Millionaire CT built for the World Cup agonizes without a club and survives on rent for events in São Paulo

The Sorocaba World Sports Center was opened in 2011 and renovated between 2013 and 2014 to be one of the World Cup sub-venues. The space was to be used by Atlético Sorocaba, a football club that officially ceased to exist this year, but which had not taken to the field for a professional match since April 2016.

The hotel built to host the Algerian team during the 2014 World Cup cost R$9.9 million, with R$5 million paid for by Atlético Sorocaba and the rest by the São Paulo State Government. There are 31 rooms and a hall with capacity for almost 600 people. Check out the FIFA standard hotel facilities in the video above.

In an area of 60 bushels, the only space that has a higher turnover are the two hotels, which even have the option of a balloon ride around the facilities. It is from the rental of these spaces that the CT is currently maintained.

CT of the extinct Atlético Sorocaba — Photo: Emílio Botta

The place is often rented by football clubs in the region to hold pre-seasons or for a short period of training, depending on games in nearby cities.

The São Paulo Football Federation (FPF) usually rents the space for referee training, just as the CBF has already rented it for women's and men's grassroots competitions, as well as referee training.

In recent years, CT has also hosted futsal teams and courses, a Spanish football reality show and even a breed dog show. The site is used by the Association of Families for World Unification and Peace for religious events.

The training center's hotels were even included in the list of places dedicated to wedding ceremonies. The rooms where the Algerian national team players stayed were sold at a daily rate of up to R$700.

Training of referees from the São Paulo Football Federation at Atlético Sorocaba CT — Photo: Neto Bonvino/Agência Paulistão

In addition to the two hotels, CT has four football fields, a gym, a heated pool and other services, such as a restaurant and laundry. All this without a football club in the city to take advantage of the space. São Bento, which competed in the Paulistão elite and the Brazilian Series B, rented the CT on a specific basis, but now, in the Paulista Series A3 and without a national calendar, it no longer has the resources to cover the costs.

Despite not being used as frequently as a club based there, the training center is highly rated by people interviewed in the report who have used the facilities and football fields recently.

Women's World Cup eyeing

The location was pre-selected by FIFA to host one of the teams that will be in Brazil for the Women's World Cup in 2027. In total, 52 cities were visited to identify the best options. The final phase focused on evaluating 42 fields in nine cities.

Over the course of a year and a half, technical experts visited 52 cities in 19 Brazilian states and analyzed a total of 261 locations. São Paulo was the state with the greatest variety of options, with 45 locations inspected in 17 cities.

Algeria team during training in Sorocaba for the 2014 World Cup — Photo: Natália de Oliveira

After the visits, FIFA compiled information on 38 training centers, linked to a hosting location, which have now been included in the first version of the National Team Training Centers catalog.

Who owns CT?

Founded in 1991 and purchased by the Association of Families for World Unification and Peace in the early 2000s, Atlético Sorocaba has always depended on high investments from the church to maintain itself.

Reverend Moon bought Atlético Sorocaba in the early 2000s — Photo: Reuters

The death of Reverend Moon, in 2012, decreed the end of the injection of money and the club's activities. The CT, however, continues to be owned by the Church. Even with the change of CNPJ after Atlético Sorocaba closed its doors, the main activity of the place is “cereal cultivation”.

At one point, the training center had the planting of various grains, such as corn, and also sugar cane. The area was used by families who were part of the church that owned the place, which also has a lake, in parallel with football activities.

Notice at the Atlético Sorocaba CT regarding invasion of people on the premises — Photo: Emilio Botta

The ge report even showed, in 2017, a statement made by the then president of Atlético Sorocaba about the entry and overnight stay of unauthorized people at the training center, which suffered from abandonment after the club's licensing in professional football and the owners' lack of definition regarding the use of the place.

And Atlético Sorocaba?

Atlético Sorocaba was inspired by the city's basketball team, which had Hortência, Janeth, Marta, among others, as big names and which was world club champion in the same year.

Fernando Diniz, coach during his time at Atlético Sorocaba — Photo: Erick Pinheiro/Jornal Cruzeiro do Sul

Businessman João Caracante, owner of the basketball team at the time, decided to create a football team in the city to rival São Bento. Atlético Sorocaba's official debut only took place in 1993, the year in which it competed in the state Series A3 with the renowned Serginho Chulapa in the squad.

Between 1993 and 2016, Atlético Sorocaba participated four times in the Paulistão (2004, 2005, 2013 and 2014), 11 times in the A2 Series, eight times in the A3 Series, in addition to 10 participations in the Brazilian Series C (1994 to 1998 and 2001 to 2005) and once in the Copa do Brasil (2009). In total, there were 808 games, with 312 wins, 234 draws and 262 defeats, and just one title: the 2008 Copa Paulista.

Between 2010 and 2016, the team received a contribution of around R$22 million from the church. With declared assets of R$18 million and net profit of more than R$3 million in the last official balance sheet released (2015), the team officially ended its activities this year, after almost a decade licensed with the São Paulo Football Federation (FPF).

From 2009 to 2015, Atlético Sorocaba made four trips to North Korea. There, he experienced the unthinkable: he was mistaken for the Brazilian team, saw 30,000 people unable to enter a stadium already packed with another 80,000, took an American athlete in the delegation, suffered in silence with the refereeing and even feared reactions to eventual victories. Click here and remember these stories.

Atlético Sorocaba faced Palmeiras in the 2014 Campeonato Paulista — Photo: Piervi Fonseca / Agência Estado