Palmeiras

Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (Portuguese pronunciation: [pawˈmejɾɐs]) is a Brazilian football club from São Paulo. The club was founded on August 26, 1914, as Palestra Italia (pronounced: [paˌlɛstɾiˈtaliɐ]) but changed to the current name on September 14, 1942. It is one of the most popular and successful Brazilian clubs, with almost 17 million supporters, including a large number of Brazilians of Italian ancestry.

Palmeiras is one of the most successful clubs in Brazilian football. The team has won 11 national competitions, a record in the country. The club's most important titles have been the 8 national league titles (4 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 2 Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa and 2 Taça Brasil) and 3 national cups (2 Copa do Brasil and 1 Copa dos Campeões).[1]

Their international titles include one Copa Libertadores. The team won the competition in 1999, after beating Deportivo Cali of Colombia. In 1951, Palmeiras won the international Copa Rio, known as the first world soccer club tournament, after beating Juventus of Italy. In 1999, the team was declared the Champion of the Century in Brazilian football.[2]
Palmeiras was founded on August 26, 1914, initially as Palestra Italia, by Luigi Cervo, Vicenzo Ragognetti, Luigi Emanuele Marzo and Ezequiel Simone, four Italian men who were members of the Italian community of São Paulo. Its original colors were red, white and green (those of Italy). During the World War II, Brazil entered the war supporting the allies and its dictatorship along with the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) forced Palestra Italia (and also Palestra Italia of Minas Gerais) to change its name because of the reference to Italy. The original badge (a white ornamental "P" in a green shield) is still present in the current one, and the club has used red as a third color (mostly in friendly games during the club's 75th anniversary).

Palestra Italia against Corinthians in the 1920s
[edit] Palestra is born – opening game