Leila opens up fights in the league and divergence with Fla – 04/17/2023 – Sport

The document circulated through the WhatsApp applications of the presidents of teams in the A and B series of the Brazilian Championship. It was a copy of the statute of Libra (Brazilian Football League), a group of 18 clubs that wants to form the league of clubs in the country.

The request was not for the document to be read. The issue was who had created the Word file. He was a lawyer linked to Flamengo. It was a way of saying that the Gávea team controlled what happened in the entity that intends to organize the national tournament from 2025.

Top hats discarded the information. The Libra charter was a collaborative document and it didn’t matter who initiated it. He was undergoing transformations thanks to suggestions from everyone involved.

For months, the strategy of people linked to the LFF (Liga Forte Futebol), an organization that has another 26 clubs from the three main divisions, was to point out the power of Flamengo and Corinthians, especially the red-black team in Rio de Janeiro, and the financial advantage they would have with the formula proposed by Libra.

Even members of Libra recognized this and, over time, showed discomfort with the behavior of Rodolfo Landim, president of Flamengo. He obstructed most of the proposals that could lead to a consensus with Forte Futebol using the veto power approved by the affiliates themselves: any statutory change must be approved unanimously.

Internally, the biggest challenger to Flamengo’s supposed power was Palmeiras’ representative, Leila Pereira. She decided, as of last week, that it was best to make her discontent public.

“I don’t understand why the other clubs don’t manifest themselves as I manifested. If it’s for two clubs to lead the league, I prefer to leave it as it is today, under the organization of the CBF”, she said this Sunday (16), in an interview with Radio 365.

Days before, he had already complained that Flamengo was trying to impose its will to have more money than the others, alongside Corinthians.

“What I put is the feeling of several clubs that are in Libra. I will no longer participate in meetings so as not to decide anything. I fight for presidents to leave vanity aside and think about the ecosystem”, he completed.

A Sheet tried to contact Rodolfo Landim, but he did not answer the phone or reply to the message sent by the reporter.

The problem is the division of money. Libra has a proposal of R$ 4.8 billion from Mubadala, an investment fund linked to the royal family of the United Arab Emirates. The LFF signed a R$ 4.85 billion document from Serengeti, North American. In both cases, the full value is only valid if you count on the 40 teams that will make up the A and B series in 2025. If this does not happen, the offer drops to less than half.

Until 2024, television rights belong to Grupo Globo.

In a meeting held in February, Libra members sought a consensus to present a new offer to LFF. So far, there has been no agreement.

The group agrees to set a maximum limit of 3.4 times for the difference between the highest and lowest collection teams. It also changed the engagement criterion (one of the compensation items) to only take into account the average game audience.

These are two claims made by the LFF and which, in the understanding of Libra’s top haters, were stalling the negotiations. They also think that Serengeti do Futebol Forte’s offer is not for real and that the fund does not have the R$ 4.85 billion.

After a transition period of five years, the 45-30-25 formula would also be reached, with 45% of the resources shared equally, 30% by the championship classification and 25% by the average audience. This is, at the moment, the knot that ties the conversations together.

It would be half of a decade in which Flamengo and Corinthians would maintain an advantage that could reach R$ 150 million over the competition because they would have, as of 2025, as a minimum amount to be received, what they pocketed in 2024. For LFF members, this is to maintain the current scenario and widen the financial abyss.

There are clubs in Libra that agree with this view, but they cannot change their minds from the benefiting clubs because of the unanimity clause. It makes it possible for Landim, owner of the behavior that has irritated his colleagues, for postponing decisions and trying to win through fatigue, to veto any changes.

Top hats recognize that the inclusion of this clause was an error.

It was an attempt to speed up discussions for the formation of the league and force the LFF associations to join Libra. In the words of one president, it was a strategy to sign now and discuss the rest later.

After meeting in February, Libra said it was close to changing the issue of unanimity. The reaction of presidents of Futebol Forte heard by the report is to only believe that when the paper is signed.

SEE THE 18 CLUBS THAT ARE PART OF LIBRA:

Bahia, Botafogo, Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Grêmio, Guarani, Ituano, Mirassol, Novorizontino, Palmeiras, Ponte Preta, Red Bull Bragantino, Sampaio Corrêa, Santos, São Paulo, Vasco and Vitória.

SEE THE 26 CLUBS THAT ARE PART OF THE LFF:

ABC (RN), Athletico, Atlético Mineiro, América-MG, Atlético Goianiense, Avai (SC), Brusque (SC), Chapecoense (SC), Coritiba (PR), Ceará, Criciúma (SC), CRB (AL), CSA (AL), Cuiabá (MT), Figueirense (SC), Fluminense (RJ), Fortaleza (CE), Goiás (GO), Internacional (RS), Juventude (RS), Londrina (PR), Nautical (PE), Worker (PR), Sport (PE), Vila Nova (GO) and Tombense.