Santos Academy

On 14th April, 1912, two most notable events happened. While one of them was a tragedy (the sinking of the Titanic), the other was a total blessing. As the crème de la crème work of engineering was on its way to the ground of the Atlantic Ocean, an equally stellar enterprise was coming to birth, somewhere in a rather obscure city of Santos. That enterprise was Santos Football Club. Against all the odds, the club would develop into one of most popular brands in the football world.

With a conservative climate and a relatively far much small population, Santos, would not be in a position to compete with ’big boys’ like Sao Paulo, Palmeiras, or Corinthians. However, thanks to its youth system, the club is able compete favourably with these local rivals. From Coutinho and Pepe to Robinho and Neymar Junior, the academy’s roll-call of talents is amazing. However, this entry would be incomplete without Pele, the crown jewel who redefined football to mean the ’beautiful game.’ Football fans today talk of Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but those who watched Pele will tell you that he was in his own world. Surely, a football academy that has produced one of the finest footballers deserves to be described as one of the best.