Corinthians director on Hugo Souza abuse, semi-final, fans, signings

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Central do Timão

·24 February 2026

Corinthians director on Hugo Souza abuse, semi-final, fans, signings

By Fabio Luigi / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the afternoon of this Monday (23), the São Paulo Football Federation (FPF) held the technical council for the semifinals of the Paulista Championship. It is worth remembering that Corinthians will face Novorizontino next Saturday (28), at 8:30 PM (Brasília time), at the Jorge Ismael de Biasi Stadium. Having accumulated the lowest score among the four semifinalists, the Alvinegro will play the match away from home.

Football executive Marcelo Paz attended the event representing Alvinegro and was questioned about the racism incident involving goalkeeper Hugo Souza. The number 1 suffered racist insults from two Portuguesa fans after Corinthians' classification over the Canindé team, in the penalty shootout, in the state quarterfinals.

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Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

"I will start with what I think is most important, which is to repudiate what happened yesterday with Hugo Souza, right? I think it can't be tolerated, it can't be called an isolated case. Those people, it's not the institution, it's not the Portuguesa fans, but those people who committed a reprehensible act against Hugo, they deserve the appropriate punishments, because this is didactic, it's pedagogical and Hugo doesn't deserve it, no one deserves it,” he began.

Then, the executive emphasized the support Corinthians has been giving to the goalkeeper and revealed that he sought the FPF demanding action.

"So, we have already contacted the São Paulo Federation about this, Portuguesa has also issued a note repudiating the situation. If Hugo wishes to proceed with the police process, whatever it may be, we will give him all the support, it can't be accepted, it can't be tolerated. And I know that society today no longer accepts this kind of situation and even if it did, we would not accept it. So, unfortunately, we have to be talking about this, when we had a great game. I went to Canindé for the first time, I had never been to Canindé, Portuguesa had never faced Fortaleza, right? I don't know if you know about my history with Fortaleza.”

"And now here at Corinthians, I went to Canindé and was very well received, historic stadium, very kind Portuguesa executives, a great game, Portuguesa played a great game. But the strength of Corinthians prevailed there, right? The grit, the strategy, right? The bench that came in and helped, it's clean, and the great goal by Vitinho and then the star not only of Hugo, right? Who saved the penalties, but all our shooters were also competent. A great duel, the whole of Brazil watched and it's good that we advanced,” he continued.

Paz also commented on his expectations for the Paulista Championship semifinal, against Novorizontino, away from home, next Saturday. The executive praised the quality, structure, and recent work of the Novo Horizonte team, which has been close to achieving promotion to the national first division in recent years.

The executive emphasized that Corinthians would have liked the match to take place on Sunday, citing the short rest time for the team at the start of the season, but mentioned that the date is aligned with the tournament's broadcasting rights holders. Paz also said that Novorizontino agreed to a possible Sunday match.

"And now Novorizontino, a great team, very well trained, very structured, everything works there at Novorizontino, structure, payment on time, athlete recovery, good squad, the team that has been knocking on the door in Serie B for several years trying to move up, didn't get there by chance, got there by merit, beat Palmeiras during the first phase, beat Santos yesterday with merit as well. So, a difficult game we will have. Unfortunately, on Saturday, we wanted it to be on Sunday”.

“We wished it was on Sunday, because Corinthians has been, since the game against Athletico-PR, resting only three days from one game to the next, which is not ideal rest. The ideal recovery rest is from the fourth day, then you have a complete recovery of the player who has played, four days later he is fit to play again. Every three days is bad, so it was three days from the Paranaense to this Portuguesa game, it will be three days from Portuguesa to Cruzeiro and only three days from Cruzeiro to the semifinal.”

“So it wouldn't cause technical harm in terms of rest, recovery. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible, due to commercial, contractual issues, which is not a criticism of the Federation at all, the Federation does what is possible, but there are contracts, the holders chose a game on Saturday, a game on Sunday, chose which game to do, and unfortunately, there will be this situation, that Novo Horizonte itself agreed to play on Sunday, in the meeting that took place recently, Novorizontino also wanted to play on Sunday, but it wasn't possible with the holders' issue, and we respect that, but I have to say that it is something that generates technical harm. And a great game that will be there, that we can use our strength, our competence, the planning, to perhaps reach another final,” he added.

Soon after, Paz was questioned about Corinthians' search in the market, specifically for a defender, after Cacá's loan to Vitória. Currently, Timão has Gustavo Henrique, Gabriel Paulista, André Ramalho, and João Pedro Thoca for the position. Besides them, Iago Machado, 17 years old and one of the main promises of the Corinthians youth academy, has been training with the professional squad.

So far, Corinthians has signed six reinforcements for the season: defender Gabriel Paulista, right-back Pedro Milans, midfielder Allan, midfielder Matheus Pereira, midfielder Zacaria Labyad, and forward Kaio César. All on loan or free in the market.

"I don't see the defense as a lacking sector. I don't see it. We have four good defenders. There's Raniele who can play as a defender if needed. And there's Iago, who came from the youth academy, and is permanently training as a professional. At some point, Dorival will launch him, with a lot of patience, without any anxiety to launch the boy. I don't see it as a lacking sector. It's what I said: as long as the window is open, there may be signings. The market movement may happen. This is natural.“

“Always with the aim of qualifying our team. We have been doing this work of qualification, giving more options to Dorival, providing more pieces, even to face this routine of games every three days and every four days with high performance. This is our job. There is also a budget limitation. Money is not infinite. So we have to balance all this, but as long as the window is open, we will be attentive.”

Next, Marcelo Paz responded about the division of tickets for Corinthians fans in Novo Horizonte, emphasizing that this is an institutional matter. In the quarterfinals, against Portuguesa, Fiel had access to 7,500 tickets, just like the opponents.

"This conversation is more conducted by the game operation staff, who deal with the number of fans, the accesses. I am sure there will be a quick understanding, as there was with Portuguesa, which also had the greatness to divide the stadium. I think that was nice and the show was very beautiful because of it. I hope there in Novo Horizonte, I know there will be a lot of fans, if there are eleven thousand seats for Corinthians, the fans will fill it. Of course, it won't be like that, Novo Horizonte won't do that, but our very competent game operation sector is certainly dealing with it.”

The Corinthians executive also revealed his opinion regarding the debate about the possible end of single-fan bases in São Paulo. Since 2016, by determination of the MP-SP, the classics between the main teams in the state occur only with fans of the home team, unlike other federations. Last Sunday (22), before the quarterfinal match of the Paulistão, Corinthians and Portuguesa carried out an action for the end of the measure, which has lasted almost ten years.

In his response, Paz recalled the classics between Ceará and Fortaleza, at the time he was an executive of Leão do Picci.

"I don't get into this area. On a personal level, I think football gains a lot when there is a classic with two fan bases. The show, the game is different when there are two fan bases. I experienced this a lot in the Northeast. Classics between Fortaleza and Ceará were always such a great spectacle. Before the game started, the fans were already dueling in a good sense. Which mosaic is more beautiful, which party is more beautiful, balloons, and so on. So this brings more appeal to the television audience, to those who are fans. So I am a fan, but I don't feel qualified to speak about public safety. Here, in the state of São Paulo, there is a prohibition, because there must be some history. However, if we can move towards cultural evolution, in people's behavior, to have the audience of both teams again, I think it is a victory for society, football wins, and society wins.“

But those who can best say this are the competent authorities, who determined it and, perhaps, can review this issue. And, obviously, the fact that people are organized by Corinthians and Portuguesa, and make this movement, shows what? Maturity. It shows greatness, it shows a desire to do something. And, from there, good examples must come, right? Because I believe there are no two fan bases today due to violence. So this must be avoided, it must be barred. There are gestures from both sides that show that it is possible to have both fan bases in the stadium and I think football wins and so does everything in society,” he pondered.

Finally, Marcelo Paz detailed the situation of midfielder Alex Santana. The midfielder was signed by Corinthians in mid-2024, from Athletico, being important in the team's rise in the Brasileirão that year (from Z4 to the 2025 Pre-Libertadores) and being part of the team that won the 2025 Paulistão, against Palmeiras. He also played in the debut match of last year's Copa do Brasil title campaign, against Novorizontino.

However, precisely after Dorival Júnior's arrival, at the end of April last year, he lost space in the squad and ended up being loaned to Grêmio for the rest of the season. There, he didn't have much continuity and played in only ten matches. With a contract until 2027 with Corinthians, Alex Santana reported back to the CT Joaquim Grava at the beginning of 2026, but, as it seems, he should not stay at the club. He is training separately from the squad. With the Corinthians jersey, he scored two goals in 37 matches.

"He should move to another club, he is an athlete we respect a lot, who has a history in Brazilian football, but at the moment he should not be part of Corinthians' plans and, naturally, the tendency is for him to move to another club“, concluded the executive.

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