Bad times for Santos, the team with which Pelé conquered the world and a city that will never be the same

Saints For years he has been experiencing a bad sporting and financial moment, clouding the memory of that team that Pelé, who died last Thursday at the age of 82, transformed into a steamroller of world football in the early 1960s. neymar Y Rodrygo Drag out ten years of drought without lifting a big headline. During that time, he has seen local rivals such as Flamengo and Palmeiras grow as he grapples with a deep financial and institutional crisis.

His decline is also evidenced in several FIFA bans on signing players due to unpaid passes to other teams and in a debt that in 2020 was approximately 132 million dollars at current exchange rates.

Something inappropriate for a club that, with oh king At the head he won everything in 1962 and 1963. In that period he was twice champion of Brasileirao, the Copa Libertadores and the now defunct Intercontinental, where he beat Eusebio’s Benfica and Amarildo’s Milan, Giovanni Trapattoni and Cesare Maldini.

“Signing a player with a salary of 1.5 million reais ($283,000) a month is very easy, the difficult thing is to pay. Santos, unfortunately, have made these kinds of mistakes,” president Andrés Rueda told the portal. Brazilian. Gazzetta dello Sport in August.

Rueda was appointed manager of to fish in December 2020, when the team was unable to incorporate players due to a FIFA sanction, despite previous millionaire earnings from the sale of players from its renowned youth academy, such as Neymar (2013 at Barcelona) and Rodrygo (2018 at Real Madrid ).

Santos was also the club of other famous players, most of whom left their academy long after Pelé’s retirement. The list includes Elano, Zé Roberto, Giovanni, Robinho, Diego and Gabriel Barbosa.

The impediment to hiring no longer exists and debt has decreased, according to President PBut sporting glory shines by its absence to the fury and sadness of its fansthe ninth largest in Brazil with about 2.2 million “torcedores”, according to a survey published by the newspaper Balloon in the month of July.

“The fans have every right to (complain). They shouldn’t worry about whether the club has money or not, they want the best for the team and to see them always win,” said the manager.

Since 2012, when they beat the University of Chile in the South American Cup Winners’ Cup final with Neymar on the field, Santos hadn’t lifted a major trophySince then, he has had to settle for winning the São Paulo state championship three times (2012, 2015, 2016), two runners-up in the league (2016, 2019) and one in the Copa do Brasil (2015) and the Liberators (2020). ). Brasileirao has been elusive since 2004.

Very little in the memory of a Pelé who won the only two Intercontinental Championships for the team, two of his three Libertadores and six (five consecutive, between 1961 and 1965) of his eight championships.

What many consider the best footballer in history, who barely defended three jerseys in his 21-year career (Santos, New York Cosmos and the To select), scored 1,091 goals in 1,116 games for Albinegros, including official and unofficial matches.

To the port city team, with which he toured the world together with other characters such as Coutinho, gilmar, Pepper or shut upHe made it to the age of 15 and left in 1974. “Pele came to Santos as a child, started in Vila Belmiro and left here as king. He ended up being idolized not only by the Santos nation, but by all the people Brazilian and all football fans” Rueda said on the day of the ex-striker’s death.

In Vila Belmiro, with a capacity of 16,000, Pelé will hold a public reception between Monday and Tuesday. The coffin will be placed in the center of the pitch of the Vila Belmiro stadium. On the last day he will be buried in a Santos mausoleum in a ceremony reserved for the family.

Santos, much more than a port city

Some of Brazil’s top politicians, such as President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, have lived in the coastal city. But one of the main tourist attractions in Santos is the Pele Museum. It is located in the renovated area of ​​Casaroes do Valongo, near the port city. It opened in 2014 and attracts tens of thousands of tourists.

Many visitors are like Giselle Claudia, 65, arrived on a cruise to spend New Years in the city. “It’s my first time in Santos. I only came on this cruise because my husband wanted to visit the city of Pele,” said Claudia.

“Here he is lost in the museum,” she added, referring to her husband. “There are other beaches on this route that are more beautiful than this one. But none of them have this history of the greatest soccer player. The museum displays some remaining Pele memorabilia: sneakers, trophies, medals, T-shirts.

Santos has become a popular destination since New Year’s Eveespecially among the inhabitants of São Paulo who are admirers of their teams, beaches and some private islands where parties are held.

I peeled everywhere

It is expected that after the sports star’s death many names will change to Santos. The first will be the port, which will be renamed Puerto Rey Pelé by decision of the new federal government.

Architect María Tereza Myre Dores, one of Pelé’s closest friends and a neighbor of his in the last years of her life in the nearby town of Guarujá, said the club and the city of Santos will never be the same again.

“Pele was Santos. He loved the city, the club. He made them better and made them famous.”Myre Dores said.

“I still remember the afternoons he spent in his office signing letters and T-shirts for people all over the world. One by one and returning them, even those who arrived with only three words: Pele, Santos, Brazil,” said the architect. “Without him, Santos is less Santos.”

tributes

Pelé was honored with a minute’s silence during the inauguration ceremony of Brazilian President Inácio Lula da Silva.

Recognition for Pelé was promoted by the local Parliament, while the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) reported that they received confirmation from FIFA President Gianni Infantino of his presence at the funeral of “O Rei”.

Infantino will accompany his CBF counterpart, Ednaldo Rodrigues, at the farewell to Pelé, which will take place from this Monday at the Santos stadium, Vila Belmiro.

With information from AFP/AP/ANSA