Soccer Betting - Campeonato Brasileiro Série C
History - Facts - Teams - Winners
Santa Cruz (PE)
Santa Cruz Futebol Clube, or Santa Cruz, is located in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Eleven teenagers played soccer near the Santa Cruz Church and on February 3, 1914 they founded the team and named it after the church, at the time they were also known as the team of boys. Its original colors were black and white; later on red was added to avoid confusion with another local team.
Their first match was played at Derby plains against Rio Negro where Santa Cruz won 7-0. The opposite team asked for a rematch excluding Sílvio Machado who scored 5 goals in the first game, despite the fact they still won 9-0 and their first two games made the teams popularity grow.
In the beginning of the 20th century Recife, football was regarded as an elite sport and was mostly played by upper class men and by the workers of English companies that operated in Recife. Racism was very common and Afro-Brazilians were not allowed to play soccer. Santa Cruz, however, was the first team in Pernambuco to accept them.
A gamed played in 1915, marked one the greatest for the team and in Brazil’s history. At the Aflitos stadium, Santa Cruz was loosing 5-1 against América and pulled off an amazing comeback in the last 15 minutes scoring 6 goals. In 1917, the club was accepted into the Pernambucan Sport League, formally the Pernambucan Football Federation.
On January 30, 1919, Santa Cruz beat Botafogo by 3-2, becoming the first northern-northeastern team to beat a team from the south-southern region of Brazil and on December 13, 1931, Santa Cruz won its first state championship.
In 1975, Santa Cruz was the first team to classify for the semifinals of the Brazilian National Championship.
Thru 1978 and 1979, Santa Cruz was undefeated for 48 consecutive games in the Brazilian Championship becoming the fourth greatest unbeaten record in the national competition.
In 1982 and 1989, Santa Cruz was demoted to the Second Division of the National Championship. Their stadium is Estádio José do Rego Maciel, however, it is widely known as Estádio do Arruda (Arruda Stadium) and is the 4th biggest privately owned stadium in the world.
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