Ponte Preta is the second oldest football team established in Brazil still in activity, founded on August 11, 1900, the oldest being Sport Club Rio Grande, of Rio Grande do Sul.

The club was founded on 2 January 1921, by sportsmen from the Italian colony of Belo Horizonte as Societ Sportiva Palestra Itlia. As a result of the Second World War, the Brazilian federal government banned the use of any symbols referring to the Axis powers in 1942.