Corinthians turn to AGU over Neo Química Arena debt talks with Caixa | OneFootball

Corinthians is seeking a new alternative to renegotiate the financing of Neo Química Arena and has turned to the federal government in an attempt to move talks forward with Caixa Econômica Federal. On Tuesday (1st), the club sent a formal request to the Office of the Attorney General of the Union (AGU) asking for assistance in the negotiations, according to information published by UOL Esporte.

The idea of the black-and-white board is for the AGU to act as an intermediary and make a joint conversation between Corinthians and Caixa possible. Internally, the understanding is that the financial institution, as a public bank, would have limitations in making broader changes to the contract on its own initiative.

Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Ag. Corinthians

The request made to the AGU is part of a series of measures adopted by the club in an attempt to change the current financing conditions. Among the points Corinthians wants to reassess are the calculations that determined the outstanding debt balance, the amounts already paid, the interest charged, and the agreement signed in 2022, when Duílio Monteiro Alves was president.

With the participation of a federal body in the talks, Corinthians hopes to create conditions for the parties to find a new formula for payment. The board intends to present its questions regarding the current figures and seek a solution that can be accepted by both the club and Caixa.

The initiative, however, began to be prepared even before the release of the report prepared by expert Anísio Castelo Branco. On Wednesday afternoon (2), during a meeting at Parque São Jorge, club officials decided that the study could be taken to Caixa when negotiations resume.

The attempt to change the financing is not new. Corinthians has been trying to reduce the impact of the debt on its finances since 2025, when it resumed direct negotiations with Caixa and presented a proposal to reduce the charges applied to the debt.

At that time, one of the possibilities considered involved replacing the current adjustment, based on the CDI plus 2%, with a model that would have less financial impact on the club. The discussions also involved the management of the fund linked to the arena and the use of the naming rights as one of the tools to help solve the liability.

The alternatives discussed, however, did not result in a definitive agreement between the parties. Faced with the deadlock, Corinthians is now trying to involve the AGU in the talks as a way to find a path toward renegotiation.

The weight of the financing is one of the board’s main concerns. Currently, the contract provides for the debt to be updated by the CDI plus 2%, a mechanism that causes the balance to grow more significantly during periods of high interest rates.

Reducing this cost was already one of the club’s priorities last year. In 2025, Corinthians was working with the possibility of cutting by nearly half the rate applied to the financing. At that time, the debt was estimated at approximately R$ 675 million, after having already surpassed the R$ 700 million mark.

The amount currently considered by the club is around R$ 650 million. The total, however, remains subject to the adjustments provided for in the contract, in addition to deductions resulting from payments made over the period.

The Corinthians board also began working with a more aggressive projection for the balance. In a preliminary estimate, the club believes the debt could be reduced to somewhere between R$ 450 million and R$ 500 million. This calculation, however, has not yet been validated by Caixa and depends on the conclusion of Corinthians’ internal analyses.

In the black-and-white club’s assessment, an important part of the difference is related to the interest accumulated since 2019. The understanding is that these charges keep the debt high and make it difficult to reduce it until full settlement, even if some of the questions raised in Anísio Castelo Branco’s study are confirmed.

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