Santos secure 20-year CT Rei Pelé renewal with automatic extension | OneFootball

Santos have renewed the CT Rei Pelé concession for 20 years, with an automatic 20-year extension, in Brasília on Thursday, in a ceremony attended by Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and ministers. Club chief Marcelo Teixeira signed for the Peixe.

According to Diario Do Peixe, the CDRU grants the club legal certainty to keep operating on the site, which remains public property. Santos will pay R$ 100,000 per month under the agreement.

In return, the club will take on social commitments, conservation of the area and further investment in the academy. It recently created the Instituto Leão do Mar to run such initiatives.

Teixeira called it a historic morning, noting the site had lacked regularisation since 2017 and that this affected community work across men’s and women’s football. He also linked the milestone with Pelé’s birthday on 23 October and underlined the club’s wider social role.

Special presidential adviser Junior Bozzella attended alongside club greats Pepe, Clodoaldo and Serginho Chupala. Earlier this year the SPU moved to auction the land, prompting Santos to study financing with Caixa Econômica Federal and others, before the sale was halted on nine June following a recommendation from the Ministério Público Federal (MPF).

Until 1993 the plot belonged to the Port Authority of Santos, then the club began using it in 1996 in Jabaquara. Heavy investment since has turned it into a leading Brazilian training centre, though later boards fell short on some obligations from the 1996 concession.

Source: Diario Do Peixe

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