what to expect from the club in 2024?

O Athletico disappointed the fans by being left out of the Libertadores in the year of its centenary. Even so, the club will have a calendar full of championships in 2024 with Paranaense, Sul-Americana, Brasileirão and Copa do Brasil.

The club’s expectation, of course, is to go as far as it can in all competitions and once again lift national and international cups. President Mario Celso Petraglia has already commented on the focus on a possible third championship for Sula, but the fans really dream of the Brazilian’s double.

Regardless of which cup they will seek, Furacão needs, firstly, to choose the coach correctly and put together a strong and competitive team. Outside the field, Athletico is restructuring its management, has resolved its stadium’s outstanding issues, has its accounts up to date and should achieve a record surplus after the sale of Vitor Roque to Barcelona and the naming rights from the Arena. The next step is the sale of Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF).

UmDois Esportes projects what fans can expect from Athletico in 2024:

Finding the ideal technician

The club’s first step for next year has to be the right choice for the coach. With a quality squad in 2023, Athletico did not achieve major goals largely due to the technical command. Domènec Torrent is Petraglia’s favorite, but has not yet given an answer on the proposal presented. Cuca has already been discarded.

Furacão continues to keep an eye on the market, in the search for viable names, but with caution. The club is the only one in Serie A without a coach, but it does not want to repeat mistakes and again have to change leadership throughout the year – Athletico has not started and finished the season with the same coach since the 1980s.

Focus on football

With the resolution of the Tripartite agreement, the sale of naming rights of the Arena and the cash flow, off-field topics that were of great concern to the club, Athletico’s focus now needs to be on hiring good names to assemble a competitive team.

And the final stretch of 2023 showed signs that investment will be high. In addition to defender Mateo Gamarra It’s from striker Romeo Benítez, which together cost more than R$30 million to the red and black coffers, Athletico changed its philosophy and is looking for more experienced players without thinking much about a possible resale, such as right-back Leo Godoy and striker Mastriani. The Argentine, who is already closed, is 28 years old, while the Uruguayan, in the final stretch of negotiations, is 30 years old.

The club also released athletes who did not perform in 2023, full-back Bruno Peres and striker Thiago Andrade for example, and renewed the experienced and squad leaders Fernandinho and Pablo. Furacão, however, still needs to build up the group so as not to suffer from a lack of replacements throughout the year, as happened this season.

Return to winning major titles

Since 2018, Athletico has been establishing itself among the teams fighting for titles in major championships, but in 2022 and 2023 it failed to win any significant trophy. The objective needs to be to resume achievements so that the centenary is crowned in style.

In recent years, the club’s focus has always been on the knockout stages, leaving the Brazilian Championship in the background. Without the Libertadores, the fans have already defined that they want and believe in a second Brasileirão championship. The challenge, once again, will be to overcome the high-investment teams that already have SAF’s set up.

Sale of SAF

Petraglia’s main objective for Athletico is the sale of SAF. In 2023, the club has already made several moves to send everything to investors. The agent even revealed in interviews all the steps and the total valuation value, with all assets, of R$2.5 billion.

The centenary, in addition to the historic milestone, could be the year in which this goal is achieved and a new era for the club.