As of August 30, 2026, the Santos election for the 2027-2029 term has a political race in motion, but still no final list of slates and no officially settled date. The clearest and most widely reported public launch is Maurício Maruca’s, with Rodrigo Marino as his running mate. At the same time, other names are presenting themselves as prospective candidates or remain in negotiations, and president Marcelo Teixeira has not yet confirmed whether he will seek reelection. The uncertainty over the calendar is not only political. During the reform of the bylaws, the Deliberative Council approved the idea of moving the presidential elections to October. But the reform has not yet been completed, and applying the change as early as 2026 depends on steps that are still pending. That is why October appears as a possibility while December remains in play.
What is the current picture of the Santos election
The Santos president is chosen directly by members who are eligible to vote. The next election will determine who will lead the club starting in January 2027, either replacing or returning the administration elected for the 2024-2026 term. The most important point to track right now is the distinction among three different situations: a candidacy launched publicly, a prospective candidacy still being built, and a slate officially registered in the electoral process. Until the club publishes the election notice and the registration deadlines are completed, the public movement of the groups does not yet amount to the definitive list that will appear on the ballot or in the voting system.
Maurício Maruca has launched a slate with Rodrigo Marino
Maurício Maruca officially launched his candidacy on August 11 in São Paulo, with Rodrigo Marino as the vice-presidential candidate. The slate was presented as Aliança Santista. So far, it is the most formalized move among the groups competing for space in the succession. The pairing also brings together two names who ran separately in 2023. In the election that brought Marcelo Teixeira to the presidency, Maruca finished second with 1,378 votes, and Marino finished third with 1,073. The union of the two groups changes the configuration of the opposition compared with the previous election and helps explain why the launch carried more political weight than a simple statement of intent.
Who is still in the prospective-candidate field and in negotiations
Ivan Luduvice has been publicly presenting himself as a prospective candidate and has appeared in opposition discussions since the first half of the year. He was the vice-presidential candidate on Ricardo
Agostinho’s slate in 2023 and began to occupy his own space in the 2026 debate, criticizing the current administration and presenting ideas for football operations and club management. Wladimir Mattos, who ran in the 2023 election, also appears in opposition movements. Reports from early August recorded talks and possible alliances with other groups, but no joint slate had been formalized at that point. José Renato Quaresma is another name cited in the club’s political negotiations and appears as a possible alternative in different arrangements. The scenario, therefore, should not be read as a contest already narrowed to two slates. Some groups are still seeking alliances, a running mate, support, and a decision on who will actually head each project. On the administration side, Marcelo Teixeira remains the main reference, but he had not confirmed a reelection candidacy by the end of August. That leaves open the possibility that the governing group may run the president himself or build another name associated with the current administration.
What is required to run for Santos president
The bylaw reform generated an important dispute over eligibility. The initial proposal would have made access to the presidency more restrictive by requiring prior experience on the Deliberative Council. On May 28, however, the Council approved keeping the rule without a mandatory prior term on the body. Under the criterion maintained in the discussions, an interested member must have ten years of membership in Santos to be able to run for president. The decision removed one of the biggest barriers proposed in the new text and preserved the possibility of candidacy for members who have never served as councilors, provided they meet the other bylaw and electoral requirements.
Who can vote in the Santos presidential election
The rule currently in force and reaffirmed by the Council itself in May requires the voter to be a member over 18 years old and to have at least three complete years of uninterrupted membership. In addition, the member must be current on obligations to the club and cannot have membership rights suspended. That means being a Santos supporter, attending matches, or participating in the relationship program is not enough by itself. Voting is a bylaw right of a member who meets the requirements. The final list of eligible voters depends on the club’s registration and financial review for the specific electoral process.
The three-year rule was maintained in the reform
This point was discussed in the new bylaws, but the Commission accepted adjustments, and the Council officially stated on May 21 that the current three-year membership period would be maintained for the right to vote in presidential elections. Therefore, until a change is definitively approved by the members, this remains the parameter to consider.
What happened with the June 11 deadline for debts
On June 3, Santos warned members that June 11 would be the deadline to regularize debts through installment payments and still participate in the 2026 electoral process. The reason is a bylaw rule that prohibits installment plans for debts during the six months preceding the General Assembly. The club itself clarified, however, that full payment would remain possible after that date. So June 11 was not an absolute final deadline for every type of payment; it was the deadline for using installment plans. Even after paying amounts due, the member still needs to meet age, length-of-membership, registration- status, and other conditions to be included on the voter list.
Will voting be in person or online
Santos’s voting system allows participation in person and through electronic means. In a clarification about the bylaw reform, the club stated that online voting would not be eliminated. The specific voting format in 2026, authentication procedures, and any deadlines for choosing an electoral domicile or voting method depend on the election-specific notice. For members who intend to vote, the practical recommendation is not to wait until the final stretch to review registration information, CPF, email, phone number, and financial status. In previous elections, those data were relevant to access to digital voting and to the preparation of the list of eligible voters.
Why October was approved and the date is still not set
On June 2, the Deliberative Council approved a change to move the presidential elections from December to October. The idea is to provide more time for the transition and for the new administration to plan before the start of the next term. The problem is that approval of this point within the Council did not complete the reform. A transition rule still needed to define whether the earlier election would apply as soon as the 2026 election or only to the
next cycle, in 2029. In addition, the full set of new bylaws must complete its legislative process and be submitted to the General Assembly of members. The vote on the new text was suspended on June 8 after changes to federal legislation governing Sociedades Anônimas do Futebol (SAFs). Because articles on SAFs and governance needed to be reviewed, the Council halted the work without an immediate date for resumption. In July, a legal opinion was still awaited, and on August 8 the scenario remained dependent on completion of the reform before a vote by the members. That is why the statement “the election was moved to October” needs context. The Council approved the change of month within the text still under construction, but that does not mean there is already a 2026 election formally called for October. If the transition rule preserves the current calendar for this year, the election may remain in December and the earlier date may apply only starting in 2029.
The August 31 meeting does not, by itself, set the election date
The Deliberative Council was called to an extraordinary session on August 31 for a presentation by SDC Sports, a company involved in discussions about a possible Santos SAF. The official agenda of that meeting is the company presentation, not the definition of the electoral calendar. The meeting is politically relevant because SAF, bylaw reform, and the election have become intertwined in the club’s debate. Even so, they are different processes. A meeting about the corporate proposal does not replace the formal act that must call the election, set the date, establish deadlines, and organize slate registration.
What is still needed for the 2026 election to be truly defined
The date stops being a hypothesis only when the club resolves the bylaw issue applicable to the election and publishes the official notice calling the electoral General Assembly. That document must turn the political discussions into an objective calendar: voting day, hours, voting methods, slate-registration deadlines, and procedures for members. That will also be the point at which the race can be treated as an official list of candidates. Until then, it is useful to distinguish among those who have launched a campaign, those who have declared themselves prospective candidates, those merely cited in negotiations, and those who have actually filed a slate accepted by the Electoral Commission.
What can already be concluded
The Santos election in 2026 will determine the club’s leadership for the 2027-2029 term and will be decided by the votes of eligible members. Maurício Maruca has already taken the most formal public step by launching a slate with Rodrigo Marino. Ivan Luduvice, Wladimir Mattos, José Renato Quaresma, and groups linked to the current administration continue to make up a scenario that may still change, while Marcelo Teixeira has not confirmed a reelection bid. To vote, a member must observe the rules on legal age, three years of uninterrupted membership, financial good standing, and regular membership rights. As for the date, the summary is simple: October was approved as the direction of the reform, but applying it in 2026 still depends on the transition rule and completion of the new bylaws. Until the official notice is issued, October and December remain reference points in a calendar that has not yet been finalized.
