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Santa Cruz Futebol Clube

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This article is about the football club in Recife, Pernambuco. For other teams with similar names, see Santa Cruz Futebol Clube (disambiguation).

Santa Cruz
Full nameSanta Cruz Futebol Clube
Nickname(s)Cobra Coral (Coral Snake)
Terror Do Nordeste (Terror Of The Northeastern Region)
O Mais Querido (The most dear)
Time de Guerreiros (Team of Warriors)
Time do Povo (People's Team)
Clube da Multidão (Crowd Club)
Founded3 February 1914; 110 years ago (1914-02-03)
GroundEstádio do Arruda
Capacity60,044
PresidentAntônio Luiz Neto
Head coachItamar Schülle
LeagueCampeonato Brasileiro Série D
Campeonato Pernambucano
2024 [pt]Pernambucano, 4th of 10
Websitesantacruzpe.com.br
Current season
Estádio do Arruda

Santa Cruz Futebol Clube is a Brazilian professional football club based in Recife, Pernambuco, that competes in the Série D, the fourth tier of Brazilian football, and in the Campeonato Pernambucano, the top flight of the Pernambuco state football league.

History

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Early history

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On 3 February 1914, eleven young men aging from 14 to 16 years founded a football society. Because the boys used to play football on the streets by the yard of the Santa Cruz Church, the club was named after that church, which is situated on Santa Cruz Street in Recife. At the first meeting, they decided the position of each member, the name of the club "Santa Cruz Foot-Ball Club", and the society's colors.

The original colors were black and white. Some time after, the color pattern was changed because another local team (Sport Club Flamengo) already had those colors. Therefore, the club included the red color by suggestion of Teófilo Batista de Carvalho, also known as Lacraia. Lacraia has participated in all major early events of Santa Cruz's history, except the foundation.

Many people came to see the first match at Derby plains. The "team of boys" as Santa Cruz was called at the time beat Rio Negro (Black River) by 7–0. Rio Negro demanded revenge in another match. Curiously, the terms of the revenge stated that Sílvio Machado (he scored five goals in the first match) could not play. Despite that, Santa Cruz accepted the challenge. Carlindo, who substituted Sílvio Machado, scored six goals and Santa Cruz won again by 9–0. A subsequent victory over the Western Telegraph Company team, very famous at the time, made the popularity of Santa Cruz increase even more.

The club was almost closed in its very first year. Some members proposed to use the club funds to buy a sugarcane juice extractor. Alexandre Carvalho (see members above) violently disapproved of such an offensive proposal and effectively saved the club. In early 20th century Recife, football was regarded as an elite sport. It was played mostly by upper-class boys and by the workers of English companies that operated in Recife. At that time racism was common and Afro-Brazilians were not allowed to play football. Santa Cruz, however, was the first team in Pernambuco to accept them. Lacraia, was the first one. This fact contributed to the popularity of the team, as black people are numerous in Brazilian population. Campeonato Pernambucano In 1915, there was Brazilian football's greatest comeback.[citation needed] At Aflitos stadium, Santa Cruz was trailing América (Pernambuco), 5–1, but in the bottom 15 minutes of the match the score changed, 6–5. In 1917, the club was accepted into the Pernambucan Sport League, the precursor name of the Pernambucan Football Federation.

On 30 January 1919, Santa Cruz beat Botafogo 3–2 on the Malaquias field. Alberto Santos-Dumont, the airplane pioneer, was in Recife, but was unnoticed: Santa Cruz's victory took everyone's attention. On 31 January, the Jornal Pequeno (Small Newspaper) printed in the headlines: "Botafogo Futebol Clube is beaten by the home boys by 3–2." It was the first time that a northern-northeastern team beat a team from the south-eastern region of Brazil.

On 13 December 1931, Santa Cruz with Tará and Sherlock as the most important contributors successfully pursued its first Campeonato Pernambucano against Torre, 2–0. On 10 October 1934, the Brazil national team, newly home from the 1934 World Cup in Italy, played some friendlies against the major teams of Pernambuco: Sport Recife was defeated 4–2; Náutico was beaten 8–3, and Santa Cruz was defeated 3–1. A ship delay on return to Rio de Janeiro enabled Santa Cruz to equalize the initial loss, 3–2.

Suicidal Tour

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Main article: Suicidal Tour

In 1943, faced with finanical hardship, the club arranged for 5 friendly matches against local-club Transviário Esporte Clube in Belém, Pará to promote Santa Cruz's image and a payday of five million Brazilian réis. Their travel to Belém was marked by fears of attacks by German U-boats, as the tour began during World War II. This resulted in their steamboat, Pará, being escorted by two Brazilian Naval ships and the steamboat having to sail with its lights off.

Fourteen football players, eight standing and six squatting. The fifth standing and the fourth squatting players from the left have been marked with a red cross.
The 1943 Santa Cruz squad. Players marked with a red cross died during the tour.

After the five friendly matches, the club was invited to extend their club tour into Amazonas by Olímpico Clube. This resulted in the team traveling by steamboat up the Amazon River at a speed of ten nautical miles per day, resulting in a two week travel time to reach Manaus. During their stint in Amazonas, the head of the delegation and six players contracted dysentery after their match against Rio Negro, to which those effected recovered before their next matches.

After the matches in Amazonas, the delegation aimed for an international stint in Peru and Guyana, but was blocked by the Brazilian Sports Federation at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for clubs to not leave the country during World War II. Facing a 90-day suspension if they continued on, the delegation gave up and returned to Belém via steamboat. During this return, two of the players, Goalkeeper King and Striker Papeira, were diagnosed with typhoid fever, resulting in hospitalization and, eventually, their deaths.

In total, at least 26[a] matches were played over the course of a 4 month tour, which left two players dead and the club broke again, after paying travel costs and funeral expenses. From this, the club tour became known as the "Suicidal Tour" due to the deaths, difficulties faced, finanical hardship, and the threat of German submarine attacks.

1960s and 1970s

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During the late 1960s and the 1970s, Santa Cruz achieved greater popularity. Much of that was due to the 5 times state championship title achievement (State Penta-championship) of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz's impressive performances in the National championship, expanded awareness of the club's talent beyond the state of Pernambuco.

Santa Cruz in Série A increased awareness about its abilities outside of the state when the club out performed Flamengo in 1965 at Maracanã Stadium, 3–1. The club were having great performances and obtained first place in the National Championship's first stage.

In 1972, Pelé played his 1000th match against Santa Cruz.

In 1975, Santa Cruz reached the semifinals of the Campeonato Brasileiro, a first for a northeastern team. The controversial semi-final against Cruzeiro on 7 December ended with Cruzeiro winning 3–2. The club achieved fourth place, their best performance in the National Championship to date. Santa Cruz went without a match loss in 1977 and 1978 during their successful pursuit of the Brazilian Championship for 35 consecutive seasons, the second greatest title run in the national competition. In 1978, Santa Cruz was the first team to qualify for the 2nd Stage of the National Championship, with 23 points. In the second and third stages, Santa Cruz topped both of their groups, and qualified for the quarterfinals, where they lost to Sport Club Internacional. In the final standings, Santa Cruz finished in fifth.

1980s and 1990s

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During the 1980s, Santa Cruz was relegated to the Second Division of the National Championship twice (1982 and 1989). Since then the club's performance in national competitions has declined.

In the early 1990s, Santa Cruz won three successive state championships: (1990, 1993 and 1995). However, being in the second division of the National Championship often eclipsed such achievements. Moreover, in the following years, Santa Cruz had to share the championship 5 consecutive titles with an arch-rival. Santa Cruz unsuccessfully stopped Sport Recife in their pursuit of a 5th successive championship. Nevertheless, in 1996, Maurício was the top scorer of the 2nd Division Brazilian Championship with 13 goals.

2000–11: Further decline

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Since the final match in the 2006 Campeonato Pernambucano vs. Sport, in which Sport won the championship, the team has experienced a new decline. It was delegated to Second Division in 2006 and then to the Third Division in 2007 after weak campaigns. That latest decline also included eliminations in the first rounds of the Copa do Brasil (2007 and 2009) by weaker teams like Nacional Fast Clube and Americano, that were then playing regional competitions.

Continuing the decline was the downfall into Hexagonal da Morte, the bottom six, in the 2008 Campeonato Pernambucano, narrowly escaping relegation in the seventh match. Also, in September 2008, after another weak campaign in the 2008 Série C, Santa Cruz was relegated to the new Fourth Division for 2009, becoming the first club to fall from First Division to Fourth in three years.

2011–present

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In 2011, Santa Cruz started a reaction. The club was eliminated from the Copa do Brasil in the second phase by São Paulo, but had a respectable performance. Santa Cruz won the first game 1–0, but lost in the second game 2–0. On 15 May, Santa Cruz won the Campeonato Pernambucano, beating Sport Recife. That year, Santa Cruz had the highest attendance average in all Brazilian football, beating teams like Flamengo and Corinthians.[1]

In 2013, Santa Cruz won the Campeonato Pernambucano, and became tricampeao (three-time consecutive champion), beating rivals Sport Recife as they had done in 2011 and 2012 as well.

In May 2016, Santa Cruz won the Copa do Nordeste for the first time in its history, and earned a spot in the 2016 Copa Sudamericana, their first international participation. The team began their campaign in the second stage, beating Sport Recife 1–0 on aggregate. In the third stage, the club was paired up with Colombian club Independiente Medellín. Santa Cruz lost the first leg in Colombia 2–0, but won 3–1 in Recife with a hat-trick from Grafite, although it was not enough and the club was eliminated on away goals.[2] The team also won the Campeonato Pernambuco that year, beating Sport again, as they had done in the previous four finals.

Symbols

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Colors

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The original colors of the club were black and white. However, at that time, the Pernambucan Sport League did not allow the participation of different clubs with the same colors. Thus, the red color was introduced to differentiate from the color pattern of Sport Club Flamengo.

Santa Cruz is also known as O Tricolor (The Tricolor) and its fans as Tricolores.

Badge

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The original badge (not depicted here) was designed by Teófilo Batista de Carvalho aka Lacraia. The inclusion of red colour in the club patterns is also due to Lacraia.

90-years Commemorative badge

As time passed, the badge design was modified and updated. However the Lacraia's original concept was not much modified.

The current badge contains several stars. The top three-colored stars represent the three Super-championships that Santa Cruz won. The bottom golden stars represent the Penta-championship.

Mascot

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With the adoption of three colors, the striped jersey of Santa Cruz resembled a Coral snake. Due to this, the team is known by the fans as Coral.[citation needed]

Anthem

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The official anthem of the club is widely unknown by the fans. However, a march named O Mais Querido (The Dearest One) by Lourenço da Fonseca Barbosa (Capiba) is very popular and is the de facto anthem.[citation needed]

Stadium

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The team's stadium, Estádio José do Rego Maciel, is located in Arruda, a borough of Recife. It is named after a former mayor of Recife. It is widely known as Estádio do Arruda (Arruda Stadium). The fans call it Arrudão (Big Arruda) or Mundão do Arruda (Great Land of Arruda).

On 1 April 1982 the stadium was re-inaugurated after improvements and enlargement. From the original capacity of 64,000 people, the maximum capacity was then estimated at 110,000. However, due to safety reasons, the maximum capacity so far is 90,200, which occurred in a Brazil vs Argentina match on 23 March 1994. Since then the official stadium capacity has been reduced to 60,044.[3]

The stadium is also known as the Repúblicas Independentes do Arruda (Independent Republics of Arruda).

Honours

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National

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Regional

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Inter-state

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State

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  • Campeonato Pernambucano
    • Winners (29): 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1957, 1959, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
  • Copa Pernambuco
    • Winners (5): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2019
  • Torneio Início de Pernambuco
    • Winners (12): 1919, 1926, 1937, 1939, 1946, 1947, 1954, 1956, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976

Friendly tournaments

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  • Marco Antonio Maciel Tournament
    • Winners (1): 1979
  • Vinausteel Tournament
    • Winners (1): 2003
  • Taça Asa Branca
    • Winners (1): 2017

The Super-Championship

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The Pernambucan Football Championship is usually divided into three turns. Each turn is a small championship itself. If a team wins all the three turns then it is automatically declared as champion. If a team wins two turns and another team wins the remaining turn, the championship has a final play-off. Generally, the play-off consists of two matches or three matches. However, if three different teams win each one a turn, the championship has a play-off named the Super-championship. The Super-championship consists of a play-off among the three winners of each turn. Super-championships are rare and very prestigious.

The Blue Ribbon. The Blue Ribbon is a prestigious award given by the Confederation of Brazilian Football (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol – CBF). Teams that go abroad on tour without being defeated are natural candidates for this recognition.

In the Middle East, Santa Cruz played against the national teams of

Santa Cruz also played

  • Al-Aim (0–3)
  • Nasser Sport Club (2–6)
  • Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia (0–3)

In Europe there were two matches. The first was against the Romania national team (2–4), and the second against Paris Saint-Germain (2–2).[citation needed]

Local rivals

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Santa Cruz has two major rivals within the city of Recife:

The rivalry between Santa Cruz and Sport is known as Clássico das Multidões, and the rivalry between Santa Cruz and Náutico is known as Clássico das Emoções.

Current squad

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As of 17 November 2023

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK Brazil BRA Thiago Henrique
— DF Brazil BRA Cristiano
— DF Brazil BRA Jadson
— DF Brazil BRA Ítalo Melo
No. Pos. Nation Player
— FW Brazil BRA Gabriel Cardoso
— FW Brazil BRA Maranhão
— FW Brazil BRA Marcelinho

Idols

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Notable coaches

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Notes

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  1. ^ Some sources state the club played 28 matches over the course of the tour.

References

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  1. ^ "Santa Cruz chega ao fim de 2011 liderando média de público no Brasil". ge.globo.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). 8 December 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Grafite faz três, mas Santa é eliminado da Sul-Americana". Leiaja.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). 28 September 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Arruda" (in Portuguese). Templos do Futebol. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
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