Palmeiras

Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, usually called Palmeiras, is from São Paulo, and was founded on August 26, 1914, as Palestra Italia, but changed to the current name on September 14, 1942. They play in green shirts, white shorts and green socks and are one of the most popular and traditional Brazilian clubs.

Supporters

Palmeiras is one of the four most supported clubs in Brazil, with fans in all Brazilian states.
The club’s mascot used to be a green parakeet but since the eighties the fans have adopted the pig as mascot. The origins of the pig are found in the intense rivalry with Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, whose fans called Palmeiras’ supporters “pigs”.
The 2003 relegation was the worst moment in the club’s history, but it is notable the passion of the fans during this period, watching massively the home matches.
Traditionally, Palmeiras is a club supported by the Italian descendants, however, because of its glories, the club is supported by people from all origins.
Palmeiras biggest ultras are Mancha Alvi-Verde and TUP.

Trivia

Palmeiras is the only club that has won all national competitions in Brazil. Because of this, the club was elected by Brazilian newspapers the “Champion of the 20th Century”.
Palmeiras is the Brazilian club with more participations in Copa Libertadores (13), winning it one time (1999) and reaching the finals three times more (1961, 1968 and 2000).
Palmeiras major rival is Corinthians. This rivalry is considered one of the most intense in the world. Palmeiras v Corinthians matches are known as the Derby. Another strong rivalry is against São Paulo, known as Choque Rei (King’s Clash).

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Stadium

Palmeiras plays at the Palestra Italia stadium (also nicknamed Parque Antartica because the area was a park built by Antartica Paulista Company in the beginning of the last century). The venue has seats for 32,500 but usually seats only 30,000 for security reasons. Local derbies against São Paulo or Corinthians, however, are usually played in São Paulo’s Morumbi stadium, which has a much greater capacity of 80,000 people. The club has recently signed a deal with a local light company, Eletropaulo, to improve its lighting system.

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History

Foundation and name

Palmeiras was founded by the Italian-speaking community of São Paulo and was initially named Società Palestra Italia. Its original colors were red, white and green (those of Italy). The name change occurred during World War II. Brazil entered the war supporting the allies and its dictatorship forced Palestra Italia to change its name because of the reference to Italy. The original badge (a white ornamental “P” in a shield) is still present in the current one and the club has used red as a third colour (mostly in friendship games during the club’s 75th anniversary). Several other clubs whose names alluded to enemy foreign countries either disappeared (like Germania) or were renamed during the same period. Another Brazilian club that was once also called Palestra Italia is Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

Ups and downs

The club has had a rather irregular history alternating between periods of intense success and failure. In the 1960s and early 1970s, for instance, the club collected honours, played several times the Libertadores Cup and won the Campeonato Brasileiro twice (1972/73). Then it faced more than fifteen years without winning anything important until, in 1992, the club signed with the Italian group Parmalat a sponsorship deal that lasted for eight years and made it the richest Brazilian club. During the Parmalat era, started in 1992, when Palmeiras won a Brazilian Championship’s match face Cruzeiro (2–0), Palmeiras won the Brazilian Championship twice (1993/94), the Brazilian Cup (1998), the Mercosur Cup (1998) and the Libertadores Cup (1999) which, along with the 1972/73 championships and Rio Cup (1951) are the club’s most important honours.

Parmalat sponsorship ended in 2000 and left the club in dire straits. After a mildly irregular season in 2001 — the most important result was a Libertadores Cup semifinals —, the club faced its worst year ever in 2002 and was relegated to the Second Division, which it won in the following year, 16 points ahead Botafogo (runners-up), returning to the First Division in 2004. Since its comeback the club is raising again. The last two seasons were quite good, with two successive qualifications for Copa Libertadores.

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Titles

Palmeiras is one of the most successful Brazilian teams, and is the club with more national titles (10). Copa Rio 1951 World Club Tournament was the first big international competition for clubs, and the first edition was won by Palmeiras, which could be considered the first Clubs World Championship.

International

Libertadores Cup: 1999
Mercosur Cup: 1998
Copa Rio 1951 World Club Tournament
Ramon de Carranza (Spain): 1969, 1974, 1975
Naranja Cup (Spain): 1995

Brazilian Competitions

Campeonato Brasileiro First Division: 1972, 1973, 1993, 1994
Campeonato Brasileiro Second Division: 2003
Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa: 1967, 1969
Brazilian Cup: 1998
Taça Brasil: 1960, 1967
Champions’ Cup: 2000
Rio-São Paulo Tournament: 1933, 1951, 1965, 1993, 2000
Campeonato Paulista: 1920, 1926, 1927, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1947, 1950, 1959, 1963, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1993, 1994, 1996 (21 times)
Super Copa São Paulo de Juniores: 1995
Torneio Maria Quitéria: 1997

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Famous players

Ademir da Guia	Ademir da Guia	Alex	Faustino Asprilla
Cafu	César Sampaio	Djalma Santos	Edilson
Edmundo	Émerson Leão	Carlos Gamarra	Gaúcho
Jair	Juninho	Júnior	Luis Pereira
Magrão	Marcos	Mazinho	Mazzola
Müller	Paulo Nunes	Rincón	Rivaldo
Roberto Carlos	Roque Junior	Vagner Love	Vava