Santos played two home matches away from Vila in 2024 (Photo: Derik Caiado)
The board of Santos plans to send most of its games on Serie B far from Vila Belmiro. After the success of two matches held in the capital during Paulistão, the idea now is to hold up to seven games away from Baixada Santista.
In total, Peixe will play 19 home matches in the championship. However, the club is under punishment from the STJD of three games behind closed doors and another three with partial attendance, leaving 13 matches with 100% attendance.
This punishment ended up somewhat disrupting the plans of President Marcelo Teixeira, who had initially said at a press conference that these six games would all be in Vila Belmiro. As a result, of the 13 games with 100% attendance, more than half of them are planned to be held far from the coast, with the seven already mentioned.
However, during the last week, Santos received a proposal to play the game against Botafogo-SP, in the eighth round, at Estádio do Café, in Londrina, Paraná. Even with the partial attendance due to the punishment, the offer made for Peixe to host the game in the city was R$600,000.
In the remaining games, the club still does not know where it will play, as it is having problems negotiating matches at the stadiums of its three rivals in the capital. However, Teixeira does not rule out the possibility that these games will not necessarily be held in the capital, but could be taken to the interior of São Paulo and other states such as Paraná, the Federal District or Rio de Janeiro.
The stadium that Peixe intends to host games in the capital this year is Pacaembu. The club has an agreement with the company Allegra, a construction company that is taking care of the renovations and will manage the new Pacaembu. With this, the club awaits the end of the renovation so it can hold games and events for its fans.
This year, Santos played two home matches away from Vila Belmiro, both in the capital. The first was the victory over São Bernardo 2-1, in the group stage of Paulistão, where more than 50 thousand people were present at Morumbi. The other was in the state semi-final, when they beat Red Bull Bragantino 3-1, with almost 45 thousand present at the Neo Química Arena – the stadium’s record for the year so far.
Santos’ punishment games without an audience are as follows: against Paysandu, already paid in the first round, Guarani (third round) and Brusque (sixth round). The matches against Botafogo-SP (eighth round), Goiás (eleventh round) and Chapecoense (thirteenth round) will only be with the organized fan section closed and with a banner in support of the STJD in place.
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