Água Santa U20

Twice in the last three years, Água Santa has taken a Série A1 or A2 season all the way to the final table without lifting the trophy at the end of it: runners-up in the Campeonato Paulista in 2023, beaten by Palmeiras, and runners-up in the second tier in 2021, beaten by São Bernardo. Neither finish came with silverware, but both marked how far the club had travelled from where it started.

That distance is the real story. Between 2014 and 2016, Água Santa went up three divisions in three years — from the 2ª Divisão to Série A3, from A3 to A2, from A2 into the state's top flight — a run no other club in the history of the Campeonato Paulista has managed. Before any of that, from 1981 until 2011, the club existed purely in Diadema's amateur leagues, collecting 17 local titles across the city's divisions without playing a professional match.

The Água Santa of that amateur era and the club now chasing São Bernardo and São Caetano in the derbies of the ABC region are, on paper, the same institution, founded in Diadema on 27 October 1981 and still known as Netuno, after the sea god who serves as the club's mascot. They play in blue and white at the Estádio Distrital do Inamar, and the nickname Gigante de Diadema has followed the club through its rise.

Bruno Mezenga led the line in the 2023 run to the Paulista final. Two years later came a moment of a different kind: Água Santa reached the second round of the Copa do Brasil's Série D in 2025, the furthest it has gone in the national cup.

The academy has produced too — midfielder Luis Eduardo, born in 2007, moved on to Corinthians in 2024 after coming through the club's youth ranks.

Three promotions in three seasons: a record still standing, unmatched by any club in the Campeonato Paulista.