Due to financial challenges, the activities of the club are currently suspended and the last time they participated in a professional match was in September 2016.[1] On 1 October 1998,[2] the club was founded as Guaratinguetá Esporte Clube by a group including Doctor Mário Augusto Rodrigues Nunes (nicknamed Marinho).[3] On 26 November 1999, the club joined the São Paulo Football Federation, competing in the Campeonato Paulista Série B2 in the following year.In 2005, he and the entrepreneur Carlos Arini founded Sony Sports, a company created to manage the club.[8] Guaratinguetá's home stadium was Estádio Municipal Professor Dario Rodrigues Leite,[9] nicknamed Ninho da Garça, meaning Heron's Nest,[8] with a maximum capacity of 15,769 people.