Under tension, Santos chooses president in election with five candidates – 11/27/2023 – Sports

On December 9th, Santos defines the club’s president for the next three years, with a mandate from 2024 to 2026. The deadline for registration of candidates ended on the 19th, with five candidates for the position: Ricardo Agostinho, Wladimir Mattos, Rodrigo Marino, Maurício Maruca and Marcelo Teixeira.

The election will be held online and in person – only in Vila Belmiro – from 10am to 5pm. According to a survey carried out by the club, until last Tuesday (21), 16,377 members were able to vote.

The electoral college will close on December 4th, a date that also marks the deadline for members to choose to vote online or in person.

The dispute will take place three days after the end of the Brazilian Championship. On the field, the team is still fighting against an unprecedented relegation at a time considered by historians and former players to be the worst in the club’s 111 years.

In 2023, Santos accumulated negative marks. They fell in the first phase of the Campeonato Paulista and the Copa Sudamericana, in addition to having spent 11 of the 34 rounds of the Brazilian Championship so far in the relegation zone. They also suffered a historic defeat to Internacional, 7-1.

In the election that elected Andres Rueda, three years ago, 8,154 members participated in the vote. Rueda was chosen with 3,936 votes, 48.3% of the total.

Severely criticized for his management, the director is not seeking re-election –although the club’s statute allows it– and has also not officially indicated support for any candidacy in the electoral race.

The presidential elections in Santos are marked by a long history of controversies. In 2009, during the counting that gave victory to Luis Álvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro, those present started a huge confusion in the Vila Belmiro Marble Hall, throwing chairs. The police had to intervene with pepper gas.

Years later, in 2017, opponents of then-president Modesto Roma Júnior accused their rival of an alleged attempt at fraud with a maneuver to artificially increase the number of members eligible to vote.

In the same election, another colorful accusation: the creation of ghost partners with names like Augusto Pinochet, Al Capone and Don Corleone. The episode led councilors to veto internet voting.

During José Carlos Peres’ management, in 2020, the club had the first president in history to suffer an impediment.

In the current election, members of two parties exchanged barbs on social media after a debate promoted by a YouTube channel. One of them deleted the post, apologizing to the aforementioned candidate.

The candidate for ticket 1, “Resolve”, is the businessman and advertiser Ricardo Agostinho, 54. He worked in the pharmaceutical field and was an ambassador for Santos in São Paulo for three years, between 2017 and 2020. In the last election, he came in third place , with 1,070 votes (13.1%).

“[Minha principal proposta é] the SAF. We hired Bridge Sports Capital to implement the Santos World Football project, which will break all paradigms of Brazilian football. In it, the investor is obliged to respect that Santos does not become a mere satellite of other clubs, with the potential to be franchised to other investors in different countries. This opens doors for international expansion,” said Agostinho.

Candidate number 2, “Together for Santos FC”, is business administrator Wladimir Mattos, 58. Also with a degree in history, he has been working as a businessman in the maritime sector for almost 40 years. He has already been a councilor for two terms and is running for president for the first time.

“The construction of a sporting DNA for all categories, from youth to professional, which guarantees better performance, more assertive signings, squads with controlled costs and, finally, an increase in revenue from prizes and one-off sales. During my management of other sports clubs, football in Baixada Santista, I gained experience and made contacts that will help to implement these proposals”, stated Mattos.

Second placed in the last election, with 1,171 votes (14.4%), Rodrigo Marino, 49, is the name of the “Renova Santos” ticket. A counselor for five terms and also a former member of the management committee, he has a degree in accounting, a degree in business administration and foreign trade, in addition to being a lieutenant in the Army.

“My first proposal is a champion team, which I already have. I’ve been working on this goal since August because it can’t be created overnight. So much so that I already have a football director and six different, talented players. All of them have their say, just everything has not been signed for obvious reasons: I am not yet president. We will have a CT for the base at European level and I will say goodbye to the scalpers”, declared Marino.

Plate 4, “Inova Santos”, is betting on counselor Maurício Maruca, 66. Graduated in business administration, with a doctorate in public administration and environmental management, he has a professional career in the public and private sector. He was part of the club’s Risk and Loss Investigation Committee, between 2021 and 2022, which investigated cases such as the purchase of Leandro Damião.

“The main proposal is to bring a team with the best professionals on the market, each in their area, hired by the club, to take Santos back to its prominent place. The infrastructure will be renewed, the winning DNA reestablished, and the fans will once again be proud to support. To this end, we have already signed terms of commitment and an initial financial contribution guaranteed for the club to begin operating in this way from day 1 of management”, stated Maruca.

The last registered group, “Santos grande de novo”, is led by business administrator and lawyer Marcelo Teixeira, 59, who was president of the club for one term in the 1990s and another five between 2000 and 2009, a time when the Santos ended an 18-year title drought. He is pro-rector of Universidade Santa Cecília and chaired the Deliberative Council between 2018 and 2020.

“The pillar of our work is professional management, without losing the personal commitment and victorious roots of Santos. All our actions will be based on this premise”, said Teixeira, who promised “changes in the administrative concept”, “reducing debt “, “not spending more than generating revenue” and “getting the long-awaited Santos Arena off the ground.”

The uncertainty regarding the new owner of the presidential chair has so far frozen several agendas at the club, such as contract renewals, search for reinforcements, sales of athletes such as Marcos Leonardo and Joaquim, as well as definitions regarding the continuity of coach Marcelo Fernandes and the sports coordinator Alexandre Gallo.

The elected candidate will begin his term on January 1st with the mission of rescuing the club, which should not even compete in the Copa do Brasil next season.