No risk of a veto! Vasco and Lamacchia back SAF sale approval

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Papo na Colina

·28 August 2026

No risk of a veto! Vasco and Lamacchia back SAF sale approval

The opening of the first formal investigation in the history of the National Agency for Football Regulation and Sustainability (ANRESF) has not shaken the optimism behind the scenes at São Januário or at Almirante Participações. Both the Vasco leadership and the legal representatives of investor Marcos Lamacchia received the notification calmly and are fully convinced that the sale of the controlling stake in Vasco SAF will be approved without vetoes.

The investigation by the CBF regulatory body focuses on Article 86 of the Financial Sustainability Regulations, which prohibits the same person from having simultaneous control or influence over clubs in the same division — an issue raised by rivals because Marcos is the stepson of Leila Pereira, president of Palmeiras until December 2027.

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Lamacchia’s legal team had already been in preventive talks with the agency and had presented the corporate structure of the deal. Lawyer André Sica, who is working on structuring the transaction, had already stressed the buyer’s willingness to meet all technical requirements:

“Marcos is completely at ease with implementing any suggestion proposed by Anresf, any at all. So, with that in mind, the deal will happen, and that is important to say. It will happen. (…) It does not cause any kind of concern.”

+ Vasco fails to pay first installment of CNRD agreement and risks transfer ban

The way out provided by the rule: creation of a ‘blind trust’

The main reason for the calm among Vasco officials is that the ANRESF regulations themselves already provide an official mechanism to remove conflicts of interest: the so-called blind trust.

This is a legal structure in which an independent fund takes over the management and direct control of the assets without the owner interfering in decisions. In Vasco’s case, this administrative safeguard would apply temporarily until the end of Leila Pereira’s term at the São Paulo club, eliminating any risk of a veto on the investment.

Marcos Lamacchia has no doubt that the sale of Vasco SAF will go through in his favor – Photo: X account of journalist Diogo Dantas/O Globo

Preventive measures in force and the status of the R$ 150 million loan

While the procedure moves forward under confidentiality — with an estimated period of about one month for the technical review — preventive measures remain in force between the parties:

Block between Vasco and Palmeiras: Player transfers and loans, sharing of training centers, coaching staffs, or mutual financial transfers are suspended;
Freeze on new Crefisa credit: The club may not take out new direct loans from the financial institution, such as the R$ 80 million operation signed last year.

The restriction, however, does not affect the new R$ 150 million DIP financing under review in the 4th Business Court of the TJ-RJ, since the emergency funding is directly tied to Almirante Participações, and not to the family group’s lending companies.

Mário Junqueira, Lamacchia’s partner, Admar Lopes, Vasco director, Leila Pereira, Palmeiras president, and her stepson Marcos Lamacchia – Photo: X Atenção Vascaínos

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