Bombshell: prosecutor reports Fla-Flu over Maracanã, backs Vasco | OneFootball

A filing submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ) promises to shake up the structure of Rio football and the management of the Maracanã. Dated September 19, 2026, the legal complaint was brought against Flamengo, Fluminense, the State of Rio de Janeiro (through the Civil House Secretariat), and the concessionaire Fla-Flu Serviços S.A.. The document demands that Vasco SAF and Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama be immediately notified as interested parties so they can closely follow the investigation into undue favoritism and persecution against the team from São Januário.

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Who filed the action and the role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office

Unlike what many imagined in the first rumors, the measure did not come from a judge or appellate judge, nor was it filed by Vasco’s legal department. The initiative came from Phelipe Monteiro Mastra Fontoura, a lawyer and state attorney for Santa Catarina, who decided to act on his own behalf and as a Brazilian citizen. Drawing on his legal background, he chose to take the matter to Rio’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, the body responsible for overseeing whether public assets are being managed within the law and for defending the interests of society.

The central focus of the complaint challenges the way the sports complex has been handled by the rival duo. Although the stadium belongs to the state government, the concessionaire’s management has allegedly been acting as if the venue were the private property of Flamengo and Fluminense, ignoring the fact that the concession agreement expressly prohibits exclusive use and bans any discriminatory treatment or decisions without technical basis against the state’s other clubs.

The grass excuse under suspicion

The document details that the repeated denials of dates to Vasco have always relied on the same argument: the need to preserve the condition of the pitch. However, the filing points to a blatant inconsistency in the schedule of matches at São Januário and at the city’s main stage. While the concessionaire blocks the Giant claiming the turf cannot handle it, the managing duo holds heavy marathons of matches with minimal intervals, filling the calendar to the point of wearing out the pitch and then using that very wear and tear as justification to shut the gates to third parties.

The filing cites an older history of court decisions that have already exposed this kind of maneuver. In 2022 and 2023, judges had to intervene to authorize Cruz-Maltino’s matches against Sport, Palmeiras, and Atlético-MG, dismantling the reports presented by the duo. The most recent case happened in August 2026, when the club had its request vetoed to face Vitória in the Copa do Brasil, under the claim of a “technical window” to recover the field for the NFL game.

Breach of agreement signed between the clubs

Another point of enormous legal weight raised by the state attorney is the disrespect for the Memorandum of Understanding jointly signed by Flamengo, Fluminense, and Vasco. The approved agreement provided for the right to four home matches per year for the club from São Januário in 2025 and 2026, in addition to the normal staging of state derby matches, establishing that any veto could only happen based on strictly proven technical and operational criteria.

The filing even recalls a statement by the Rio Court of Justice, which had already warned that trying to tear up this amicable agreement and create artificial barriers amounts to contradictory behavior and fatally violates the principle of good faith. By blocking the matches without presenting unquestionable data, the managers would be violating commitments undertaken in the public bidding process itself.

Vasco knocked out Fluminense in the Copa do Brasil at the Maracanã – Photo: Matheus Lima/Vasco

Suspicion of conflict of interest in oversight

The document filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office goes further and asks for possible overlapping professional relationships within the chain of command to be thoroughly examined. The text points to the existence of ties between people involved in oversight on behalf of the State, members of the concessionaire, and figures linked to Flamengo. The complaint makes it clear that it is not accusing anyone of a crime in advance, but it demands that the public body investigate whether there is a conflict of interest capable of compromising the impartiality of the inspections.

To put an end once and for all to arbitrary decisions, the author demands that the Public Prosecutor’s Office require the creation of clear, transparent, and public rules for the use of the stadium. Among the requests are the establishment of a mandatory minimum interval between matches, a monthly cap on games to avoid overloading the pitch, the requirement of reports signed by agronomists with a Technical Responsibility Record (ART), and the obligation to provide written justification for any refusal.

The next steps and the demands made to the Public Prosecutor’s Office

The state attorney requests the immediate opening of a civil inquiry so that the concessionaire must hand over all sports calendars, the usage requests made by the clubs, work schedules, Independent Verifier reports, and proof of payment of the fines already imposed by the State. If baseless denials continue to happen, he asks that the Prosecutor’s Office file a Public Civil Action to block any veto not supported by an independent technical report.

With notification recommended for both the board and the SAF of Vasco, the expectation is that the club’s legal department will provide the full history of blocks suffered since 2022. The move opens a new front of pressure against abuses at the stadium and places the concessionaire under the authorities’ scrutiny, reinforcing the fight for the biggest stage in Brazilian football to once again be treated as a heritage belonging to all fans.

Vasco fans want the right to watch the club’s matches at the Maracanã – Photo: João Gabriel Alves/Vasco

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