são paulo, palmeiras and corinthians dominated titles in early 1950s. santos, although having competed consistently, would need to wait a few more years to gain top status. 1957 saw the debut of one of football's greatest players, pelé. his goals helped santos to win nine of the next twelve championships. pelé was the league top scorer in every year between 1957 and 1965 including a record 58 goals in a single season. santos won numerous competitions at the state, national, regional and international level. palmeiras's ""academia"" teams were the only ones able to break such dominance in the sixties.