Vasco SAF: the current state of play | OneFootball

Vasco da Gama’s SAF is experiencing a decisive moment of transition. Since regaining control of football in 2024, the club association remains without a definitive investor and begins the 2026 season amid financial restrictions, legal disputes, and ongoing negotiations for a new sale.

With the judicial recovery ratified, Vasco’s board is seeking new financial backing to ensure economic stability and maintain sporting competitiveness, while also conducting negotiations regarding the future of the SAF after the split with 777 Partners.

What is the current situation of Vasco’s SAF?

Having operated without investor funding for about a year and a half, Vasco will start the 2026 season still hoping to finalize the sale of the SAF. The most advanced interested party in the negotiations is not an unknown name in the financial market, but emerges as a new player in the recent storyline of potential club investors.

Marcos Faria Lamacchia, a 47-year-old businessman and son of José Lamacchia, is negotiating directly with the board led by Pedrinho, who currently controls the SAF. With a good relationship between his father and the current Vasco management, Marcos has the family’s enthusiasm to move forward in the process of acquiring the club’s football operations. This information was first published by journalist Lucas Pedrosa.

The son of Lamacchia and one of the heirs of banker Aloysio de Andrade Faria, founder of Banco Real, Marcos has a discreet profile and few public appearances. Despite his family connection to Leila Pereira, president of Palmeiras, he has an independent professional trajectory, with no direct involvement in the sports management of the Palmeiras president.

The businessman has closely followed the entire process since Vasco’s legal action to remove 777 Partners’ control up to the recent ratification of the judicial recovery. Founder of Blue Star, a financial management company created in 2011, Marcos Lamacchia was also a director at Crefisa for years and worked at Banco Alfa, another family-related venture.

When contacted, neither Vasco nor the Lamacchia family commented officially on the matter. Marcos, in fact, is currently traveling outside Brazil.

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Businessman Marcos Faria Lamacchia — Photo: Reproduction: Linkedin

Need for new financial breathing room

With the need to maintain cash flow, the board is considering the possibility of taking out a new DIP loan at the start of 2026, a modality aimed at companies undergoing judicial recovery. Once again, Crefisa internally emerges as one of the possible sources for these funds.

Vasco previously raised about R$ 80 million in loans, with the funds expected to run out precisely at the beginning of this year, making progress in SAF negotiations even more urgent.

Current division of SAF shares

For the full sale of the SAF, an agreement or a favorable court decision for Vasco regarding the disputed share will be necessary.

How was the 777 era at Vasco?

777 Partners is no longer in control of Vasco’s SAF. In May 2024, a court injunction from the Rio de Janeiro Justice suspended the shareholder and investment contracts signed by the American company, returning control of football to the club association, under Pedrinho’s management.

According to legal vice-president Felipe Carregal, the return of 777 or A-CAP is unfeasible both from a legal and governance standpoint. Vasco’s current focus is on determining responsibilities and seeking compensation for damages caused during the partnership.

During one year and nine months of management, from August 2022 to May 2024, 777 made 35 signings that generated significant future expenses. An internal report indicated that only 18% of the amounts due up to May 2024 — regarding transfers, signing bonuses, and commissions — had been paid.

Debts inherited from the 777 management

Since then, Vasco’s board has sought renegotiations, extensions, and agreements to reduce the financial impact inherited.

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777 Partners, the SAF that bought part of Vasco  • Divulgação/Vasco

Judicial recovery and next steps

Vasco’s judicial recovery was ratified in December, with approval from 97.7% of creditors. Starting in 2026, the club will begin paying between R$ 25 and R$ 30 million per year in old debts, amounts that directly impact the operational budget.

Pedrinho states that the club will not make irresponsible moves in the market and that the choice of the new SAF investor will be careful, prioritizing financial solidity, governance, and institutional commitment.

“The judge ratified it on December 21, and from now, January, I will start making the payments established by the approved judicial recovery plan, which is expected to range from R$ 25 to R$ 30 million per year. These amounts are old debts, they have no relation to the current management, but they directly affect operational revenue and expenses. As president, besides generating revenue for the year’s expenses, I have to generate another R$ 25 or R$ 30 million to cover these old debts. It’s a tough process, as we say, that many people don’t want to go through, and it really is hard to go through. We see other clubs investing, signing players, signing even more, some responsibly because they already have balanced financial structures, others irresponsibly. But in my case, I will not be irresponsible with the institution. Is it hard? Yes, because I take a lot of criticism since people want very valuable players, but I will not do that to the institution. As long as I am president, I will not cause any financial harm to the club, quite the opposite. Much has been said about the judicial recovery, but it was approved by 97.7% of creditors. What kind of absurd plan is this if 97% of creditors approved it? And many creditors who complained, who made a fuss, were creditors who, under previous management, were involved, received nothing, did not collect, and now I am willing to pay the debt. Of course, taking a discount is bad, so I also thank the creditors for their understanding; they realized that on this side is someone who wants to pay the bills. For Vasco to survive, the remedy is indeed bitter, so there’s no point in me going out signing players and generating more debts, which will turn into a snowball. I need to stop it, and we stopped it with the judicial recovery, which everyone already knows, that to enter, I, as president, have to put up my own assets. I was willing to do that to show the correctness and honesty of the process being carried out. It’s painful, but when the wound is healed, Vasco will only have revenue, and whoever is here in the future must be responsible so that the club does not go back to having financial problems as it did before.”

“We need another loan to keep things balanced. Everything is within the budget that was planned and the necessary revenues for us to honor our commitments, with the athletes, with the club, the judicial recovery payments. Everything is within the schedule we established. It’s within the planning we made that there would be approval of the judicial recovery.”

Pedrinho, president of Vasco, at Neo Química Arena — Photo: AGIF

Does Vasco already have a new investor?

The president confirmed the existence of signed NDAs and revealed that one of the interested parties is at a much more advanced stage than the others. Despite internal optimism, the board is cautious and only intends to announce any agreement after council approval and total contractual transparency.

“I have a signed NDA and I can’t say who the investors are. What I can say is that, of all the NDAs signed back then, there is one NDA with one of the investors who is much further along in the process than all the others. I hope it happens. From experience and from the responsibility this position brings, we will only speak when everything is settled. I hope it happens, we will go through the Deliberative Council, get approval from the club’s council, all the transparency I always demanded with the previous 777 contract, and so it will be with the new investor, so people are aware of what the contract will be. And the club, which is what we want, will have a new investor, and the new investor will make sure the club moves forward without any problems. It’s worth noting that there are some SAF examples that are not successful, and we demand so much professionalism, and many SAFs were not professional. In fact, when I came in here, there were late salaries, commitments that were agreed upon but not put in the contract—I honored them, regarding travel for players from abroad, which was agreed with them but not put in the contract—I honored the commitment. Someone from the association has had professional attitudes and is making the club even more professional. The desire for an investor is very careful, it’s a big desire, not just mine, but of the whole group and also the fans. But it’s very careful so that the investor is very responsible with the institution.”

“It’s hard to guarantee. These are good talks, much more advanced than the other signed NDAs, which stopped at the very beginning and didn’t move on to other stages. Back then, (Evangelos) Marinakis just simulated, signed the NDA, but didn’t move forward with anything, I think it was more for show than a real intention to invest in Vasco, and they didn’t go through the stages for us to move forward. This investor now has already passed the first, second, third, fourth stages, and we are waiting for things to happen. Does that mean it will happen tomorrow? In a month? Does it mean it won’t happen? I can’t say. When it happens, when it’s signed, then we’ll know.”

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