Statute reform plan allows SAF at Corinthians, but with conditions | OneFootball

The Deliberative Council of Corinthians presented on Monday, through its president, Romeu Tuma Júnior, the draft of the statute reform. The document, which is already published on the club's official website, paves the way for a possible transformation of Timão into a SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol), but imposes some conditions for this.

According to one of the articles of the project, the potential SAF should be approved by the Cori (Guidance Council) and the Deliberative Council, requiring favorable votes from at least two-thirds of the voting council members.

Furthermore, the document makes it clear that it is “prohibited, under any circumstances, for external investors to acquire the majority control of the SAF.” In other words, Corinthians would retain at least 51% of the shares, ensuring that institutional control remains under the responsibility of the members.

The project also requires an “independent audit and the formal process of technical and multidisciplinary ‘due diligence’ aimed at a detailed verification of the club's and the proposed operation's economic, financial, accounting, legal, labor, tax, contractual, environmental, and asset situation.” Only after this entire process, with the approval of the Council and Cori, could a potential SAF be voted on by the members in a General Assembly, depending on the “favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the members.”

(Photo: André da Silva Costa/Gazeta Press)

Romeu speaks out

During a press conference, Romeu Tuma Júnior delved into the subject. He, in addition to ensuring that he does not intend to make a potential SAF at Corinthians unfeasible, explained that Cori's opinion on the matter will be only a recommendation, and not binding.

“Some people speculate that I wanted to make SAF unfeasible, nothing to do with it. There are several models of SAF. I've been following it since it went to Congress, it's a subject that interests me. I am a member of an association I joined at the age of two. There are several models, like the SAF of the association itself. Corinthians can have its own SAF. If we manage to approve this reform, we will have a great path. It can be a model, respecting all models. I will never judge. Corinthians may understand that tomorrow we will have a SAF of the association itself, as is the case with Fortaleza,” he declared.

The SAF topic still faces resistance behind the scenes, but it is already being debated among Corinthians fans. A clear example is the SAFiel, a project that foresees the participation of fans as shareholders and will be officially launched this Tuesday at the Football Museum.

Next steps

The draft still needs to be submitted to two votes to come into effect. Initially, the document will have to be approved by the Corinthians Deliberative Council, in a vote scheduled for November. In December, it will be the members' turn to ratify or not the DC's decision in a General Assembly.

If approved, the new statute will take effect immediately. However, the possibility of voting for the Fiel Torcedor should be left for the 2030 elections. The 2026 election should still be restricted to the current model, considering a transition rule.

The Statute Reform Commission has been working on the text since last year. The draft was developed based on internal debates and suggestions from organized external movements, such as Gaviões da Fiel itself, which advocated for the right to vote for the Fiel Torcedor. According to Romeu Tuma Júnior, more than 30 proposals were filed with the Secretariat and forwarded to the Commission.

The final report was delivered to Romeu on October 10th. The Council president expects the new statute to be approved by the end of this year and come into effect at the beginning of 2026.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.