Santos Football Club or simply Santos is a South African professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in the Lansdowne, a suburb of the city of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. It plays in the

SAFA Second Division The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African association football, football. The compet ...

History

The club was established in Heideveld on the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats () is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geo ...

in 1982 and was originally known as Lightbodys Santos FC, after its sponsor. During

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, it was renowned for the insistence on non-racial inclusivity, hence its nickname "The People's Team". They played in the Federation Professional League (FPL), the only truly non-racial football body in the country from 1982 to 1990. They won the championship in 1983, 1984, 1986,

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, 1988 and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

before joining the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

. The

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

era began in 1996, with Santos earning promotion to the Premiership for the 1997–98 season. Santos tasted their first success in the new format of the league in 2001–02 when they surprisingly won the title under the mentorship of

Gordon Igesund Gordon Igesund (born 22 July 1956) is a former South African football player and coach who was most recently the manager of Highlands Park in the Premier Soccer League. Early life Igesund was born in Durban to George Norman Igesund (born 193 ...

. This side featured players like

Edries Burton Edries Burton (born 13 December 1968) is a retired South African football (soccer) defender who played professionally for Santos Cape Town, Cape Town Spurs and AmaZulu. Early life He matriculated at Belgravia High School in 1987, Lyle Lak ...

Andre Arendse Andre Leander Arendse (born 27 June 1967) is a South African former soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He now works as an assistant and goalkeeper coach for Supersport United and has also been a co-presenter with SuperSport. Playing c ...

Musa Otieno Musa Otieno (born 29 December 1973 in Nairobi) is a Kenyan former footballer. Career Club Otieno has enjoyed an illustrious career on his native continent, playing for AFC Leopards and Tusker FC in Kenya, and from 1997 until 2011 for Santos ...

and the club's all-time top goalscorer

Jean-Marc Ithier Jean-Marc Ithier (born 15 July 1965 in Rodrigues) is a retired Mauritian footballer. Besides Mauritius, he has played in South Africa. Career Club Football Ithier played for Sunrise Flacq United from 1988 to 1999 and won two trebles in 1991- ...

. With the title win Santos became the first – and to date the only – team that was not a founder-member of the PSL Premiership to win the league. They were also crowned

Bob Save Super Bowl The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's premier club soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of giving lower league and amateur teams a chance ...

winners in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and BP Top 8 winners in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. Santos were relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2011–12 season for the first time in the club's history. After finishing 15th in the league they entered the 2011–12 PSL Playoff Tournament where they were pitted against

Chippa United Chippa United Football Club (often known as Chilli boys or Chippa) is a South African professional football club based in East London in the Eastern Cape province, having previously been based in Nyanga suburb of the city of Cape Town. The club ...

and

Thanda Royal Zulu Thanda Royal Zulu was a South African football club based in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. History The club started after a Swedish consortium that included Sven-Goran Eriksson bought the franchise from Benoni Premier United at the end of the 2 ...

. Heading into their final playoff game Santos needed a win over Chippa United to maintain their Premiership status but they were defeated 4–3 and subsequently relegated, with Chippa United taking their place in the PSL. Santos were relegated from the

National First Division The South African Championship, officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African football after the South African Premiership. Both the South African Championship and ...

at the end of the 2016–17 season. The club now plays in the Western Cape ABC Motsepe League.

Notable former coaches

* David Bright (2008–09) *

Roald Poulsen Roald Poulsen (28 November 1950 – 16 October 2024) was a Danish football manager, who most prominently won the 1989 Danish championship with Odense BK and managed the Zambia national team. Career Poulsen started his coaching career with am ...

(2004) *

(2007–08) *

Mart Nooij Martinus Ignatius "Mart" Nooij (born 3 July 1954) is a Dutch association football, football manager. Career Nooij became a development trainer at the Royal Dutch Football Association. He worked for EVC 1913 in the United States and Kazakhstan. H ...

(2012) *

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading horror author ...

(2000–01, 2005) *

(2001–02) *

Roger De Sa Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...

(2005–07) * Boebie Solomons (2003–04, 2009–11) *

Muhsin Ertugral Muhsin (also spelled Mohsen, Mohsin, Mehsin, or Muhsen, ) is a masculine Arabic given name. The first person known to have the name "Muhsin" was Muhsin ibn Ali, the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatimah bint Muhammad. Islamic term In Arabic, it ...

(2003)

Honours

*Premiership champions: 2001–02 * Bob Save Super Bowl/ABSA Cup winners:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

* FPL League champions: 1983, 1984, 1986,

, 1988,

*FPL Cup winners: 1985, 88, 90 *Challenge Cup Winners: 1988 * BP Top 8 winners:

: 1996–97 (Western Cape Stream)

International

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is a football competition organized by the Indian Football Association, the football governing body in the Indian state of West Bengal. The IFA came into existence in 1893, and was named after the association. The IFA Shield to ...

(

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Act ...

): Fourth oldest club tournament, organized by the

Indian Association Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peopl ...

and played between Indian clubs and other invited ones.

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

: Runners-up

Club records

*Most starts:

409 *Most goals:

70 *Most capped player:

*Most starts in a season: Cassiem Mohamed 44 (1993) *Most goals in a season: Duncan Crowie 19 (1991) *Record victory: 6–0 v Intercity Aces (6/3/99, Bob Save Super Bowl); vs Beau West City (26 February 2005, Absa Cup); vs Cemforce FC (12/3/05, Absa Cup); vs Island FC (11/3/06, Absa Cup) *Record defeat: 1–7 v

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

(19 August 1998, PSL)

League record

Premiership

* 1997–98 – 16th * 1998–99 – 16th * 1999–2000 – 11th * 2000–01 – 5th * 2001–02 – 1st * 2002–03 – 9th * 2003–04 – 6th * 2004–05 – 12th * 2005–06 – 8th * 2006–07 – 10th * 2007–08 – 3rd * 2008–09 – 10th * 2009–10 – 4th *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

– 8th * 2011–12 – 15th (relegated)

National First Division The South African Championship, officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African football after the South African Premiership. Both the South African Championship and ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

– 2nd * 2013–14 – 5th * 2014–15 – 13th * 2015–16 – 11th * 2016–17 – 16th (relegated)

SAFA Second Division The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African association football, football. The compet ...
(Western Cape)

* 2017–18 – 6th * 2018–19 – 8th * 2019–20 – 12th *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

– Did not compete * 2021–22 – 5th (Stream A) *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

– 3rd (Stream A) * 2023–24 – 4th (Stream A) * 2024–25 – 2nd (Stream B)

Notes

References

External links

* {{Premier Soccer League Association football clubs established in 1982 Premier Soccer League clubs Soccer clubs in Cape Town National First Division clubs 1982 establishments in South Africa

History

Notable former coaches

Honours

International

Club records

League record

Premiership

National First Division The South African Championship, officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African football after the South African Premiership. Both the South African Championship and ...

SAFA Second Division The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African association football, football. The compet ... (Western Cape)

Notes

References

External links

SAFA Second Division The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African association football, football. The compet ...
(Western Cape)