The Esporte Clube Pinheiros, founded on 7 September 1899, by German immigrants, under the name Sport Club Germânia (Sport Club Germany), is a multi-sports and social club located in the
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian metropolis
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
. The full name of the club is Esporte Clube Pinheiros São Paulo (E.C.P.S.P.). The club's name is commonly abbreviated as E.C. Pinheiros, or E.C.P. It has around 35,000 members, and its terrain comprises 170,000 m² in the well regarded quarter of
Jardim Europa Jardim (Portuguese for "garden") may refer to:
People
* Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese politician and President of the Autonomous Region of Madeira
* José Jardim (born 1973), Curaçaoan politician
* Leonardo Jardim (1974), Portuguese association ...
. The club's assets are valued to be in excess of R$ 350 million.
Historically, Germânia is the fourth oldest football club of Brazil and was part of the first inter club match of the country. Until 1915 the club had won twice the State Championship of São Paulo. Already early tennis grew popular among the club members and the club should become one of the co-founders of the Tennis association of São Paulo. Football was basically abandoned with the advent of the professionalization of the sport in the 1930s. During the course of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the club abandoned references to its German origin and in 1941 was renamed to Pinheiros.
In later years water polo was very popular. In the 1970s
João Carlos de Oliveira
João Carlos de Oliveira, also known as "João do Pulo" (May 28, 1954May 29, 1999) was a Brazilian athlete who competed in the triple jump and the long jump.
Born in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo De Oliveira won two Olympic bronze medals. His perso ...
from Pinheiros held the world record in the
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
. In more recent times the club has joined the national elite in basketball and volleyball, in the former even winning international titles.
César Cielo
César Augusto Cielo Filho (, born 10 January 1987) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint events. He is the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history, having obtained three Olympic medals, winning six individual World ...
won Olympic gold in swimming.
History
Sport Club Germânia (S.C. Germânia) was one of the clubs which established
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
in Brazil, and was one of the clubs which participated in 1899, in the first inter-club match, and in 1902, in the first championship match of the country. Germânia was twice the winner of the state championship of São Paulo, the
Campeonato Paulista
The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...
. The eminent player of the early days of the club was Hermann Friese, considered the first football player personality of Brazil.
Arthur Friedenreich
Arthur Friedenreich (18 July 1892 – 6 September 1969) was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He was nicknamed ''The Tiger'' or ''The Original "Black" Pearl'', and was arguably the sport's first outstanding mixed-race ...
, the first great star of Brazilian football, and widely acknowledged as one of the all-time greats of the sport, commenced his career at Germânia in 1909.
After abandoning football in the early 1930s, due to the professionalization of the game, the club successfully transformed itself to a universal sports club. Already in 1932, the water sports department sent its first representative to the Olympic Games. Many more athletes from the club since represented Brazil in major international sports events, and swimmers like
Gustavo Borges
Gustavo França Borges (born December 2, 1972) is a Brazilian former competitive swimmer. He swam for Brazil in the Summer Olympic Games in: 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Borges has won the second-most Olympic medals of any Brazilian, with fouron ...
and
César Cielo
César Augusto Cielo Filho (, born 10 January 1987) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint events. He is the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history, having obtained three Olympic medals, winning six individual World ...
are among the club's Olympic medal winners. The
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
and
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
teams play in the national top divisions, and the swimmers continue their dominance in Brazil. Beyond this, Pinheiros has departments for many more modalities, such as
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...
,
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
, and
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
.
Since its merger with the ''Gesellschaft Germania'', a social club of German immigrants, in the early 1940s, to form the Esporte Clube Pinheiros, named after the river
Rio Pinheiros
The Pinheiros River ( pt, Rio Pinheiros) is a most rectified inverted polluted water original sinuous course, today tributary of the Tietê River that runs through the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Until 1920, the river was together the river ''Jur ...
, flowing close by its seat, the club has also developed as a meeting place and venue for cultural events. These days, thousands of visitors pass daily through the club's restaurants, bars, and other facilities. Top stars of the Brazilian entertainment industry, like
Daniela Mercury
Daniela Mercury (born Daniela Mercuri de Almeida on July 28, 1965) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, actress and television host. In her solo career, Mercury has sold over 20 million records worldwide and had 24 Top 10 single ...
and
Jorge Ben Jor
Jorge Duílio Lima Menezes (born March 22, 1939) is a Brazilian popular musician, performing under the stage name Jorge Ben Jor since the 1980s, though commonly known by his former stage name Jorge Ben (). His characteristic style fuses samba, ...
have performed in the club's auditorium, which at its opening in 1957, was the largest of its kind in South America. Also classical music and theatrical plays are regularly on the schedule. Further facilities of the club include a kindergarten, library, and the ''Centro Pró-Memória Hans Nobiling'', which comprises a museum displaying trophies and other memorabilia from the club's rich history, as well as the archives.
Activities
Basketball
In the 2005–06 season, EC Pinheiros participated for the first time in the professional first division of Brazilian basketball, but then failed to qualify for the single league that resulted from the merging of the conferences. In the 2008–09 season, Pinheiros joined the new top Brazilian league, called the
Novo Basquete Brasil
Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB) (English: New Basketball Brazil) is the Brazilian premier professional men's basketball league. It is organized by the Liga Nacional de Basquete (LNB) (National Basketball League), in a new format of Brazil's previous t ...
, under the sponsored name ''Pinheiros/Sky''. The team plays at the ''Ginásio Poliesportivo Henrique Villaboim'', on the club's grounds in Jardim Europa.
In 2013, the team won its first international title, the most important competition of the Americas, the
FIBA Americas League
The FIBA Americas League (Portuguese: ''FIBA Liga das Américas'', Spanish: ''FIBA Liga de las Américas''), officially abbreviated as the LDA, was the premier intercontinental basketball club competition played annually by clubs of the entire Am ...
, and thus qualified to play at the 2013 edition of the
FIBA Intercontinental Cup
The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional basketball clubs competition that is endorsed by FIBA and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has be ...
, where it lost the series against the EuroLeague champions
Olympiacos
Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...
, of the
Greek Basket League
The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...
.
Handball
EC Pinheiros is a recognized powerhouse in Brazilian handball, winning the Paulista Championship 30 times including the 2016 edition, the National League 6 times the last time being the 2015 edition and the Pan American Championship twice including the 2017 edition.
The women's team is achieving success recently, winning the 2016 National League.
Judo
At the Olympic Games 1984 in Los Angeles
Douglas Vieira
Douglas Vieira (born June 17, 1960) is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic medalist. Among his best sporting achievements is his silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), oft ...
won silver and thus the first Olympic medal for the
judoka
is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
of Pinheiros. In 2008
Leandro Guilheiro
Leandro Marques Guilheiro (born August 7, 1983) is a Brazilian male judoka. He won the bronze medal in the lightweight (<73 kg) division at the
won a bronze medal in
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...
in the −73 kg class. In London 2012 Rafael Silva won the first bronze medal of the +100 kg category in judo – the tenth Olympic medal in the club's history.
Swimming
The swimming section from Pinheiros is leading in Brazil. It has won a record 13 times the two main competitions in Brazil, the
Maria Lenk Trophy
The Brazil Swimming Trophy (Formerly: Maria Lenk Trophy) is a Brazilian competition played by teams in individual and relay swimming events. It is also known as the Brazilian Open Summer Championship and / or Brazilian Open Long Course Pool Champ ...
and the
José Finkel Trophy
The José Finkel Trophy is a Brazilian competition played by teams in individual and relay swimming events. It is also known as the Brazilian Open Winter Championship and / or the Brazilian Open Short Course Pool Championship, despite being spora ...
.
Manuel dos Santos won 100 m freestyle bronze at the Olympics 1960 in Rome. Freestyle swimmer
Gustavo Borges
Gustavo França Borges (born December 2, 1972) is a Brazilian former competitive swimmer. He swam for Brazil in the Summer Olympic Games in: 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Borges has won the second-most Olympic medals of any Brazilian, with fouron ...
won silver and bronze medals in the Olympics of 1992, 1996 and 2000.
Cesar Cielo won short distance freestyle gold and bronze in 2008 in Beijing.
Tennis
By 1903, SC Germânia already had its first two tennis courts. In his later years, founding president Hans Nobiling became an enthusiastic tennis player and the club's interest in tennis grew dramatically. In 1924, SC Germânia won the State's top tennis club honor, the "Taça Brasil", or the Brazil Cup. The club was one of the founders of the state association "Federação Paulista de Tênis." By 1949, the now EC Pinheiros had 14 courts and was the largest tennis facility in Brazil. Today, EC Pinheiros has 24 courts, two of which are covered for play during inclement weather. Several times, the club has served as the host of matches for the
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
, i.e. – Brazil v. India in 2010. The club's facilities also have served as venue for the
Banana Bowl
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...
, a
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
-event for junior players between 16 and 18 years of age.
In 1956, Ingrid Metzner from EC Pinheiros, then aged 19, was the first female Brazilian participant at the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
.
In 2007, the club's tennis association had 3,000 members.
Volleyball
Brazil is a leading country in volleyball, and the ladies volleyball department is playing in Brazil's first division, the '' Superliga''. In 2010, the men's team played with their sponsored name as ''Pinheiros/Sky'', but the men's team is not active currently. The ladies formed a union with Mackenzie University, and therefore played as
Pinheiros/Mackenzie
Esporte Clube Pinheiros, abbreviated as E.C. Pinheiros, is the professional women's volleyball team from the multi-sports club from the same name, based in São Paulo, São Paulo (state), Brazil.
Current squad
Squad for the season 2018–2019
...
.
Track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
was practically right from the beginning part of SC Germânia. Hermann Friese, who was German Champion over 1500 metres in 1902 and joined Germânia in 1903 was in 1907 Brazil's sole representative at an international tournament in
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
where he won two competitions and finished second in a third one. In 1924 Germânia was co-founder of the state athletics association ''Federação Paulista de Atletismo''. By the end of the 1930s the club had a 70 strong group of athletes and dominated track and field in Brazil. Apart from many South-American records it held almost all national records.
At the Games in 1932 in Los AngelesLúcio de Castro became the first athlete from EC Pinheiros to participate at Olympic Games. In the
pole vault
Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...
he cleared 3,90 metres and finished sixth.
João Carlos de Oliveira
João Carlos de Oliveira, also known as "João do Pulo" (May 28, 1954May 29, 1999) was a Brazilian athlete who competed in the triple jump and the long jump.
Born in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo De Oliveira won two Olympic bronze medals. His perso ...
won
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
1975 Pan American Games
The 1975 Pan American Games were held in Mexico City, Mexico, from October 12 to October 26, 1975, exactly twenty years after the second Pan American Games were held there. It was the third major sporting event held in the Mexican capital in seve ...
in Mexico he won the
long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...
with 8.19 metres and surpassed the triple jump world record of
Viktor Saneyev
Viktor Danilovich Saneyev (russian: Виктор Данилович Санеев; ka, ვიქტორ სანეევი, Vikt’or Saneevi; 3 October 1945 – 3 January 2022) was a Georgian triple jumper who competed internationally for ...
by 45 centimetres reaching 17.89 metres. This mark held for almost six years, when the US-American
Willie Banks
William Augustus Banks III (born March 11, 1956) is an American athlete. Born at Travis Air Force Base, California, he grew up in San Diego County and went to Oceanside High School. Banks is an Eagle Scout.
Track and Field
Banks was a track & ...
extended it to 17.97 which should stand for ten years. 18 metres should not be exceeded before mid 1995.
Lately the club's athletes lined-up as ''EC Pinheiro/Asics''.
Fabiano Peçanha
Fabiano Peçanha (born June 5, 1982 in Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul) is a Brazilian middle distance runner. He is a quadruple South American champion in 800 metres and 1500 metres. Peçanha studied at the Lutheran University of Brazil and represe ...
, 2009 South-American champion over 800 metres, and
Sabine Heitling
Sabine Letícia Heitling (born 2 July 1987, in Santa Cruz do Sul) is Brazilian athlete specializing in the 3000 metres steeplechase.
Biography
Heitling's personal best in the event is 9:41.22 achieved in 2009 in London. This was the Brazilia ...
, in the same year continental champion over
3000 metres steeplechase
The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field. It is an obstacle race over the distance of the 3000 metres, which derives its name from the h ...
, belong to the most successful athletes of the club in more recent years.
Water polo
Water polo has been played at EC Pinheiros since 1949. Soon players from the club were also selected to play in the national team, and represent Brazil at the Olympic Games and many other international events, such as the
1963 Pan American Games
The 1963 Pan American Games were held from April 20 to May 5, 1963, in São Paulo, Brazil.
Host city selection
For the first time, two cities submitted bids to host the 1963 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports O ...
, which was won by Brazil. After winning the Brazilian Cup in 2004, Pinheiros also won the first edition of the national league, the ''Liga Nacional de Pólo Aquático'' in 2008. E.C. Pinheiros '', Liga Nacional de Pólo Aquático (2010)
Honours
Football
*
Campeonato Paulista
The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...