The Associação Atlética Ponte Preta is a Brazilian sports club based in Campinas, located in the interior of São Paulo state. Founded on August 11, 1900, by a group of students, its colors are black and white, making it the oldest club dedicated to football in South America to adopt this color combination.
Currently, it is the oldest active club in the state of São Paulo and the second oldest club in the country. It is also one of the pioneering clubs in the fight against racism in national football, being the first to include a black player in its squad, which at the time stood out from the elitism of the sport in its early days in Brazil.[note 1]
Popularly known as "Macaca", the team plays at its own stadium, the Moisés Lucarelli, which has a capacity of 17,728 spectators. Its biggest rival is Guarani, with whom it contests the Dérbi Campineiro, one of the greatest rivalries in São Paulo and Brazilian football.
In its history, it has won 10 Campinas championships (1912, 1931, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1951), 5 Interior Championship titles (1951, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018), 1 Invincibles Cup (1970), as well as 4 titles in the A2 Series of the São Paulo Championship (1927, 1933, 1969, 2023). Other notable campaigns include 7 vice-championships in the São Paulo Championship (1929, 1970, 1977, 1979, 1981, 2008, 2017), third place in the Brazilian Championship (1981), third place in the Brazil Cup (2001), vice-champion of the South American Cup (2013), and 2 runner-up finishes in the Brazilian Serie B (1997 and 2014). It is also the club from the interior of São Paulo that has provided the most players to the Brazilian National Team in World Cup editions. It has revealed great talents such as Dicá, Oscar, Carlos, Polozzi, Juninho, Manfrini, Sabará, Ciasca, Nenê Santana, Chicão, Nelsinho Baptista, Moacir, Waldir Peres, Fábio Luciano, André Cruz, Brigatti, Alexandre Negri, Luís Fabiano, Roger, Adrianinho, Aranha, Ivan, among others.
In the "points running" era of the Brazilian Championship, a competition format introduced in 2003, Ponte is the club with the best results from the interior: it has participated in 9 seasons, has the highest points total across the 9 editions (432 points), the most victories (114 in total), and is the interior team that has led the competition the most (9 rounds). In the CBF Ranking, the "macaca" occupies the 24th position with 5,994 points, being the sixth highest-ranked São Paulo club in the National Club Ranking. According to the company BDO, which annually assesses the brand value of Brazilian clubs, Ponte has the 20th most valuable brand in the country, valued at 50.4 million reais.
History
The emergence of Ponte Preta is directly linked to the growth and development of the city of Campinas. Around 1860, the neighborhood that now houses the headquarters of Ponte Preta was known as Bairro Alto, which extended from Largo do Tanquinho (now Largo do Pará).
In 1870, the construction of the Paulista Railway commenced, running from Jundiaí to Campinas. The installation of the tracks required the construction of a bridge. The bridge was made of wood, and for better preservation, it was treated with pitch. Thus, blackened, the Ponte Preta emerged (Listed by the Council for the Protection of Historical Heritage of Campinas through resolution no.34 of April 26, 2001, also becoming a "good of architectural, historical, and urban interest" of the city). From then on, the area around the bridge became known as Bairro da Ponte Preta, in 1872.
The Associação Atlética Ponte Preta (founded as "Associação Athletica Ponte Preta" due to the spelling of the time) emerged in 1900, thanks to several students from the Culto à Ciência School, who practiced football in the Ponte Preta neighborhood, thus being the oldest active team in the state of São Paulo and the second oldest club in Brazil.
The founders of the club on that August 11, 1900, were: Miguel do Carmo, Luiz Garibaldi Burghi, Antonio Oliveira (known as Tonico Campeão), Alberto Aranha, Dante Pera, Zico Vieira, and Pedro Vieira da Silva (the first president in the history of the club).
In 1910, the following football clubs existed in Campinas: Gymnasio A.C., A.A. Ponte Preta, Americano F.C., Mogyana A.A., London F.C., A.A. Campineira, S.C. Operário, and A.S. Palmeiras. By the end of the decade, the only club to continue its trajectory in the football world was Ponte Preta.
In 1912, Ponte along with six other clubs decided to create the Campinas Labor Football League, promoting the "2nd Campinas Football Championship," which was won by the Associação Athletica Ponte Preta, defeating Guarany Futebol Clube in the first major decision of the Dérbi Campineiro, one of the most well-known classics in the country. On February 28, 1935, at a meeting at the residence of then president of Ponte, Dr. Francisco Ursaia, the definitive Campinas Football League was born.
Another person of great importance to the team besides the founders was Moysés Lucarelli. Born in Limeira on February 4, 1900, he was the great leader and idealizer of the stadium's construction that later received his name in tribute. From fundraising for the land purchase to the famous "Brick Campaign," which raised 250,000 bricks in just two months in 1946, Moysés (or Moisés) was always an example for the club's members and fans at the time.
He was also, along with Roberto Gomes Pedroza and Gerolamo Ometo, among a few others, the creator of the Access Law in São Paulo football in 1947, a pioneering measure in Brazilian football that was implemented from 1948.
A traditional team from the interior of São Paulo, Ponte achieved its regional victories in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, such as its 10 Campinas titles and other tournaments. However, it was from the 1970s that it experienced its best moments, having been vice-champion in São Paulo three times (1970, 1977, and 1979). In 1981, the club lived the greatest year of its history: it was the champion of the first half of the São Paulo Championship against its biggest rival Guarani, reached the final of the São Paulo Championship once again, and reached the semifinals of the Brazilian Championship, finishing its participation in 3rd place. That year, it also became champion of the São Paulo Junior Football Cup, defeating São Paulo in the final. In the 2000s, the team performed well in the 2001 Brazil Cup, reaching the semifinals, and returned to a final of the São Paulo Championship (in 2008). The club has also won the Interior São Paulo Championship 5 times (1951, 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2018). In 2013, Macaca became the first interior team in São Paulo to be a finalist in an official competition organized by Conmebol, finishing as runner-up in the South American Cup.
Foundation Act
"On August 11, 1900, in an empty lot, under the shade of two silk trees, a meeting was held called by Messrs. Miguel do Carmo (Migué), Luiz Garibaldi Burghi (Gigette), and Antonio de Oliveira (Tonico Campeão), to discuss the foundation of a football club. The three gentlemen, after explaining to those present that they had played matches since last October for the Gymnasio and other teams that formed, needed to organize themselves into a society to have a club where they could play matches with others and have players always together. Everyone supported the idea and promised to be defenders and members of the club, paying the monthly fee and doing everything to advance the idea. By proposal of Mr. Luiz Garibaldi Burghi, the club would be named Associação Atlética Ponte Preta in honor of the neighborhood where it was founded. This proposal was immediately approved by all present with great applause. Mr. Miguel do Carmo proposed that the monthly fee be charged at 300 réis. After great discussion, this proposal was approved. Still speaking, Mr. Miguel do Carmo noted to those present that the commission that had called the meeting was finished, as everyone was well and part of the purpose of the meeting and proposed that said commission be dissolved and that the club president be appointed, asking those present to agree with the name of Mr. Pedro Vieira da Silva for that position. This proposal was accepted by all present with a great applause.
Mr. Miguel do Carmo asked Mr. Pedro Vieira da Silva to continue the work as president of the new Association. The elected president then requested that the election of the other board positions be held and that the following board be elected by acclamation: president: Pedro Vieira da Silva, secretary Alberto Aranha, treasurer Miguel do Carmo, prosecutor Antonio de Oliveira, field auditor Luiz Garibaldi Burghi. Requesting the floor, Mr. Alberto Aranha proposed that all those present be considered founding members and those who signed up by August 31 would have the same privileges. This proposal was approved by those present. Requesting the floor, Mr. Pedro Vieira da Silva asked those present to make their monthly payments on time, as it was necessary to buy a ball to start their games soon and also said that the member who was in arrears and without the respective receipt could not train or participate in matches. He also asked those present to indicate four people present to draft the Association's regulations. The names of Messrs. Zico Vieira, Dante Pêra, Luiz Affonso, and Alberto Aranha were indicated, who accepted the task. As no one else wished to speak, the president declared the meeting closed, with everyone present raising cheers for the new Association and the appointed directors. This is what transpired at the first meeting of the Associação Atlética Ponte Preta, of which I have prepared this act, which I date and sign."
Campinas, August 11, 1900. Alberto Aranha
Ponte Preta: the emotion of football
In the three years leading up to the foundation of Ponte Preta, the city of Campinas was swept by the winds of modernity. And modernity, at the end of the 19th century, was that strange machine - enchanting and at the same time frightening - they called the cinematograph. A beam of light cast on the wall of a dark room showed photographic images that moved. It was spine-chilling. An invention that brought crowds of Campineiros to the Teatro São Carlos.
And the city, back then, was steeped in culture. In those three years, two new bands were born in the city, Carlos Gomes and Azarias Dias de Melo. Large theater companies made grand seasons here - such as Cunha Sales, Fauré Nicolai, and Lírica Verdini - performing for a select audience made up of coffee barons, their wives, and their children. Campinas was pure aristocracy. At least within the theater.
Modernity, at that turn of the century, was also the electric light springing from a 20-ampere dynamo, of direct current, illuminating the refined Casa do Livro Azul, on Barão de Jaguara. Yes, electric light... Most of the homes in Campinas - even the most sophisticated - lived on candles and lamps.
The city's architecture was also changing. In 1898 - the same year of the cinematograph and the electric light - engineers Edmundo Kerug, Antonio Raffin, and Tito Martins Ferreira decided to demolish the old Public Jail building. It was located in the Center, exactly where today is the monument-tomb of Carlos Gomes. And our chicken thieves - who were the bold outlaws of that innocent city - were transferred to the new jail, in Botafogo.
The following year, trains were already circulating along the Funilense branch, bringing to the Market the sacks of grains harvested in the Funil region (now Cosmópolis). The locomotives were the harbingers of what was to come: machines would replace hands.
The boys of Abolition
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For not all Campineiros were concerned with the theater's operas. For a group of short-pants boys, the greatest transformation of that turn of the century was indeed a strange sport that had arrived in the Capital through the hands of Charles Miller. The boys knew: six years before that 1900, Miller, son of English parents, educated with great pomp at the Banis Court School in Southampton, was already organizing the first matches of football association at Várzea do Carmo, on Rua do Gasômetro.
By 1900, football was already a craze among Paulistas and was being practiced by members of clubs such as São Paulo Athletic and Germanya.([)(needs sources)(]) In the interior, only Savoia, from Sorocaba, was promoting the sport.
In Campinas, those short-pants boys gathered at the beginning of Rua Abolição, in an open field where years later the Senai School would be built. Legend has it - the romantic legend - that the assembly took place under the shade of two silk trees on August 11, 1900. There they decided to found a football club.
Among that group were the boys Miguel do Carmo, Luiz Garibaldi Burghi, Antonio Oliveira (the Tonico Campeão), Alberto Aranha, Dante Pera, Zico Vieira, and Pedro Vieira da Silva, who would be proclaimed the first president of the Associação Atlética Ponte Preta.
Half balls, bamboo goals
Let the Ponte Pretanos remove from their minds the image of the Moisés Lucarelli Stadium. The Majestoso didn't even exist in dreams. The first matches of the association were played in fields where the boys scraped their knees. Feet on the ground, with rights to monumental toe bumps and kicks that left their shins full of bruises.
The leather ball - the authentic one, with an air chamber and all - was an unknown accessory for the boys. They played with balls made of socks and rags. And the goals - goals, what is that? - were represented by a frame of bamboo and boards stolen from the nearest construction site.
The first real, English ball cost 10,000 réis and was bought in São Paulo. The money came from the members' monthly fees: 300 réis per head. The first uniform was donated by a supporter of the boys, José Giacomelli. As the kind José didn't understand anything about football - which, as we have seen, was a completely unknown sport in the Interior - he brought eleven identical