South American leagues began to join; in 1998, Mexican teams were invited to compete. Today at least three clubs per country compete in the tournament, while Argentina and Brazil each have five clubs participating. Traditionally, a group stage has always been used but the number of teams per group has varied several times.
The tournament consists of six stages. In the present format, it begins in early February with the first stage. The six surviving teams from the first stage join 26 teams in the second stage, in which there are eight groups consisting of four teams each. The eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final four stages, better known as the knockout stages, which ends with the finals anywhere between June and August. The winner of the Copa Libertadores becomes eligible to play in two extra tournaments: the FIFA Club World Cup and the Recopa Sudamericana. The reigning champion of the competition is Santos FC. This is the club's third title and the first in 49 years. Santos have participated in the Copa Libertadores 15 times, reaching the semifinals nine times and the final five times.