Santa Cruz Futebol Clube facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Santa Cruz

Full name	Santa 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)
Founded	3 February 1914; 111 years ago (1914-02-03)
Stadium	Estádio do Arruda
Ground Capacity	60,044
President	Antônio Luiz Neto
Head coach	Felipe Conceição
League	Campeonato Brasileiro Série D Campeonato Pernambucano
2022 2022	Série D, 16th of 64 Pernambucano, 3rd of 10
Home colors Away colors

Estádio do Arruda

Santa Cruz Futebol Clube is a professional football team from Recife, Pernambuco, in Brazil. They play in the Campeonato Pernambucano, which is the top football league in their state. They also used to play in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série D, which is the fourth level of Brazilian football.

History of Santa Cruz Football Club

How Santa Cruz Started

On February 3, 1914, eleven young boys, aged 14 to 16, decided to create a football club. They often played football on the streets near the Santa Cruz Church. Because of this, they named their new club "Santa Cruz Foot-Ball Club." The church is located on Santa Cruz Street in Recife. In their first meeting, they chose who would play which position and decided on the club's colors.

The first colors of the club were black and white. Later, they changed them because another local team, Sport Club Flamengo, already used those colors. So, they added the color red. This idea came from Teófilo Batista de Carvalho, also known as Lacraia. Lacraia was a very important person in Santa Cruz's early days, even though he wasn't there when it was founded.

Many people came to watch Santa Cruz's first game. The "team of boys," as they were called, won against Rio Negro by a score of 7–0. Rio Negro wanted a rematch. They even said that Sílvio Machado, who scored five goals in the first game, couldn't play. Santa Cruz still accepted the challenge! Carlindo, who played instead of Sílvio Machado, scored six goals. Santa Cruz won again, this time 9–0. After beating the famous Western Telegraph Company team, Santa Cruz became even more popular.

The club almost closed down in its very first year. Some members wanted to use the club's money to buy a sugarcane juice machine! Alexandre Carvalho strongly disagreed. He saved the club from closing. In the early 1900s in Recife, football was mostly for rich people or workers from English companies. At that time, racism was common, and Black people were not allowed to play football. But Santa Cruz was the first team in Pernambuco to welcome them. Lacraia was the first Black player. This made the team very popular, as many people in Brazil are Black.

Early Championships and Big Games

In 1915, Santa Cruz made an amazing comeback in a game. At Aflitos stadium, they were losing 5–1 to América (Pernambuco). But in the last 15 minutes, they scored five goals and won 6–5! In 1917, the club joined the Pernambucan Sport League, which later became the Pernambucan Football Federation.

On January 30, 1919, Santa Cruz beat Botafogo 3–2. This was a huge win because Botafogo was a strong team from the southeastern part of Brazil. It was the first time a team from the north or northeast of Brazil beat a team from the southeast. The next day, a newspaper headline read: "Botafogo Futebol Clube is beaten by the home boys by 3–2."

On December 13, 1931, Santa Cruz won its first Campeonato Pernambucano title. They beat Torre 2–0, with Tará and Sherlock being key players. In 1934, the Brazilian national team, after playing in the World Cup in Italy, played friendly games in Pernambuco. They beat Sport Recife 4–2 and Náutico 8–3. Santa Cruz lost to them 3–1. But because the national team's ship was delayed, Santa Cruz got a chance for a rematch and won 3–2!

Santa Cruz in the 1960s and 1970s

Santa Cruz became much more popular in the late 1960s and 1970s. This was partly because they won the state championship five times in a row, which is called a Penta-championship.

Their great games in the National Championship also made more people outside of Pernambuco notice the club. In 1965, Santa Cruz beat Flamengo 3–1 at Maracanã Stadium. They even finished first in the first part of the National Championship that year.

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

In 1975, Santa Cruz made history by reaching the semifinals of the Brazilian Championship. This was the first time a team from the northeast had done this. They lost a close and debated semifinal game to Cruzeiro 3–2. Santa Cruz finished in fourth place, which is still their best result in the National Championship.

From 1977 to 1978, Santa Cruz had an amazing run without losing a single match for 35 games in the Brazilian Championship. This is the second-longest unbeaten streak in the competition's history. In 1978, Santa Cruz was the first team to qualify for the second stage of the National Championship. They won their groups in the second and third stages, reaching the quarterfinals. They lost to Sport Club Internacional but finished fifth overall.

From the 1980s to Today

In the 1980s, Santa Cruz was moved down to the Second Division of the National Championship twice. After this, their performance in national games became less strong.

In the early 1990s, Santa Cruz won three state championships in a row (1990, 1993, and 1995). However, being in the Second Division often overshadowed these wins. In 1996, Maurício was the top scorer in the Second Division with 13 goals.

Santa Cruz faced more challenges in the 2000s. In 2006, they were moved down to the Second Division, and then to the Third Division in 2007. In 2008, they even went down to the new Fourth Division. This made them the first club to drop from the First Division to the Fourth in just three years.

However, Santa Cruz started to make a comeback in 2011. They won the Campeonato Pernambucano by beating their rival Sport Recife. That year, Santa Cruz had the highest average attendance of any football team in Brazil, even more than famous teams like Flamengo.

In 2013, Santa Cruz won the Campeonato Pernambucano again, becoming "tricampeao" (three-time consecutive champion). They beat Sport Recife in the finals, just like in 2011 and 2012.

In May 2016, Santa Cruz won the Copa do Nordeste for the first time! This win also gave them a spot in the 2016 Copa Sudamericana, which was their first time playing in an international tournament. They won the Campeonato Pernambuco again that year, beating Sport in the finals for the fourth time in a row.

Club Symbols

Colors

The club's first colors were black and white. But the Pernambucan Sport League didn't allow different clubs to have the same colors. So, the color red was added to make Santa Cruz's colors unique from Sport Club Flamengo.

Santa Cruz is also known as O Tricolor (The Three-Colored One), and its fans are called Tricolores.

Badge

The first badge was designed by Teófilo Batista de Carvalho, also known as Lacraia. He was also the one who suggested adding the red color to the club's patterns.

90-years Commemorative badge

Over time, the badge design was updated. But Lacraia's original idea for the badge has mostly stayed the same.

The current badge has several stars. The three colored stars at the top show the three Super-championships that Santa Cruz won. The golden stars at the bottom represent their Penta-championship (winning five state titles in a row).

Mascot

When Santa Cruz adopted its three colors, their striped jersey looked like a Coral snake. Because of this, fans often call the team Coral.

Anthem

Most fans don't know the club's official anthem very well. However, a popular march called O Mais Querido (The Dearest One) by Lourenço da Fonseca Barbosa (Capiba) is often played and is like the club's unofficial anthem.

Home Stadium

The team's stadium is in Arruda, a neighborhood in Recife. Its official name is Estádio José do Rego Maciel, named after a former mayor of Recife. But most people know it as Estádio do Arruda (Arruda Stadium). Fans sometimes call it Arrudão (Big Arruda) or Mundão do Arruda (Great Land of Arruda).

On April 1, 1982, the stadium was reopened after being improved and made bigger. Its original capacity was 64,000 people. After the changes, it could hold up to 110,000. However, for safety reasons, the largest crowd it has held is 90,200. This happened during a game between Brazil and Argentina on March 23, 1994. Since then, the official stadium capacity has been set at 60,044.

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

Club Achievements

National Titles

• Campeonato Brasileiro Série B
  • Second Place (3): 1999, 2005, 2015
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série C
  • Winners (1): 2013
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série D
  • Second Place (1): 2011

Regional Titles

• Copa do Nordeste
  • Winners (1): 2016
• Torneio Hexagonal Norte-Nordeste
  • Winners (1): 1967

State Titles

• 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

Special Championships

• The Super-Championship.

The Pernambucan Football Championship usually has three parts, called turns. Each turn is like a small championship. If one team wins all three turns, they are automatically the champions. If two different teams win turns, they play a final game. But if three different teams each win one turn, they play a special championship called the Super-championship. This is a play-off among the three turn winners. Super-championships are rare and very important.

• The Blue Ribbon.

The Blue Ribbon is a special award given by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). Teams that travel to other countries for games and don't lose any matches can receive this award.

Santa Cruz went on a tour to the Middle East and played against national teams from:

• Kuwait (winning one game and tying another)
• Bahrain (winning)
• Qatar (winning both games)
• Dubai (one of the Arab Emirates) (winning)
• Abu Dhabi (one of the Arab Emirates) (winning)

Santa Cruz also played and won against:

• Al-Aim
• Nasser Sport Club
• Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia

In Europe, they played two matches. They won against the Romania national team and tied with Paris Saint-Germain.

Local Rivals

Santa Cruz has two main rival teams in the city of Recife:

• Sport Recife
• Náutico

The games between Santa Cruz and Sport are known as Clássico das Multidões, which means "Classic of the Crowds." The games between Santa Cruz and Náutico are called Clássico das Emoções, or "Classic of Emotions."

Current Players

Here are some of the players currently on the Santa Cruz team:

No. Position Player GK Thiago Henrique DF Cristiano DF Jadson DF Ítalo Melo

No. Position Player FW Gabriel Cardoso FW Maranhão FW Marcelinho

Club Idols

Many great players have been part of Santa Cruz's history. Here are some of the club's most famous idols:

Famous Coaches

Many talented coaches have led Santa Cruz over the years. Here are some of the notable ones:

See also

In Spanish: Santa Cruz Futebol Clube para niños