“Clubs have never been so fragile”: expert warns Brazilian football | OneFootball

Flamengo has supported financial fair play from the start

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) plans to implement financial fair play in Brazil. However, economist Caio Resende, president of the National Agency for Football Regulation and Sustainability (ANRESF), points to an unfavorable scenario, with most clubs drowning in debt.

“It’s very worrying. Brazilian football has seen a revenue ‘boom’ over the last 2 years. Club revenues grew by 35%. Few sectors of the economy grow like football clubs in Brazil,” Resende told Globo, and added:

“What would you expect? Financially stronger clubs. What happened? Spending increased by 40%. But more than that: investment in signings increased by 140%. Clubs’ debt from signings more than doubled in 2 years,” he said.

What is Caio’s argument in this context?

The ANRESF president noted that team debt, which stood at R$ 7.8 billion in 2022, jumped to nearly R$ 14 billion in two years. Resende then added that revenue grew 35%, while indebtedness rose by almost 80%.

“Even with all this flow of revenue in football, we have never had football clubs this financially fragile. And that’s with data through 2024; the trend is for the situation to be even worse in 2025,” the economist pointed out.

What is financial fair play?

The data presented by Resende clarify why a large share of Brazilian teams oppose the implementation of this control mechanism. That is because the term refers to a set of rules that prevents clubs from spending more than they earn.

And does Flamengo have anything to worry about?

Teams that violate financial fair play can, for example, lose points in the National League and even suffer relegation. However, the reality of the Most Beloved One is different from the norm in Brazilian football.

In 2025, for example, Fla reported gross revenue of R$ 2.089 billion and debt of R$ 174 million. Therefore, the Rubro-Negro has supported financial fair play from the beginning. So while the other teams try to find balance, Flamengo and Palmeiras have an advantage because they have less to worry about.

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