Juvenal aide and reform architect: opposition's new VP for Marcelinho | OneFootball

After Carlos Sadi’s downfall due to prejudiced remarks made in an interview, São Paulo’s opposition is close to finalizing the name of Eduardo Alfano as the vice-presidential candidate on the ticket that will carry the name of Marcelinho Portugal Gouvêa in the club’s next presidential election, scheduled for December.

The information was first reported by the portal UOL. According to what AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR has learned, Alfano’s name was suggested by consensus among the political groups of the so-called “root opposition” (those opposed to the administration since the days of Julio Casares) and has the backing of Olten Ayres de Abreu, president of the Deliberative Council and one of the main guarantors of Marcelinho’s campaign (Sadi belonged to his political group).

Alfano recently became known to the fans for having chaired the committee that drafted the bylaw reform, but he is a longtime familiar face in the halls of Morumbi. During Juvenal Juvêncio’s fourth and final term, he served as director of international relations and vice president of communications and marketing, when he worked alongside… Julio Casares.

Despite his résumé, however, Alfano has always been more aligned with the opposition than with the ruling group. In 2014, for example, close to Marco Aurélio Cunha, even while serving as one of Juvenal’s directors, he backed Kalil Rocha Abdalla in the election that ended with Carlos Miguel Aidar victorious. The following year, he was approached by the then-president to take over professional football in place of Ataíde Gil Guerreiro, but declined the offer because of disagreements with the administration.

With a measured profile and respected internally on the Council, Alfano was constantly invited to hold positions in the administrations that followed, under Carlos Augusto Barros e Silva, known as Leco, and Casares. In May, speaking to the portal Globo Esporte, he said he favored a SAF at Tricolor. It is no coincidence that the proposals to make the Bylaws more flexible in the defeated reform—allowing easier feasibility studies for implementing the model at the club—were his.

The formal announcement of Alfano’s name should be made in the coming days, the report found.

Ticket Structure and Division of Positions

With Alfano joining the ticket, the distribution of candidacies for the club’s collegiate bodies by position would be outlined as follows:

Executive Board Presidency: Marcelinho Portugal Gouvêa

Executive Vice Presidency: Eduardo Alfano

Deliberative Council Presidency: Fábio Mariz

Deliberative Council Vice Presidency: Caio Forjaz

Nominations to the Board of Directors: Flávio Marques and Daurio Speranzini

The unification of the opposition groups puts an end to the uncertainty caused by Rogério Caboclo’s launched and failed pre-candidacy and creates a cohesive opposition bloc. The presence of names such as Fábio Mariz and Caio Forjaz on the Deliberative Council ticket, together with the nominations of Flávio Marques and Daurio Speranzini to the Board of Directors, signals a strategic move to ensure governance and representation in Morumbi’s main decision-making centers.

With the ticket formalized, the opposition is now focusing on winning votes among the 260 members of the Deliberative Council (160 lifetime members and 100 elected members), while awaiting the outcome of the bylaw reform votes to define the campaign’s final guidelines.

The Fall of Carlos Sadi

The addition of a new name to São Paulo’s opposition ticket had already been anticipated by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR at the beginning of the month, given the negative repercussions caused by elitist and prejudiced remarks made by councilman Carlos Sadi.

Although Sadi’s nomination had not been made official, the move intensified internal debate and triggered public statements of repudiation from the pre-candidate, including from his main political ally, Olten Ayres de Abreu, president of the Deliberative Council, and from groups that make up the opposition bloc, including his own.

The statements caused strong discomfort and were rebutted by club leaders:

Marcelinho Portugal Gouvêa (Presidential Candidate): He repudiated the content of the interview, stressing that the ticket had not been officially launched. “Sadi is a person I respect and who is by our side in defending São Paulo, but he was unfortunate in his remarks. I disagree with the content of what was said. As for the candidacy, it should be remembered that there has been no final definition regarding the names, nor any official launch.”

Olten Ayres de Abreu (President of the Deliberative Council): A member of the Força São Paulo group, Olten emphasized that Sadi’s nomination had not been endorsed by the collective and rejected the elitist stance. “São Paulo’s tradition cannot be used to justify elitism or to disqualify people because of their social condition. No one is any less of a São Paulo supporter for living in Itaquera, in Paraisópolis, or anywhere else.”

Salve o Tricolor Paulista Group (STP): In a statement, the opposition group described the remarks as “unfortunate and politically incorrect,” saying they were made in a strictly personal capacity, but added that the councilman had shown regret after speaking with the coordinators.

Carlos Sadi’s Statements

The remarks were made on August 26, during a live interview on the São Paulo Digital channel. While criticizing the current political structure and the profile of club members, the councilman made pejorative references to neighborhoods and social classes:

“São Paulo has lost its glamour. ‘Oh, but are you nostalgic?’ No. (…) If I didn’t have glamour, I’d support Corinthians and live in Itaquera, sorry. I really am elitist (…). Now you’ve put the lower clergy to work in here, man. Sorry, you married a woman from Paraisópolis and now her whole family is living with you, you get it?”

Sadi also made pejorative remarks about the age and behavior of fellow Council members during the vote on the bylaw reform, referring to them as “Methuselahs” and comparing them to “coastal hicks who work for me in Guarujá.” At another moment, he questioned the body’s political composition:

“What they [the ruling group] did was: let’s elect people who spell exception with an X, others who like two bologna sandwiches, and so on. That way you control Congress in your favor.”

Sadi’s Position and Uncertainty Over the Ticket

In his defense, Carlos Sadi acknowledged that he had expressed himself poorly and claimed he had been misunderstood regarding the aim of his criticism:

“It was a mistake. I was misunderstood, the world has changed. What I meant was that the people who took over the club did not grasp the history and the size of the club, but I didn’t know how to express myself. Matter closed.”

Despite the retraction, Sadi’s staying on as the name for the vice presidency is practically ruled out. The opposition groups are expected in the coming days to align on the definition of a new name to join Marcelinho Portugal Gouvêa on the ticket before the official announcement of the race.

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