Santos has taken a concrete step toward bringing a new training center for its youth academy off the drawing board, but as of August 25, 2026, the situation is still very different from a training center under construction. What exists today is an area of approximately 700,000 square meters acquired in São Vicente, backed by a public deed of purchase and sale, and a project that still needs to go through environmental studies, licensing, approvals and a definition of how construction will be financed.
What Santos has actually acquired
The club announced on August 21 that it had added to its assets an area of about 700,000 m² in São Vicente for the future youth academy training center. The public deed made available by Santos is dated August 20 and identifies Saint-Gobain do Brasil as the seller and Santos Futebol Clube as the buyer.
The document describes the property as a tract known as Sítio Ermida, located in Samaritá, in the municipality of São Vicente, with approximately 700,000 m², equivalent to 70 hectares. The deed also states that Santos received possession of the property on June 16, 2026, when the private purchase and sale commitment was signed.
There is, however, an important precision. The deed released by the club contains a request for the instrument to be submitted for registration with the competent Real Estate Registry Office. The public material reviewed confirms the signing of the deed and the acquisition announced by Santos, but as of August 25 it does not present a later certificate showing that the property registration has already been completed. To follow the documentary status rigorously, this is a stage that should be distinguished from the announcement of the transaction.
Where the land for the new training center is located
São Vicente City Hall places the area on Avenida Angelina Pretti, in the municipality's Continental Area. The deed is even more specific, identifying the property as Sítio Ermida, in Samaritá, postal code 11346-300. The document records historical boundaries with neighboring areas, railroad tracks and the Piassabuçu and Ermida rivers.
This location helps explain why the environmental discussion is central. São Vicente's Continental Area includes urbanized zones as well as areas with vegetation, watercourses and sensitive environments. City Hall itself linked progress on the project to studies that can reconcile occupation of the site with environmental requirements.
The purchase was not free land
Santos and part of the press coverage summarized the transaction as an acquisition with no cash outlay. That is correct in the sense that the club did not report paying cash for the area, but it does not mean the property was received for free.
The deed sets the purchase and sale price at R$ 6.932.560,21. Payment is described as non-financial consideration made up of commercial arrangements, sponsorship, brand exposure and other economic assets provided for in the private contract and its annexes. In other words, there was a price and there are counter-performance obligations, even though they are not settled through a cash transfer equivalent to the value of the property.
The instrument itself adds that execution of the deed and the transfer contemplated in the transaction do not represent early discharge of those obligations. They remain enforceable under the private contract. This detail matters because it separates two ideas that can look the same in headlines: not using cash to buy the property and having
no economic cost are different things.
Why acquired land does not mean a training center under construction
Santos' announcement treats the area as intended for development of the new training center, but the club has not announced the start of construction. The official statement says the next steps include environmental studies and procedures, a process before CETESB, and obtaining the necessary licenses and approvals.
The deed reinforces that distinction. In it, Santos acknowledges that the measures, licenses, permits and approvals required for the use, occupation and development of any project on the property are the buyer's responsibility. The text expressly mentions environmental licensing, urban-planning and regulatory approvals, building permits and authorizations for construction work.
The document also emphasizes that the sale of the property does not represent any guarantee by Saint-Gobain regarding the technical, economic, urban-planning, regulatory, environmental or commercial feasibility of the future training center. The real-estate transaction therefore resolves the availability of the land, but it does not replace a feasibility assessment or automatically authorize construction.
EIA/RIMA and environmental licensing are central stages
São Vicente City Hall reported that, after discussions with CETESB, it requested the commissioning of an EIA/RIMA - Environmental Impact Study and Environmental Impact Report. According to the municipal statement and the text published by Santos, that request was met.
The deed adds information that helps explain how responsibilities are divided: the seller's obligation related to the EIA/RIMA and the planialtimetric survey is limited to the total contracted amount of R$ 1.380.400. Additional costs arising from changes, supplements, updates or new requirements imposed by authorities are borne by Santos under the contract.
In practice, the EIA/RIMA is not an authorization to build. It is part of the environmental assessment of the project and may generate conditions, requests for additional information and adjustments before the applicable licenses are issued. Until the process advances and the necessary approvals are actually granted, there is no basis for treating the property as a cleared construction site.
Construction financing is not finalized either
Another issue that still separates acquisition of the land from the start of construction is the money needed to build the training center. Santos officially says it is working on structuring a dedicated investment fund to finance the project. The model is still under development and, according to the club, will be presented after the project has been technically consolidated.
This means that at the current stage there is a financing strategy being developed, but not a fund already presented to the public with an amount raised, investors, a contribution schedule and a final contractually fixed budget. ge also reported, when covering the acquisition, that there was no forecast for the start of construction.
Local reports contain estimates for the number of fields, total cost and the timetable for environmental studies. Those figures may serve as planning references, but they do not
appear as fixed parameters in the official Santos statement or in the City Hall text reviewed. While the club says the financial model will be presented only after technical consolidation, it is safer to treat cost and schedule projections as estimates, not definitive commitments.
What must happen before construction equipment arrives
The most accurate picture today is this: Santos has formalized the purchase and has possession of the area, but it still needs to turn a real-estate asset into an approved and financed project. That involves technical consolidation of the project, completion of environmental studies, proceedings before CETESB and other competent agencies, obtaining urban-planning and regulatory licenses and approvals, defining the financing, and only then contracting and carrying out the construction work.
The order of these stages may overlap at times, because design, licensing and financial structuring often move forward in parallel. The decisive point is that none of the official sources reviewed supports the claim that the training center is already under construction or that there is a confirmed date for construction to begin.
What this could change for Santos youth development
If the project moves forward, the new area represents the possibility of much greater expansion than the current youth academy infrastructure allows. President Marcelo Teixeira himself presented the acquisition as a step toward expanding and modernizing the club's sports infrastructure.
But for supporters who want to separate an announcement from execution, the correct reading in August 2026 is simple: Santos secured the land and documented the transaction, but it is still on the path between having the area and being able to build on it. The next verifiable milestones will be progress on the EIA/RIMA and licensing, issuance of the necessary approvals, presentation of the financing model and, finally, an announcement that construction is starting accompanied by a consolidated schedule and project.
