Petraglia highlights unity at Athletico and talks about “the best SAF in Brazil”

After the press conference last Monday (27), the president of the Administrative Council of Athletico, Mario Celso Petraglia, spoke again this Wednesday (29). This time, the agent published a letter on the club’s official website and announced that the CAPGigante group is now called Athletico do Futuro.

Petraglia’s ticket was the only one registered for the election, that is, it will be acclaimed on December 8th for the management of the four-year period 2023-2027. The Deliberative Council will have Aguinaldo Coelho Farias as president, Paulo Afonso Cunali and Ney Pinto Varella Neto as vice-presidents, in addition to secretaries Carlos Valdir Henze Junior and Maurício Augusto Bonato.

Confirm informed by Petraglia in the letter, the members of the Administrative Council, in addition to him as president, will be Henrique Gaede, Ademir Adur, Enio Fornea, Luiz Alberto Kuster and José Lúcio Glomb.

Finally, the red and black commander valued the off-field achievements, spoke of “the best SAF in Brazil” and stated that, without debt, “Athletico is in a position to put together a great team to play in the year of our Centenary”.

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Check out the full note from President Mario Celso Petraglia

I have dedicated and will continue to dedicate the best years of my life to building an Athletico Gigante. Now is the time to build, all together, the Athletico of the Future. We live our best moment.

As I mentioned the day before yesterday (27) in my press conference, we have never been so well resolved in the club’s administrative and financial issues. Since the World Cup, due to non-compliance with the tripartite agreement by public entities, we lived with a sword over our head: the threat of a debt that reached more than R$ 1.2 billion and put the entire assets of the country at risk. Athletico. This issue has now been definitively resolved. The agreement showed that we were always right. The debt was reduced to the part that, in fact, is owed by the club and has already been resolved. We will pay it with the value of the naming rights. The contract with Ligga reveals that the stadium is now delivering its full economic potential, as evidenced by the full sale of seats and boxes. And the Arena complex will deliver much more, as we will announce soon.

At the same time, after a decades-long struggle by Athletico – often a solitary struggle –, we managed to create a league to take care of the clubs’ interests without any control from the CBF. It’s the Liga Forte União – which will give us R$200 million in just over two years. The first R$100 million is already in the club’s account. By the way, Athletico will have the highest revenue in its history this year.

And football? I can’t help but record here what I mentioned in the interview. Despite the threat of the tripartite’s debt – now resolved –, Athletico has had excellent results in recent years. We were two-time champions of the South American Championship, champions of the Copa do Brasil, three-time champions of Paranaense and, last year, runner-up of the Libertadores. In fact, from 2017 to now there have been five appearances in the Libertadores in seven years. It’s not a small thing, it needs to be recognized. And all this, to insist, without being able to invest everything necessary due to the threat of the tripartite – definitively removed.

I must note that younger people have no idea what Athletico was like before this transformation. A club without a stadium, without CT, fighting for minor titles and trying to stay in the first division. Now we have the best stadium, the best CT, we have accumulated important titles, we have modernized the club, we have created one of the valuable brands in Brazilian sport and an economic-financial condition that is envied by all teams. An unprecedented transformation.

Now it’s time to think about Athletico do Futuro. And this Athletico involves the creation of our SAF, already approved at the shareholders’ meeting. We will have the best SAF model in Brazil, I have no doubt. No club has Athletico’s conditions. With this, we will create the necessary context to compete, with more chances, for the most important titles in Brazilian and international football. Professionalization is the last step for Athletico do Futuro.

Regardless of the SAF, Athletico is in a position to put together a great team to play in the year of our Centenary. As I said at the beginning, we are experiencing our best moment. And at that moment, to my delight, the athletes all came together to form a union ticket. Important names, such as Ademir Adur, Enio Fornea and Henrique Gaede, return to the club to join the roster. They are people who helped me build this story. We also now have well-known and recognized athletes who will help us with these new challenges, such as Luiz Alberto Kuster and José Lúcio Glomb. Ultimately, it’s time to build, all together, the Athletico do Futuro, with ambition, enthusiasm, rebellion and innovation, the principles of the 4 winds of Hurricane. We live our best moment; we will reap our best results.

Mario Celso Petraglia
President of the Administrative Council

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