Victory! Santos FC, União strike deal, auction off, CT Rei Pelé stays | OneFootball

Santos supporters have been given more than a special reason to celebrate. And this time, the victory came off the pitch. After nearly a decade of problems, made worse by the threat of having the land where the CT Rei Pelé training center is located put up for auction (a date had even been set), the Santos Futebol Clube board, after long and complex negotiations, reached an agreement with the Federal Government to establish a new concession period for the area. For another 20 years — extendable for another 20 — Peixe will retain the right to use the property.

The paid concession agreement, combined with the installment plan over 120 months for the accumulated amount related to use of the property between 2017 and 2026, was signed on the morning of this Thursday (10/01), at the Palácio do Planalto, in Brasília, during a ceremony attended by the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Santos FC president Marcelo Teixeira, and Eternal Idols Pepe, Clodoaldo, and Serginho Chulapa.

“This is a historic day. Since 2017, we had been facing enormous uncertainty regarding the continuation of the great social work and the development of boys and girls that Santos FC has carried out for so long at CT Rei Pelé. Without a doubt, this is one of the greatest victories we have had in recent years. Only those who followed this closely know the difficulties we faced to keep our training center. Every Santos supporter has reason to celebrate. The peace of mind of keeping CT Rei Pelé with our Club is priceless,” said president Marcelo Teixeira. “I want to thank each and every one of those who, over the past few years, contributed in some way to ensuring a positive outcome. Especially for the task force carried out this year, when we learned that the training center was going to auction and that we ran the risk of losing it. Thanks to these devoted Santos supporters, not only did we prevent that from happening, but we also secured use of the area for a few more decades.”

The story of an achievement – Until 1993, the area where CT Rei Pelé now stands had been granted to the Port Authority of Santos. After intense work by the board, then led by Marcelo Teixeira, the space was transferred to Santos FC. The Club began using the land, located in the Jabaquara neighborhood of Santos, in 1996. And over the last three decades, major infrastructure investments — such as lodging, an athlete recovery center, football fields, stands, and youth academy facilities — transformed the area into one of the leading training centers in Brazilian football. It is also where some of the greatest stars in the world passed through.

The complications began in 2017, when the Federal Assets Office of São Paulo (SPU-SP) notified the Club of the need to regularize its occupation of the area. The difficulty in defining the model of compensation the Club would have to offer, combined with the bureaucracy and complexity that traditionally surround government matters, led to the most difficult moment of the entire process.

Between 2024 and the beginning of this year, the Federal Government initiated and advanced the decision to auction the land, which put the existence of CT Rei Pelé at risk. The process was only halted on June 9, when the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), after several legal measures taken by Santos FC, recommended the suspension of the auction.

The decision allowed not only the resumption of negotiations, but also deeper talks toward a consensual solution, which came this Thursday with the signing of one of the biggest and most important agreements in the Club’s history.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.