Although its main affiliation is with the state and city where it was founded, São Paulo is a national team and the third best-supported club in Brazil, with over 22 million supporters, covering around 9.9% of its population.

[9] All five FIFA World Cups won by Brazil contained at least one São Paulo player, an honour shared with cross-city rivals Palmeiras.

Associação Atlética das Palmeiras, founded in 1902 and three-time champions of São Paulo, intended after the end of the season 1929 to set up a professional team, but failed to do so.

To the black-and-white of Associação Atlética das Palmeiras was added the red-and-white of Club Athletico Paulistano, and the ring became red, white, and black.

The match was almost cancelled, owing to the city's anniversary, but Porphyrio da Paz, the football director and composer of the club's anthem, obtained permission from the Board of Education Office for the game to continue.

São Paulo Futebol Clube finished as runners-up once again in the Campeonato Paulista in 1941, and a year later the club paid 200 contos de réis (equivalent to approximately R$162,000 today) to acquire Leônidas from Flamengo.

During this period, São Paulo also acquired the Argentinian António Sastre and Brazilians Noronha, José Carlos Bauer, Zezé Procópio, Luizinho, Rui and Teixeirinha.

The club sold its Canindé training ground to Portuguesa to raise money for their new stadium, the Estádio do Morumbi, for which construction began in 1952.

With the construction of the Morumbi stadium still ongoing, São Paulo entered its longest period without a title in its history, which was to last 13 years.

In 1960, the Estádio do Morumbi was inaugurated, named after the late Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, the club's chairman during most of the stadium construction.

In 1970, the Estádio do Morumbi was finally completed and the club purchased Gérson from Botafogo, Uruguayan midfielder Pedro Rocha from Peñarol and striker Toninho Guerreiro from Santos.

In 1975, former goalkeeper José Poy took over as manager, and São Paulo won the Paulista Championship after defeating Portuguesa in a penalty shoot-out.

Valdir Peres, Chicão, Serginho Chulapa and Zé Sérgio were the club's most influential players when São Paulo finally secured the Brazilian Championship for the first time in 1977 following a penalty shoot-out victory over Atlético Mineiro at the Mineirão.

In the 1980s, São Paulo won four Paulista and one Brazilian titles, helped by the impressive central defensive pair of Oscar and Dario Pereyra.

[21] In 1985, the head coach Cilinho introduced to the world the Menudos of Morumbi, a team that included Paulo Silas, Müller and Sidney, and the club once again won the Paulista Championship.

[21] In 1990, after a poor start to the campaign in the Paulista, Telê Santana was hired as the club's coach, and São Paulo went on to finish runners-up in the Brazilian Championship.

In 1991, São Paulo won the Brazilian championship after beating Carlos Alberto Parreira's Bragantino, and the club began a period of consistent achievement both nationally and internationally.

In 1993, São Paulo retained the Copa Libertadores, beating Universidad Católica of Chile in the finals 5–3 on aggregate, including a 5–1 first leg win.

At the beginning of 1996, owing to health issues, Telê Santana left São Paulo, ending the club's golden era.

After being eliminated from the Copa Libertadores round of 16 to Grêmio in 2007, São Paulo won the Brazilian title for the second year in a row, fifteen points ahead of second-placed Santos.

In 2010 São Paulo lost once again to Internacional in the 2010 Copa Libertadores, this time in the semifinals, ending Ricardo Gomes' spell as manager.

[29] In 2012, São Paulo won the Copa Sudamericana (its only title in the 2010 decade) and qualified for next season's Libertadores, finishing fourth in the league under Ney Franco.

However, after that season, the club hit a second massive dry spell and struggled to regain its dominance in the Brazilian and South American stage.

[32] In 2014, 2018 and 2020 the club was one of the contenders for the national league title, but did not win it; São Paulo finished runners-up in 2014, fifth in 2018, and fourth in 2020, the last two being marked by massives drops of form in the second half.

However, after a continuing sequence of poor results, which included quarter-final exits in the Copa Libertadores and in the Copa do Brasil to Palmeiras and Fortaleza, respectively, Crespo was sacked in October, with the club being involved in another relegation battle at the Campeonato Brasileiro, eventually finishing 13th, after Crespo was replaced by club legend Rogério Ceni in his second managerial spell.

São Paulo ended the competition as runners-up to Palmeiras; despite winning the first leg 3–1 at the Morumbi, they suffered a heavy 4–0 comeback defeat at Allianz Parque.

Also in 2022, the club reached the semifinals of the 2022 Copa do Brasil, being eliminated by eventual winners Flamengo,[33] and suffered another final defeat, this time in the Copa Sudamericana, losing to Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle in Córdoba, Argentina;[34] It was the first time since 2005 the club reached two finals in the same year.

In 2023, just like six years before, Rogério Ceni was sacked and replaced by Dorival Júnior after getting eliminated in the quarter-final of the Campeonato Paulista to underdogs and eventual runners-up Água Santa.

[36] Juventude manager Thiago Carpini was appointed as Dorival's replacement,[37] guiding the club to the 2024 Supercopa Rei defeating Palmeiras on penalties at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte.

[41] The badge also has five stars, two gold and three red ones: the gold ones denote Adhemar Ferreira da Silva's World and Olympic records at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and at the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City; the red ones represent each of the two Intercontinental Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup won by the club.