The Santos Futebol Clube Reserves and Academy consist of the reserve and academy teams of Santos FC. Its main goal is to discover talented young players who has future potential to play for Santos' first team.
Structure
Santos Futebol Clube is responsible for over 100 young athletes in 5 different categories: U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17, U-20. These athletes stay in two modern dormitories, located inside Urbano Caldeira Stadium, with living room, recreation room and cafeteria. The athletes also have medical, dental and psychological assistance. The club’s physical development program is a pioneer within Brazilian soccer.[1]
The club developed the Centro de Desenvolvimento à Performance ao Futebol (Center of Football Performance Development) to set a pattern in physical preparation for all youth teams. This project starts with boys over six years old and covers 270 young athletes.
The gymnasium used by youth teams is located on the third floor at Vila Belmiro Stadium, and it is equipped with technology similar to that available for Santos’ first team. Education is valued by the team, leading it to create the Centro de Estudos Luiza Neófiti (Luiza Neófiti Study Center) adjacent to the gym.[2]
In 2003, with the club finishing second, another academy products appeared regularly with the first team. As Robinho, Alex, André Luís, Paulo Almeida and Diego were already starters, Jerri was the newcomer more regularly used during the year, mainly as a substitute.
In 2004 – another season of success – Domingos, Leonardo and Luís Augusto appeared regularly and were the main youth graduates of the year. After a vast majority of the players left the club and moved to Europe (the most notable sale was Robinho's to Real Madrid in 2005), the club struggled to produce any notable graduates in the following three years.
In the 2010 season's astronomic campaign, Santos had Neymar, Ganso, André, Alan Patrick, Rafael and Robinho as their notable youth graduates (despite the latter and André left in June). In the following two years, the club saw the emergence of Neymar as a rising star and also saw some youth graduates like Felipe Anderson and Victor Andrade stepping up and becoming first-team regulars for the side.
In 2015, the club's youth graduates again appeared strongly in the main squad, with Daniel Guedes, Zeca and Thiago Maia becoming regulars, mainly under Dorival Júnior. In 2016, the first graduates from the B-team started to appear in the main squad, with Lucas Veríssimo, Ronaldo Mendes and Vitor Bueno being the players more regularly used. Although Ronaldo left in the summer, Bueno was elected the Newcomer of the year's Brasileirão after scoring ten goals.
During the 2017 season, the promoted players from the under-20s were Arthur Gomes and Matheus Oliveira, while Yan and Thaciano came from the B-side; none of them were regularly used, however. Late in the season, prospects like Yuri Alberto and Rodrygo went straight to the main squad from the under-17s.
In 2018, Rodrygo came into prominence after becoming a regular starter for the club. Youth graduates like Robson Bambu, Gabriel Calabres, Guilherme Nunes and Matheus Guedes were all promoted from the under-20s, while Diego Pituca came from the B-team. Another youth team players like Victor Yan, Lucas Lourenço and Emerson featured on the bench for some matches, but were later demoted back to their youth sides. Late in the year, Kaio Jorge, a forward from the under-17s, was promoted to the first team.
On 16 October 2018, Santos' board opted to cease the activity of the B-team for the 2019 season.[3] During the 2019 campaign, the youth setup had little protagonism in the first team's performance, with only Gustavo Henrique, Lucas Veríssimo and Alison featuring regularly; all of them, however, were already involved in the main squad in the past seasons. Wagner Leonardo and Tailson were the only youth graduates to make their first team debuts in that season.
For the 2020 season under Jesualdo Ferreira, more youth graduates were involved in the first team routines, with Kaio Jorge establishing himself as a regular and Renyer making his first team debut. Jesualdo also promoted Ivonei, Anderson Ceará and Alex, while also taking Marcos Leonardo up for trainings.
Only players who made their senior debuts for Santos in the 21st century are listed;
Note: Academy graduates who still play for Santos, including those that are currently out on loan to other clubs, are highlighted in green. Players who have appeared for another senior team before making their first team debut with Santos are highlighted in italic.
