São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian professional football club based in the Morumbi district of São Paulo. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo's premier state league, and in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top tier of Brazilian football. Despite being primarily a football club, São Paulo competes in a wide variety of sports. Its home ground is the multipurpose 67,052-seater Estádio do Morumbi, the biggest private-owned field in Brazil. São Paulo is part of the Big Twelve of Brazilian football, South America's biggest worldwide champion — with three world titles, along Boca Juniors, Peñarol, and Nacional — and one of the only two clubs that have never been relegated from Brazil's top division, the other being Flamengo.
Founded in 1930 from a merger between the Club Athletico Paulistano and the Associação Atlética das Palmeiras, the club has used its traditional home kit of a white shirt with two horizontal stripes (one red and one black), white shorts, and white socks since its inception; the color choice was made in honour of its parent-clubs primary colors, and also to represent the colors of the state of São Paulo. Although its main affiliation is with the state and city where it was founded, São Paulo is a national team and the third best-supported club in Brazil, with over 22 million supporters, covering around 9.9% of its population. Their supporters are called são-paulinos and are often nicknamed Torcida que conduz (Supporters who lead), due to their importance in maintaining São Paulo's long lasting relevance in South America's football. São Paulo ranked fifth in Brazil with a market value of R$ 2.214 billion in 2023.
São Paulo is one of the most successful teams in Brazil with 44 official titles, that includes 23 state titles, 1 inter-state title, 6 Campeonato Brasileiro titles, 1 Copa do Brasil title, 1 Supercopa do Brasil title, 3 Copa Libertadores titles, 1 Copa Sudamericana, 1 Supercopa Libertadores, 1 Copa CONMEBOL, 1 Copa Masters CONMEBOL, 2 Recopa Sudamericanas, 2 Intercontinental Cup and 1 FIFA Club World Cup. It is the only club in the country to have won all available titles, earning the nickname "Champions of All", an honour achieved after winning the 2024 Supercopa do Brasil.
All five FIFA World Cups won by Brazil contained at least one São Paulo player, an honour shared with cross-city rivals Palmeiras.
History
1930–1934: Origins: "São Paulo da Floresta" ("São Paulo of the Forest")
São Paulo Futebol Clube was founded on 25 January 1930 by 60 former officials, players, members, and friends of the football clubs Club Athletico Paulistano and Associação Atlética das Palmeiras of São Paulo. Club Athletico Paulistano, founded in 1900 and one of the oldest clubs in town and 11-time champions of São Paulo, abandoned football due to the professionalization of the sport. Associação Atlética das Palmeiras, founded in 1902 and three-time champions of São Paulo, intended after the end of the season 1929 to set up a professional team, but failed to do so.
The jerseys of the new club were derived from Associação Atlética das Palmeiras, which were white and sported a black ring across the chest. To the black-and-white of Associação Atlética das Palmeiras was added the red-and-white of Club Athletico Paulistano, and the ring became red, white, and black.
The Club Athletico Paulistano brought to the union star players Arthur Friedenreich and Araken Patusca. Associação Atlética das Palmeiras' contribution was the stadium Estádio da Floresta, generally known as Chácara da Floresta. In August 1930, São Paulo played a match against the United States national team, which had competed in the Uruguay World Cup, at Chácara da Floresta wearing the uniform of AA das Palmeiras; São Paulo won its first international match 5-3.
Internal arguments and turmoil led to financial problems. The club merged with Clube de Regatas Tietê, another sports club from the town, and the football department was disbanded on 14 May 1935.
1935–1939: The rebirth of São Paulo FC Just after the merger with Tietê, the founders and re-founders created the Grêmio Tricolor, which formed Clube Atlético São Paulo on 4 June 1935, and, finally, São Paulo Futebol Clube on 16 December of the same year.
The new club's first game was against Portuguesa Santista on 25 January 1936. The match was almost cancelled, owing to the city's anniversary, but Porphyrio da Paz, the football director and composer of the club's anthem, obtained permission from the Board of Education Office for the game to continue.
Another merger occurred in 1938, this time with Clube Atlético Estudantes Paulista, from the neighborhood of Moóca, and the club finished as runners-up in the Campeonato Paulista.
1940–1950: "The Steam Roller" In 1940, when the Estádio do Pacaembu was inaugurated, a new era began in São Paulo state football. São Paulo Futebol Clube finished as runners-up once again in the Campeonato Paulista in 1941, and a year later the club paid 200 contos de réis (equivalent to approximately R$162,000 today) to acquire Leônidas from Flamengo. During this period, São Paulo also acquired the Argentinian António Sastre and Brazilians Noronha, José Carlos Bauer, Zezé Procópio, Luizinho, Rui and Teixeirinha. With these new additions, Tricolor became known as the Steam Roller, winning the Paulista championship five times, in 1943, 1945, 1946, 1948 and 1949. The club sold its Canindé training ground to Portuguesa to raise money for their new stadium, the Estádio do Morumbi, for which construction began in 1952.
1951–1957: The dry spell The run of success of the 1940s, came to an end in the early 1950s, and the club only won two state championships in the new decade, in 1953 and 1957. The 1957 championship was won with the help of the 35-year-old Brazilian international Zizinho, and Hungarian manager Béla Guttmann, both of them becoming idols. Guttmann took charge of the team in 1957 and won the São Paulo State Championship that year. While in Brazil he helped popularise the 4–2–4 formation, which was subsequently used by Brazil as they won the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
In the years that followed, the club struggled to compete with the rise of Pelé and his club, Santos. With the construction of the Morumbi stadium still ongoing, São Paulo entered its longest period without a title in its history, which was to last 13 years.
1958–1969: Just the stadium Since São Paulo's budget planning was focused on the Estádio do Morumbi construction rather than the signing of new players, few expensive players were bought during the 1960s, although the club did acquire Brazilian internationals Roberto Dias and Jurandir. In 1960, the Estádio do Morumbi was inaugurated, named after the late Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, the club's chairman during most of the stadium construction. One of the few happy moments for the fans during this period was the 1963 Paulista Championship 4–1 victory against Pelé's Santos.
1970–1979: Campeonato Brasileiro (Brazilian Championship) In 1970, the Estádio do Morumbi was finally completed and the club purchased Gérson from Botafogo, Uruguayan midfielder Pedro Rocha from Peñarol and striker Toninho Guerreiro from Santos. The club was managed by Zezé Moreira, who was the manager of Brazil at the World Cup in 1954, and won the Paulista Championship after beating Guarani 2–1 in the Campinas a week before the end of the competition.
In 1971, the club beat Palmeiras 1–0 with a goal from Toninho Guerreiro in the final to capture another state title. That year saw the inaugural Campeonato Brasileiro, with the club finishing as runners-up to Atlético Mineiro, managed by Telê Santana.
In the following years, São Paulo and Palmeiras gradually overtook Pelé's Santos and Corinthians as the dominant club sides in São Paulo state. In 1972, Palmeiras won the state championship title, only one point ahead of São Paulo, and the following year the clubs finished in the same positions in the Brazilian Championship. In 1974, São Paulo took part in the Copa Libertadores losing in the final to Independiente in a replay.
In 1975, former goalkeeper José Poy took over as manager, and São Paulo won the Paulista Championship after defeating Portuguesa in a penalty shoot-out.
Valdir Peres, Chicão, Serginho Chulapa and Zé Sérgio were the club's most influential players when São Paulo finally secured the Brazilian Championship for the first time in 1977 following a penalty shoot-out victory over Atlético Mineiro at the Mineirão. However, they failed to win another trophy until the reclaimed the Paulista Championship in 1980.
The 1980s: Tricolor decade In the 1980s, São Paulo won four Paulista and one Brazilian titles, helped by the impressive central defensive pair of Oscar and Dario Pereyra. 1980 and 1981, the club won the Paulista Championship in successive seasons for the first time since the 1940s.
In 1985, the head coach Cilinho introduced to the world the Menudos of Morumbi, a team that included Paulo Silas, Müller and Sidney, and the club once again won the Paulista Championship. The main striker was Careca, a centre-forward who also played for Brazil in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The midfield featured Falcão, brought in from Italian club Roma and becoming a big part in winning the Campeonato Paulista in 1985. In 1986, manager Pepe led the club to its second Brazilian Championship title, defeating Guarani in a penalty shoot-out. In 1987, Dario Pereyra left the club, but in that year the Menudos team won its last title, another Paulista title. The so-called Tricolor Decade ended with the 1989 Paulista Championship title and a second-place finish in the Brazilian Championship, when São Paulo lost to Vasco da Gama in the final match.
1990–1995: The Telê Era: Libertadores and Intercontinental Cups
In 1990, after a poor start to the campaign in the Paulista, Telê Santana was hired as the club's coach, and São Paulo went on to finish runners-up in the Brazilian Championship. In 1991, Santana won his first title after winning the Paulista championship.
In 1991, São Paulo won the Brazilian championship after beating Carlos Alberto Parreira's Bragantino, and the club began a period of consistent achievement both nationally and internationally. The following year they reached the Copa Libertadores final, where they faced Newell's Old Boys of Argentina. São Paulo lost the first leg 1–0, but reversed the scoreline in the second leg in Brazil, and then won the competition in the penalty shoot-out to take the title for the first time.
In the same year, in Tokyo the club won its first Intercontinental Cup, beating Johan Cruyff's Barcelona 2–1. After returning to Brazil, the club beat Palmeiras 2–1 to win its 18th state championship title.
In 1993, São Paulo retained the Copa Libertadores, beating Universidad Católica of Chile in the finals 5–3 on aggregate, including a 5–1 first leg win. After the competition, influential midfielder Raí left the club. The Copa Libertadores win allowed the club to play the Recopa Sudamericana that year, beating 1992 Supercopa Libertadores winners and fellow Brazilian side Cruzeiro. The club also won the 1993 Supercopa Libertadores, beating Flamengo on penalties in the final. The Supercopa Libertadores title meant the club has completed an unprecedented CONMEBOL treble (Copa Libertadores, Recopa Sudamericana, Supercopa Libertadores).
São Paulo was able to defend its Intercontinental Cup title again, beating Fabio Capello's Milan 3–2. Müller scored the winning goal in the 86th minute of the match, from an assist by Toninho Cerezo. This meant the club had completed a quadruple.