The following article covers the history of Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, a Brazilian multi-sport club based in the city of São Paulo.
Founded by Italian immigrants on August 26, 1914, as Palestra Italia, the green-and-white club was compelled to change its name in 1942 due to conflicts with the Brazilian government during the Vargas Era, adopting the name Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras.
Palmeiras is one of Brazil's most successful clubs, holding the record as the most decorated national champion with 18 titles. Among its most significant achievements are the 1951 Copa Rio, the Copa Libertadores titles in 1999, 2020, and 2021, 12 Brazilian Championships, and 4 Copa do Brasil titles.
The birth of Palestra Itália (1914–1942) Beginnings
Palestra Italia was established on August 26, 1914, by Italian immigrants in São Paulo. Its creation was inspired by the presence of two Italian football clubs in Brazil, namely Pro Vercelli and Torino, which motivated the formation of a team to represent São Paulo's Italian community in the Paulista Championship. Key figures in the club's founding included Luigi Cervo and Luigi Marzo, employees of Matarazzo Industries, alongside Vincenzo Ragognetti, a journalist, and Ezequiel Simone, the eldest among them and a member of various Italian cultural organizations. The founding charter was drafted in Italian. Ezequiel Simone served as the first president, holding the position for just nineteen days. The club's establishment followed two meetings: the first on August 19, 1914, where the club's purpose was debated—some advocated for a social and cultural focus, while others pushed for a sports-oriented mission centered on football. A second meeting on August 26, 1914, officially marked the club's founding. Both meetings took place at Rua Marechal Deodoro, number 2, in the Alhambra Salon, near Praça da Sé.
The vast majority of the founders were Italians or their descendants, many employed at Matarazzo Industries. Francisco Camargo, a Portuguese employee of Matarazzo, also participated in the founding meeting and was elected a director. None of the founders were affiliated with other football clubs, except Luigi Cervo, who had been a member and player of the second team of Internacional de SP. Other founders included members of Esperia, an Italian rowing club, such as athlete Delfo Betti.
Between August 1914 and January 1915, Palestra Itália focused on assembling its roster of players and presenting itself to the city, particularly to São Paulo's Italian community. The grand inauguration ball was held on January 9, 1915, at the "Germânia" salons, located at Rua Dom José de Barros, rented for 300,000 réis.
The first matches
During its first four months, the founders and initial members organized practice matches on a rented field in Vila Mariana, located in what is now Vila Clementino, near the current Ibirapuera Park area. On January 24, 1915, Palestra Italia played its first friendly match against Savoia from Sorocaba (now known as Clube Atlético Votorantim, as the team was based in what was then a district of Sorocaba, now the municipality of Votorantim), winning 2–0 with goals from Bianco and Alegretti. The adopted emblem was the Savoy Cross.
In 1915, unable to secure a spot in the APEA championship, Palestra Itália played only friendly matches. In early 1916, the club capitalized on the difficulties faced by the Associação Paulista de Esportes Atléticos, which managed São Paulo's major football clubs, due to the closure of the Velodrome, the venue for championship matches. Palestra's leadership, with support from Matarazzo Industries, facilitated the transfer of the Velodrome's grandstands to Chácara da Floresta, owned by A.A. Palmeiras, securing the club's entry into the elite Paulista League.
The team's championship debut occurred on May 13, 1916, at Chácara da Floresta, against Associação Atlética Mackenzie College, ending in a 1–1 draw. The lineup was: Julio Fabbrini; Grimaldi and Ricco (captain); Fabbi II, Bianco, and De Biase; Gobbato, Valle II, Vescovini, Bernardini, and Cestari.
In 1917, the team's jersey design changed, removing the horizontal white stripe, and the emblem became a circle with the initials P and I, replacing the Savoy Cross. The team strengthened its squad and achieved its first runner-up finish. The year also marked the first encounters with its future greatest rival, Corinthians, with Palestra winning both matches, 3–0 and 3–1. Two years later, in 1919, Palestra again finished as runner-up.
The first titles
On April 26, 1920, Palestra Italia acquired 150,000 square meters of land from the Companhia Antarctica Paulista, including the Parque Antarctica Stadium, which at the time featured wooden grandstands.
Later that year, the club won its first title in a dramatic final against Paulistano, the four-time Paulista champion from 1916 to 1919. Both teams tied in points, necessitating an extra match, which Palestra won 2–1 with goals from Martinelli and Forte, breaking their rival's dominance.
In 1921, the team won the Taça Competência (a competition between the capital's champion and the interior's champion). From 1921 to 1923, Palestra Italia finished as runner-up in the Paulista Championship three consecutive times.
In 1925, Palestra made its international debut, touring Argentina and Uruguay. In 1926, the club secured another Paulista title with an impeccable campaign: nine wins in nine matches, scoring 33 goals, with Heitor as the top scorer with 18 goals. In 1927, Palestra achieved its first Paulista Championship back-to-back titles. Additionally, the team won the Taça Competência in 1927 and 1928 and the Rio–São Paulo State Champions Trophy in 1926 against São Cristóvão.
The early 1930s were marked by the 1932 Revolution, which halted the championship for four months, with clubs offering their facilities as barracks and infirmaries for Paulista troops. In football, this period saw the advent of professionalism and Palestra's dominance not only in São Paulo but across Brazil.
In 1932, Palestra Italia won the Paulista Championship undefeated, achieving the competition's most remarkable campaign: 11 matches, 11 wins, 48 goals scored, and only 8 conceded. The following year, the club celebrated a double triumph, securing back-to-back Paulista titles and the inaugural Torneio Rio–São Paulo.
In 1933, the club reinaugurated the Palestra Itália Stadium, then São Paulo's largest and one of the few in Brazil built with reinforced concrete. That year also saw a historic 8–0 rout of archrival Corinthians. The match, valid for both the Paulista Championship and the 1933 Torneio Rio–São Paulo, featured four goals by Romeu Pellicciari, one by Gabardo, and three by Imparato, marking the heaviest defeat in Corinthians' history. The defeat's impact on Corinthians was so profound that it led to the resignation of their president, Alfredo Schurig, and prompted Corinthians fans to set fire to their own club's headquarters.
The year 1933, the first of professional football in Brazil, concluded with Palestra Italia as back-to-back Paulista champions and the inaugural Torneio Rio–São Paulo champions.
In 1934, the club achieved a Paulista Championship three-peat. In 1935 and 1936, Palestra Italia gained international recognition, playing friendlies against Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Huracán, and Vélez from Argentina, as well as Espanyol from Barcelona.
In 1940, Palestra Italia had the honor of inaugurating the Pacaembu Stadium, defeating Coritiba 6–2 in the opening match and beating Corinthians 2–1 the following Sunday, becoming the champion of the Taça Cidade de São Paulo, the first champion of the Pacaembu Stadium. The year 1941 marked the debut of the club's greatest idol of the 1940s, goalkeeper Oberdan Cattani, alongside Waldemar Fiúme; Oberdan guarded Palestra's goal for fifteen years.
Palestra becomes Palmeiras
Palestra Itália was forced to change its name during World War II. After maintaining neutrality for the first three years of the conflict, on January 28, 1942, Brazil severed diplomatic relations with the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), signaling the stance it would formalize on August 31 of that year, when it declared war on these nations, aligning with the Allies (United States, England, France, and others).
On March 17, 1942, a board meeting deliberated on changing the club's name, selecting Sociedade Esportiva Palestra de São Paulo. The announcement sent to the press and members stated: The Executive Council and Executive Board, pending confirmation by the Deliberative Council, which will meet shortly, have resolved that the society shall henceforth be named 'Sociedade Esportiva Palestra de São Paulo'.Diário da Tarde, March 18, 1942. Available at http://memoria.bn.gov.br/DocReader/DocReader.aspx?bib=800074&pesq=%22Palestra%20It%C3%A1lia%22&pasta=ano%20193&hf=memoria.bn.gov.br&pagfis=62024
However, this change had little effect, as the press and fans continued to use only "Palestra," and the club's colors, referencing Italy, remained unchanged.
The situation escalated with a decree-law on June 17, 1942, requiring sports organizations with foreign names to change their designations. On August 31, the Brazilian government formally declared war on the Axis powers.
Two weeks later, on the night of September 14, 1942, Palestra's board convened an extraordinary session to address the military's demand for a complete name change, despite "Palestra" being a Greek word meaning "gymnasium." After hours of debate and resistance, and rejecting names like Piratininga and Paulista, the board settled on Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, partly to preserve the letter P in the club's emblems and partly to honor the Associação Atlética das Palmeiras, a now-defunct club that had maintained a strong relationship with Palestra Itália and provided crucial support in disputes with Paulista football authorities.
The red color was removed, leaving only green and white, and the emblem's letter I was eliminated, retaining only the P on a green background. Meeting the authorities' requirements, Palmeiras took the field the following Sunday to compete for the championship title against São Paulo, introducing two notable changes.
The Heroic Sprint To counter planned protests and jeers from rival fans, the "imposing green-and-white" team was led onto the field by its vice-president, Army Captain Adalberto Mendes, carrying a Brazilian flag. After some hesitation and silence, the stadium gave the players a standing ovation, confining rivalry to the pitch. Another change, noticed only years later, was the switch in the goalkeepers' jerseys, which had been white since 1914 and now became blue, a subtle nod to the club's Italian roots, referencing the Italian national team's colors, which honor the House of Savoy.
The match took place on September 20, 1942, Palmeiras entered the field for the first time with the name that is still known today. To avoid the "boos" that were promised by their rivals, the team appeared on the Pacaembu Stadium lawn with a Brazilian flag, carried by the then 2nd vice-president of the club, Adalberto Mendes, who was captain of the Brazilian Army. The initiative and the moving image, later called "Arrancada Heroica" (Heroic Sprint), was applauded by the fans present and helped to ease the pressure on the alviverde team. The game with São Paulo was tense and violent, with Palmeiras winning 3–1, and the Tricolores refusing to play the rest of the second half, an act done as a form of response and protest against refereeing, when the referee awarded a penalty committed by Virgílio in Og Moreira. With the score and the São Paulo side protest, Palmeiras won the first tournament with the new name. With the defeat, São Paulo finished third, behind Corinthians, runner-up.
The dawn of a new era 1943–1950