Chairman responds to SAFIEL, raises concerns over offer to help Corinthians

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Central do Timão

·8 January 2026

Chairman responds to SAFIEL, raises concerns over offer to help Corinthians

By Daniel Keppler / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On Tuesday (6th), the creators of the SAFIEL project, which aims to establish a SAF to manage Corinthians' football operations with an investment of at least R$ 1.6 billion in shares, sent club officials an addendum to the memorandum of understanding presented in October 2025. This includes an offer to allocate resources to lift the transfer ban imposed by FIFA on the Alvinegro and settle the debt with Caixa for the construction of the Neo Química Arena.

The promise is that these resources would be transferred through a loan and an advance, subject to preconditions to be assumed by Corinthians. The loan, aimed at resolving the transfer ban, would occur after the signing of the memorandum of understanding. The advance, intended to settle the debt with Caixa, would only be made after this signing, an audit of the club, and the approval of the SAF's establishment by the club's internal bodies.

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Photo: Reproduction/Corinthians

Central do Timão found that the group has already received at least one response to the offer. Romeu Tuma Júnior, president of the Deliberative Council (CD) and one of the four recipients of the email through which the addendum was presented, sent SAFIEL a statement with his impressions of the proposal's terms, listing some points that were analyzed with reservations.

One of the issues raised, according to the investigation, was a supposed contradiction between the offer of “immediate contribution” and the conditions set for this contribution to occur, focusing on the advance offer to settle Corinthians' debt with Caixa. The argument was that by conditioning the transfer of funds to the completion of an audit and the approval of the SAF by internal bodies, the contribution would not be immediate due to the time required to meet these conditions, both considered complex.

It's important to contextualize, regarding this topic, that although rumors have emerged, especially among fans on social media, that the offer included a six-month deadline to transfer the amounts related to settling the debt with Caixa, the formal document with the proposal's terms does not contain any deadline in this regard. On the contrary, this contribution is outlined in item 4, which indeed addresses “immediate transfers” in its introduction.

Furthermore, it was noted that the memorandum not only requires the establishment of a SAF but also the effective celebration of the partnership between Corinthians and SAFIEL within the new administrative structure, in a context where the club's statute does not provide a procedure for analyzing and approving this topic, as the document has not been updated to comply with the SAF Law (14.193/2021).

It is worth remembering that this context had already been addressed by the SAFIEL creators during a public hearing at Parque São Jorge in December, which discussed the topic. On that occasion, the group supported the adaptation of the statute to include a specific procedure for conducting internal debates on the topic, even presenting a proposed amendment to fill this gap.

Another part of the response, as found, shows concern about the magnitude of the obligations imposed on Corinthians to benefit from the contributions, pointing out a supposed disproportion between these obligations and the risks the club currently faces due to the problems highlighted in the memorandum – the transfer ban and the debt with Caixa.

Additionally, the lack of details on how the contributions would be made was mentioned, as the memorandum did not indicate issues such as payment deadlines, what guarantees would be required, what rates would be charged, and other terms on which the transfers would occur, beyond the already explained conditions. The interpretation is that this lack of information brings legal uncertainty and directly compromises the club's ability to objectively analyze the offer.

Central do Timão also found that President Osmar Stabile has not yet officially commented on SAFIEL's offer. Internally, the Alvinegro leader received advice from allies to forward the terms of the addendum for analysis by the compliance department, as was done with the memorandum of understanding in October. However, it was not possible to confirm if the suggestion was followed.

Stabile's silence on the matter is seen as one of the central points of the lack of institutional gestures from Corinthians regarding SAFIEL's approaches, according to findings. Internally, the interpretation is that initiating a debate on the establishment of a SAF at Corinthians is exclusively up to the presidency, as it is a management act. This would be one of the reasons why Tuma did not establish an exclusive committee to discuss the topic at Parque São Jorge.

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