Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras

Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras is a Brazilian football team from São Paulo, Brazil, founded on August 26, 1914 as Palestra Itália, but changed to the current name on September 14, 1942.

History

Foundation and Name

Palmeiras was founded by the Italian-speaking community of São Paulo and was initially named Società Palestra Italia. Its original colors were red, white and green (those of Italy). The name change occurred during World War II. Brazil entered the war supporting the allies and its dictatorship forced Palestra Italia to change its name because of the reference to Italy. The original badge (a white ornamental "P" in a shield) is still present in the current one and the club has used red as a third colour (mostly in friendship games during the club's 75th anniversary).

Related Topics:
São Paulo - World War II - Allies - Italy

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Several other clubs whose names alluded to enemy foreign countries either disappeared (like Germania) or were renamed during the same period. Another Brazilian club that was once also called Palestra Italia is Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

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Ups and Downs

The club has had a rather irregular history alternating between periods of intense success and failure. In the 1960s and early 1970s, for instance, the club collected honours, played several times the Libertadores Cup and won the Campeonato Brasileiro twice (1972/73). Then it faced more than fifteen years without winning anything important until, in 1992, the club signed with the Italian group Parmalat a sponsorship deal that lasted for eight years and made it the richest Brazilian club. During the Parmalat era, started in 1992, when Palmeiras won a Brazilian Championship's match face Cruzeiro (2-0), Palmeiras won the Brazilian Championship twice (1992/93), the Brazilian Cup (1998), the Mercosur Cup (1998) and the Libertadores Cup (1999) which, along with the 1972/73 championships and Rio Cup (1951) are the club's most important honours.

Related Topics:
Libertadores Cup - Campeonato Brasileiro - Parmalat

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Parmalat sponsorship ended in 2000 and left the club in dire straits. After a mildly irregular season in 2001 - the most important result was a Libertadores cup semifinals - the club faced its worst year ever in 2002 and was relegated to the Second Division, which it won the next year, 16 points ahead Botafogo (runners-up), coming back to First Division in 2004. Since its comeback the club is raising again.

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Stadium

Palmeiras plays at the Palestra Itália stadium (also nicknamed Parque Antártica because the area was a park built by Antartica Paulista Company in the begining of the last century). The venue has seats for 32,500 but usually seats only 30,000 for security reasons(fights among fans from different team can get violent, and the police has had to intervene in the past). Matches against Sao Paulo or Corinthians, however, are played in São Paulo's Morumbi stadium. The club has recently signed a deal with the local light company, Eletropaulo, to improve its lighting system.

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