AA das Palmeiras

The Associação Atlética das Palmeiras was one of the pioneering clubs of São Paulo football, three-time champion of the São Paulo Championship in the early twentieth century. Its merger with dissidents from Paulistano in 1930 gave rise to São Paulo Football Club.

History

Founded in 1902 in the city of São Paulo, the Associação Atlética das Palmeiras was a protagonist of the amateur era of São Paulo football, when championships were still disputed by elite clubs of the capital. The club has no relation to the current Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, founded in 1914 as Palestra Itália. The sporting peak came with the São Paulo championships in 1909 and 1910, an achievement that placed AA das Palmeiras among the greatest forces of Brazilian football at the time, alongside Paulistano and Germânia. In 1915, the club won its third state title. Its field, Chácara da Floresta, located on the banks of the Tietê River, was one of the main venues of São Paulo football in the first decades of the twentieth century. With the growing popularization and football's march towards professionalism, the club lost sporting strength in the 1920s. In 1930, AA das Palmeiras united with dissidents from Club Athletico Paulistano, which had abandoned football, to found São Paulo Football Club. The new association inherited Chácara da Floresta as its first stadium and incorporated the black and white of AA das Palmeiras to the colors of the new club, alongside the red of Paulistano.