Flamengo Disney? Bap draws unusual comparison when discussing club’s growth | OneFootball

Flamengo President Luiz Eduardo Baptista Cited Disney When Talking About Flamengo

Flamengo is the Disney of football. At least, that’s how Luiz Eduardo Baptista sees the potential that the red-and-black club has in football. With the goal of gaining ‘new fans’ all over the world and generating revenue even in years without titles, the president of Mengão wants to turn the Most Beloved into an ‘Enchanted World’.

— We are creating a management model in which the growth of Flamengo does not depend on sporting success. Therefore, we will continue to grow, even if Flamengo doesn’t win everything. If we win everything, it will be great for the fans, like me, and for the club. But if we don’t win, we will keep growing. There are many commercial opportunities. It’s football, but it doesn’t have to be limited to just football. That’s the concept of treating the club like Disney: you sell dreams, you sell entertainment, you sell products, you sell a home… — said Bap, in an interview with ‘AS’, from Spain.

— It’s not for any other reason that you see European clubs going to America, seeking new fans in Asia, doing pre-seasons abroad and opening new markets. This is like the exploration of the world in the 15th and 16th centuries — it’s the same logic. Only, instead of taking caravels and dominating the world overseas, you try to do this by taking planes and going to China with a football team. In the end, it’s about opening new markets for your product — he added.

MICKEY OF THE AMERICAS?

Flamengo won practically everything in 2025. Therefore, the club collected millions in prizes and revenue. However, Bap guarantees that the club would still make a profit even if it went a whole year without a title, thanks to the already consolidated revenues that the Rubro-Negro has.

— Similarly, we are doing this with Flamengo in Brazil and South America. The result has been very positive. Of course, when you win, other revenues grow even more. But if Flamengo hadn’t been champion last year, its revenues would still have grown by about 25%. In other words, even if Flamengo had lost everything, it still would have increased its earnings by 25% — Bap concluded.

AND WHAT ABOUT FLAMENGO?

If Flamengo can survive without a title, according to Bap, the fans want trophies. And the team could get closer to another one this Sunday (15), when it faces Botafogo in the quarterfinals of the Campeonato Carioca. The match kicks off at 5:30 p.m. (Brasília time), at Engenhão.

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