Corinthians win case against former partner, dodge multi-million loss | OneFootball

Corinthians achieved an important victory in court this past Wednesday. The club's legal department, now headed by Pedro Soares with assistance from the law office of Dr. Ricardo Bianchini, won the case against SPR Sports, the company responsible for the Poderoso Timão store franchise, and avoided a huge financial loss.

Five appellate judges were responsible for deciding the case, which had been dragging on since 2022. Corinthians was losing the case 2 to 1, but the last two votes were declared this Wednesday, reversing the situation and giving the club the victory by 3 to 2.

The positive outcome was a reason for celebration among the club’s directors. With the victory, the club terminates the contract with SPR at no cost. The penalty, including taxes, was around R$ 20 million.

(Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians)

Understand the case

SPR held an exclusive contract with Corinthians to sell all textile products not manufactured by Nike. The agreement had been in effect since 2008.

Timão, however, was not satisfied with the company's work. The club claimed that SPR was bypassing labels that identify a product as original, selling items outside the official stores. This ultimately resulted in non-payment of royalties to Corinthians.

Additionally, SPR is undergoing judicial recovery, forcing many stores to close. The company also reportedly failed to deliver materials.

The club tried to amicably terminate this exclusivity contract, but was unsuccessful. Until, in 2022, during the administration of Duilio Monteiro Alves, Timão decided to enter the legal battle that concluded this Wednesday.

Possible losses

If Corinthians had lost the case, SPR would have resumed its contract with the club, including exclusivity. Therefore, Timão would have had to pay a penalty of approximately R$ 20 million to break the agreement.

The exclusivity clause, in fact, was removed from the new contract the club signed with Nike. Corinthians now also has partnerships with other brands, such as Approve, Centauro, among others. Thus, Timão could have lost the possibility of making other collaborations due to SPR's return.

Of all the revenue collected from products sold by Corinthians, 80% comes from textile items. This is, therefore, a significant portion of the club's income.

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