Why Grêmio pulled out of FFU and stayed with Libra, explained | OneFootball

Things behind the scenes at Grêmio are still heating up.

The club even called on council members to vote on leaving Libra for the Futebol Forte União (FFU) bloc, but backed down and decided to stay put.

According to ge, this change of course involved frustrated expectations, outside pressure, and even a multimillion-dollar deal with Flamengo.

Understand the case

With its finances in the red, Grêmio’s board saw the FFU as a chance to inject quick cash in the first half of the year.

The initial proposal seemed tempting: receive R$ 96 million for the sale of 10% of its broadcasting rights for 50 years.

Grêmio found out that this amount would be drastically reduced because the club was joining the bloc late (the other FFU teams had already signed the contract in 2023).

By flirting with an exit, Grêmio drew the market’s attention and used that as leverage to gain political power within Libra.

The Tricolor then began backing Flamengo’s push to recalculate the distribution of TV revenue within the bloc.

As a “bonus” for this political alliance that made the new agreement possible, Flamengo will pay Grêmio R$ 24 million off the books between 2026 and 2029.

After facing pressure from influential figures in football not to switch sides, Grêmio secured its position and now has a seat on Libra’s management committee, represented by its CEO, Alex Leitão.

The club turned down offers from banks that wanted up to 14% of its rights for 15 years in exchange for loans. As a result, the Tricolor kept 100% of its rights intact, which ensures greater bargaining power if a unified league is created in the future.

Despite the political victory, the short-term problem remains: the club is still struggling with a suffocating cash flow situation.

Late wages: June salaries (including image rights) were not paid on time. The hope of settling this issue soon rests on the incoming money from the sale of center-back Viery to Fiorentina (Italy).

Market debts: The club is being charged by Anderlecht of Belgium (€400,000 for the signing of Amuzu) and by River Plate of Uruguay (US$200,000 for the loan of Arezo), which has already gone to FIFA to collect the amount.

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

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