“Unprecedented paralysis”, says Vasco, suing over intervention in SAF | OneFootball

Vasco da Gama filed a formal request this Wednesday, July 1, 2026, asking the Judiciary to fully revoke the decision that ordered intervention in the SAF and immediately restore the original corporate governance structure. According to journalist João Guerra on ge, the club’s association board argues in its technical filing that the injunction produced a practical effect completely opposite to what the courts intended, causing a true “unprecedented institutional paralysis” behind the scenes at São Januário.

The legal filing details the operational hollowing-out suffered by the football company’s Board of Directors after the removal of three members appointed by the association. According to the document sent to the Rio de Janeiro court district, the forced departure of Pedro Paulo de Oliveira, known as Pedrinho, as well as Christiano Borges Stockler Campos and Felipe Passos Elias, left the board with only one active member, making any minimum quorum for legitimate deliberations impossible and preventing the club from appointing replacements because of the restrictions imposed by the current injunction itself.

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Losses in the market and the veto on the 777 Partners requirement

The Rio club’s defense strongly argues that the instability generated in the courts tied the sporting department’s hands and undermined crucial negotiations precisely during the opening of the international transfer window. The filed text highlights that the lack of legal certainty pushed the club backward in the transfer market, resulting in the collapse of the deal with Portuguese coach Franclim Carvalho and the stalling of bureaucratic procedures to announce Colombian defensive midfielder Nelson Deossa of Real Betis, although the board has already moved quickly to advance the hiring of Fernando Seabra for the coaching staff.

Vasco’s legal department is also demanding that the Court of Justice completely remove the condition requiring the consent of 777 Carioca for any eventual sale of control of the football operation. For the club’s lawyers, there is a clear technical contradiction in making the sale of assets subject to authorization from the American company, since the foreign company’s political rights remain suspended by a final court order. The request cites the report of former court-appointed intervenor Samantha Mendes Longo herself — who resigned from the position this week — reinforcing that a sale to a new major investor is the shared and urgent desire of employees, players, members, and supporters.

Challenge to representation and terms of Vasco’s petition

The defense strategy of the Giant of the Hill also included a formal challenge to the legitimacy of the legal representation of the former American partners in the case. Vasco’s legal team requested that the court order the representatives to document and detail the actual scope of representation powers of Mark Shapiro, who signed the power of attorney filed in the case by the foreign law firms, alleging insufficient evidence in the documents presented so far.

Based on articles of the Civil Procedure Code and the Judicial Recovery Law, Vasco’s goal is to persuade the judge to return control of the SAF to the elected management in the coming days. The club’s leadership understands that stability in the courts is the essential pillar for the R$ 2 billion talks with buyer Marcos Faria Lamacchia to move forward without new political obstacles and lift the squad out of its uncomfortable 17th-place position in the Brazilian Championship standings.

Pedrinho and Marcos Lamacchia; negotiations for Vasco SAF are gaining momentum – Photo: Reproduction

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