Santos Football Club or simply Santos, also officially known under their sponsored title as Engen Santos, is a South African professional soccer club based in the

Lansdowne Lansdowne or Lansdown may refer to: People * Lansdown Guilding (1797–1831), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines naturalist and engraver *Fenwick Lansdowne (1937–2008), Canadian wildlife artist * George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne (1666–1735) ...

, a suburb of the city of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. It plays in the

SAFA Second Division The ABC Motsepe League, previously known as the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 ...

History

The club was established in

Heideveld Heideveld is a town or suburb in the Athlone part of Cape Town, South Africa. Heideveld got its name due to the fact that the area used to have large grazing grounds (or field which translates to "Veld" in Afrikaans) where a popular flower "Hei ...

on the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats ( af, Die Kaapse Vlakte) 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 lie ...

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

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

, 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 1983/4/6/7/8/90 before joining the National Soccer League. The NSL became the PSL in 1996, with Santos earning promotion to the new league 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 Laka ...

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 ...

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 i ...

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 Ithier joined South Africa Premier Soccer League club Engen Santos from the Mauritian club Sunrise Flac ...

. With the title win Santos became the first – and to date the only – team that was not a founder-member of the PSL 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 and BP Top 8 winners in 2002. Santos were relegated from the PSL 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 Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province, having previously being based in Nyanga suburb of the city of Cape Town. The club' ...

and Thanda Royal Zulu. Heading into their final playoff game Santos needed a win over Chippa United to maintain their PSL 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 National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club football after the South African Premier Division. Both the NFD and South Afr ...

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 (born 28 November 1950) is a Danish association football manager, who most prominently won the 1989 Danish championship with Odense BK and managed the Zambia national football team. Poulsen started his coaching career with amateur ...

(2004) *

(2007–08) * Mart Nooij (2012) *

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

(2000–01, 2005) *

(2001–02) *

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

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

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

(2003)

Honours

*PSL Champions: 2001–02 *ABSA Cup Winners: 2003 *FPL League Champions: 1983, 84, 86, 87, 88, 90 *FPL Cup Winners: 1985, 88, 90 *Challenge Cup Winners–: 1988 *Bob Save Super Bowl Winners: 2001 *BP Top 8 Winners: 2002

International

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

: (2008)

International

(

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 Ac ...

): Fourth oldest club tournament, organized by the

Indian Association Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and played between Indian clubs and other invited ones.

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: 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 Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football ...

(19 August 1998, PSL)

Premier Soccer League record

* 2011/

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

– 15th (relegated) * 2010/ 2011 – 8th * 2009/ 2010 – 4th *

/ 2009 – 10th * 2007/

– 3rd * 2006/ 2007 – 10th * 2005/ 2006 – 8th * 2004/ 2005 – 12th * 2003/ 2004 – 6th * 2002/ 2003 – 9th * 2001/ 2002 – 1st *

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

/ 2001 – 5th *

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

– 11th *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

– 16th *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

– 16th

Club officials/Technical team

*Chairman: Goolam Allie *Coach: Tony De Nobrega *Assistant Coach: Kamaal Sait *Marketing & Media Officer: Illhaam Dramat *Goalkeeper coach: Nigel Dixon

Shirt sponsor & kit manufacturer

* Shirt sponsor: Goolam Sports * Kit manufacturer: Winner

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