Corinthians youth chief assesses club’s return to MCF | OneFootball

On the afternoon of last Tuesday (25), Corinthians visited América-MG at Arena Urbsan, in Betim, Minas Gerais, in a match valid for the 13th round of the first phase of the 2026 Brazilian Under-17 Championship, and defeated the opponent 2-0. The goals scored by Ji-Paraná and Miguel Moscardo put Timão in third place in the national competition with 26 points — eight wins, two draws, and three losses — with 34 goals scored and 12 conceded.

Right after the end of the match, Corinthians youth academy technical coordinator Ricardo Drubscky, who arrived at the club at the beginning of this year, was asked about the institution’s return to the Brazilian Youth Clubs Movement (MCFB) after terminating the contract of 16-year-old forward Pedro Morelli, the central figure in Timão’s expulsion from the group in question.

Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel/Agência Corinthians

“We had this obstacle of being unable to take part in the Brazilian youth clubs movement, but then came the good news that we are indeed back. We were welcomed by the group; Damiani and I are already part of the movement, exchanging a lot of information. Invitations to tournaments all over Brazil have been pouring in, in addition to the international ones we are already taking part in,” he began.

The main pillar among the clubs that make up the MCFB is curbing any possible poaching of athletes between the ages of 10 and 14. During the period in which it was outside the Movement, Corinthians, no longer protected by the “gentlemen’s agreement,” ended up seeing some of its youth academy prospects leave the club for others.

“I think this achievement gives the department technical weight and puts us in an important place, bringing a wealth of experience to our athletes and our coaching staffs. The youth setup gains a lot from this. The happiness is enormous, and I hope that the time we spent out served as a good warm-up for us to come into these competitions we are playing with strength,” he continued.

Corinthians, which had been excluded from the movement, had been unable to compete in the main youth tournaments up to the Under-15 level, such as the Nike Cup and the Votorantim Cup — organized by MCFB clubs, which had begun to boycott Timão. After a little more than a year and a half of attempts to reach an agreement with Palmeiras, the two institutions reached a deal. Drubscky concluded by saying that he hopes the period in which Timão was outside the group served as experience so the club can return stronger to compete in the main tournaments.

“The happiness is enormous, and I hope that the time we spent out served as a good warm-up for us to come into these competitions we are playing with strength,” he concluded.

In addition to his role as technical coordinator, Ricardo Drubscky is known on the national scene for having worked as a coach for several Brazilian football clubs, such as Fluminense, Cruzeiro, Athletico-PR, Criciúma, Goiás, Vitória, among others.

Remember the case

The relationship between Corinthians and the MCF was broken in January 2025, when the club was excluded from the movement after a complaint filed by Palmeiras involving an alleged attempt to poach Pedro Morelli.

At the time, the player left the Barra Funda club and went on to play for Corinthians at the Under-14 level. The complaint was analyzed by the MCF ethics council and ultimately resulted in Timão’s exclusion. The process also featured strong involvement from João Paulo Sampaio, Palmeiras’ youth academy coordinator.

The Youth Clubs Movement establishes rules of conduct for negotiations involving athletes between the ages of 10 and 14. The rules seek to combat the poaching of players in an age range prior to the existence of a training contract, establishing parameters that go beyond the legislation applicable to athletes who do not yet have federative ties.

Corinthians’ departure from the group had consequences for the club. Without being part of the MCF, Timão no longer had the adherence of the main Brazilian teams to the movement’s rules regarding its youth academy. Since then, several players from the younger divisions have left Parque São Jorge.

In addition to the difficulty in retaining athletes, Corinthians was also prevented from participating in some important youth competitions, including the Under-15 Votorantim Cup and the Nike Cup for the same age group — organized precisely by teams that are part of the MCF. Since the exclusion, the black-and-white club has been seeking a solution with Palmeiras to regain its place in the movement. The case involving Pedro Morelli has since become one of the main points of discussion in the negotiations between the two boards.

Negotiations

During the month of May, Timão was negotiating an agreement with Palmeiras, the club the player represented before moving to Parque São Jorge, to become part of the MCF again by splitting the player’s economic rights.

For that to happen, the player’s family would have had to give up 50% of the rights and transfer them to the Barra Funda club. However, the offer was ultimately rejected. Under the agreement, Corinthians would pay Palmeiras R$1 million and, in return, the two clubs would begin sharing the player’s economic rights. Talks aimed at resolving the impasse continued for more than three months after Corinthians and Palmeiras reached an understanding. During this period, Morelli lost space within the Corinthians squad.

The forward stopped being called up for matches and later also stopped taking part in training sessions with the Corinthians team. In view of the lack of an agreement, the board came to consider the player’s departure as the necessary path to try to unlock the process of Corinthians’ return to the MCF.

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