Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (personal interest)

Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras is a Brazilian football club from São Paulo. The club was founded on August 26, 1914, by  four Italian men who were members of the Italian community of São Paulo, Luigi Cervo, Vicenzo Ragognetti, Luigi Emanuele Marzo and Ezequiel Simone. Their dream was to found a big football team from two smaller, the  Pro Vercelli and the Torino. The Four italian men were employees of  Matarazzo's Industries, and it was because of this factory they got the support to create the team. Initially the name of the team was Palestra Italia, but during the World War II, Brazil entered the war supporting the allies and its dictatorship along with the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) forced Palestra Italia to change its name because of the reference to Italy. Palmeiras is one of the most successful clubs in Brazilian football. The team has won 11 national competitions, a record in the country. The club's most important titles have been the 8 national league titles and 3 national cups. In 1999, the team was declared the Champion of the Century in Brazilian football.

You can see more in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociedade_Esportiva_Palmeiras