The 2008 season was Santos Futebol Clube's ninety-sixth in existence and the club's forty-ninth consecutive season in the top flight of Brazilian football.
On 15 December 2007, Santos appointed Emerson Leão to coach the team for the third time. This was after the dismissal of Vanderlei Luxemburgo at the end of 2007 season. Later, Leão was fired due to bad results and for his place Cuca was signed. Cuca also didn't get good results and was fired on 7 August, replaced by Márcio Fernandes, who assumed the team as caretaker until the end of season.
Unlike the last two seasons, Santos did not get the Campeonato Paulista title, reaching the 7th position. Their Campeonato Brasileiro campaign was the worst of history, where they were almost relegated, ending in the 15th position, out of 20 teams. Santos advanced to quarter-finals of Copa Libertadores, but were eliminated by Mexican side Club América after a 1–2 aggregate loss.
Players
Squad information
Appearances and goals
NameCampeonato BrasileiroCampeonato PaulistaCopa LibertadoresTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Douglas1701000180GK Fabio Costa180170100450GK Felipe30100040DF Adaílton708010160DF Anderson Salles0(1)02(3)00(2)080DF Domingos27010(2)061451DF Fabão14(2)01(2)06(1)0260DF Fabiano1(2)0000030DF Fabiano Eller1910000191DF Fábio Santos3(2)0000050DF Kléber3118181473DF Pará4(8)10000121MF Adriano16(5)011(2)05(1)0400MF Adoniran3(3)07000130MF Bida1620000162MF Dionísio7(2)01000100MF Ganso2(1)01(2)00060MF Hudson2(2)0100050MF Michael15(4)10000191MF Molina23(10)61011065313MF Patrik0(1)0000010MF Roberto Brum17(1)0000000MF Róbson6(3)0000090MF Rodrigo Souto2511419(1)0492MF Wendel1600000160FW Fabiano000(1)00010FW Kléber Pereira33(1)2116131066040FW Lima8(14)00042262FW Maikon Leite7(3)20000102FW Cuevas14(3)20000172FW Quiñónez3(5)01101(4)1151FW Reginaldo0(1)0000010FW Tiago Luís3(10)15(2)10(3)0232FW Wesley6(13)010(1)18(1)0391 Players who left the club during the seasonDF Apodi9(2)10000111DF Betão50172100322DF Carlinhos20300050DF Dênis00602080DF Evaldo0(1)0600(2)090DF Filipi Souza30400070DF Marcelo1603(3)040260DF Thiago Carleto4(5)010020210DF Vinicius Simon10000010MF Alex William001(2)00030MF Luiz Henrique001(1)00020MF Marcinho Guerreiro5011(3)3100293MF Rodrigo Tabata3(3)06(5)12(2)0211MF Vitor Júnior0(1)01(5)00070FW Alemão002(2)10041FW Moraes0(1)11(3)00051FW Renatinho005(7)200122FW Sebastián Pinto00610061FW Tripodí0(2)03(2)01(5)1131
Source: Match reports in Competitive matches
Top scorers NameBrasileirãoPaulistãoLibertadoresTotal1 Kleber Pereira 21 13 6 402 Molina 6 1 6 133 Kléber 1 1 1 3 Marcinho Guerreiro 0 3 0 34 Maikon Leite 2 0 0 2 Nelson Cuevas 2 0 0 2 Bida 2 0 0 2 Betão 0 2 0 2 Renatinho 0 2 0 2 Lima 0 0 2 2 Tiago Luís 1 1 0 2 Rodrigo Souto 1 1 0 2
Source: Match reports in Competitive matches
Disciplinary record NameBrasileirãoLibertadoresPaulistãoTotalGKDouglas22GKFábio Costa314DFAdaílton235DFBetão2125DFDomingos112142173DFEvaldo11121DFFabão314DFFabiano Eller4141DFMarcelo415DFApodi44DFAnderson Salles112DFDênis11DFFabiano11DFPará11DFKléber4138DFFábio Santos112DFThiago Carleto224MFAdoniran22MFAdriano411161MFBida33MFDionísio44MFHudson112MFMolina2215MFMichael66MFMarcinho Guerreiro51511MFQuiñónez213MFRoberto Brum55MFRodrigo Souto61310MFRodrigo Tabata1111MFWendel22FWAlemão11FWKléber Pereira62311FWMaikon Leite33FWMariano Trípodi11FWNelson Cuevas11FWTiago Luís112FWVítor Júnior11FWWesley3121362
Source: Match reports in Competitive matches
Kit
The kits for the 2008 season were revealed on 3 March 2008 bearing the Semp Toshiba logo. The main novelty was the third shirt, with navy blue, based on the first model used by the club in 1912.
Transfers
In
PNameMoving fromSourceDF Betão24CorinthiansSignedMF Marcinho Guerreiro27 Metalurh Donetsk LoanedFW Trípodi20San Martín SignedFW Sebastian Pinto24Universidad de Chile SignedFW 24AstralLoanedMF Molina28Red Star Belgrade SignedMF Quiñónez23ESPOLI SignedDF Evaldo25FC Tokyo LoanedGK 25SertãozinhoSignedMF Luiz Henrique22PaulistaSignedDF Fabão31Kashima Antlers SignedDF Fabiano26ItabaianaSignedFW Fabiano23SportLoan ReturnMF Bida23VitóriaLoanedMF 20Mogi MirimSignedDF 21CruzeiroLoanedDF 30Atlético Madrid SignedFW 19Santo AndréSignedMF 25Dynamo Kyiv LoanedMF 29Braga SignedDF 22AS Monaco LoanedDF 22Santo AndréSignedFW 28Libertad SignedDF 26PalmeirasLoanedFW Reginaldo26SportSigned
Out
PNameMoving toTypeSourceFW Geílson23Atlético–PRContract terminatedFW Luciano Henrique28SportEnd of contractDF Baiano29Free AgentEnd of contractMF Petković35Free AgentEnd of contractDF Leonardo22Shakhtar Donetsk Loan expirationDF Antônio Carlos38RetirementFW Marcos Aurélio24Shimizu S-Pulse End of contractMF Alex William20Free AgentEnd of contractMF Pedrinho30Al Ain FC End of contractDF Dênis24Free AgentContract terminatedMF Maldonado28Fenerbahçe TransferredFW Alemão19Udinese End of contractDF Alessandro29CorinthiansEnd of contractDF Betão24Dynamo Kyiv SwappedFW Renatinho20Rentistas Contract terminatedFW Sebastián Pinto22Free AgentContract terminatedMF Rodrigo Tabata27Gaziantepspor TransferredMF Luiz Henrique22Free AgentContract terminatedDF Evaldo25CoritibaContract terminatedMF Marcinho Guerreiro27Metalurh Donetsk Loan expirationDF Marcelo20Wisła Kraków End of contractDF Apodi21São CaetanoContract terminatedDF Thiago Carleto19Valencia Transferred FW Moraes21Santo AndréEnd of contract
Out on loan PNameMoving toSourceFW Moraes19Ponte PretaDF Carlinhos21CruzeiroFW Vitor Júnior21Kawasaki Frontale DF Vinicius Simon21BoavistaFW Mariano Trípodi20VitóriaDF Filipi Souza21Oeste
Competitions
Overall summary
Detailed overall summary {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |- ! !Total ! Home ! Away |- |align=left| Games played || 67 || 34 || 33 |- |align=left| Games won || 26 || 21 || 5 |- |align=left| Games drawn || 17 || 8 || 9 |- |align=left| Games lost || 24 || 5 || 19 |- |align=left| Biggest win || 7–0 v San José || 7–0 v San José || 2–0 v Cúcuta |- |align=left| Biggest loss || 1–5 v Coritiba || 0–4 v Goiás || 1–5 v Coritiba |- |align=left| Clean sheets || 25 || 15 || 10 |- |align=left| Goals scored || 90 || 67 || 23 |- |align=left| Goals conceded || 84 || 32 || 52 |- |align=left| Goal difference || +6 || +35 || −29 |- |align=left| Average per game || || || |- |align=left| Average per game || || || |- |align=left| Most appearances || Kléber Pereira (60) || – || – |- |align=left| Top scorer || Kléber Pereira (40) || – || – |- |align=left| Worst discipline || Domingos (17) (3) || – || – |- |align=left| Points || 95/201 (%) || 71/102 (%) ||24/99 (%) |- |align=left| Winning rate || (%) || (%) || (%)
Campeonato Brasileiro
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
Campeonato Paulista
Results summary
First stage
League table
Matches
Copa Libertadores
Group stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
References