Santos Futebol Clube - Stadiums

Stadiums

Soon after its foundation, Santos held their training in a field located in the district of Macuco. As the pitch did not meet the minimum size standards to dispute official matches, Santos played on the "Igreja Coração de Maria" pitch in Ana Costa Avenue. The field, however, was also used by other clubs in town. In 1915, the situation reached its breaking point, when Santos had constant conflicts with other city clubs on when the field could be used, forcing the club to reject several requests for international friendlies. To solve the problem, the leaders began searching for land in the city. On May 31, 1916, a general assembly approved the purchase of an area of 16,500 square meters, in the neighborhood of Vila Belmiro. On October 12 of that year, the inauguration of the Vila Belmiro sports park. The first game was held 10 days later, against Ypiranga for the 1916 Campeonato Paulista which Santos won 2–1. Adolfo Millon Jr. scored the first ever goal on that stadium.

The capacity has changed frequently, peaking at 32,989 in a 0–0 draw between Santos and Corinthians for the 1964 Campeonato Paulista. Since then, there have been a number of reductions due to modernizations. The last change was a new illumination system being installed on January 27, 1998, with an illumnination level of 1200 lux, more than the FIFA minimum recommendation. The Vila Belmiro was one of the venues of the 1949 Copa América, hosted the 1962 Copa Libertadores final and the 1998 Copa CONMEBOL final. It has also hosted a Copa do Brasil final in 2010. Due to its relative-low capacity, Santos has used other stadiums for high-profile matches such as the Estádio Palestra Itália, Pacaembu and Morumbi, all located in São Paulo, and the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. Current Santos President Luis Alvaro Ribeiro and other club directors are agreeing on building a stadium in a city nearby Santos called Cubatao, a stadium for 40,000 people which would become Santos' home field for almost 70% of the games during the season which would increase the team's profit.

In October 2005, the Centro de Treinamento Rei Pelé was inaugurated. Located in the Jabaquara neighborhood, the training ground, one of the most modern in Brazil, includes medical and training facilities for the first team and a hotel, "Recanto dos Alvinegros".

The Centro de Treinamento Meninos da Vila, located in the Saboó neighborhood, constitutes two fields of equal size to the Vila Belmiro and it is intended for the training and development of players. The two fields are named in homage to the revelation of players Diego and Robinho. It was inaugurated in August 2006.