Corinthians statute reform sparks internal row, could end up in court | OneFootball

The behind-the-scenes at Parque São Jorge are heating up more and more with discussions about the SAFiel and the statute reform of Corinthians. Club counselors are dissatisfied with the lack of sufficient time to debate the project presented by Romeu Tuma Júnior and are considering the possibility of taking the proposal to court.

As published by Gazeta Esportiva last week, Romeu Tuma Júnior, president of the Deliberative Council, insists that the Council vote on the statute reform project by the end of this month, despite the pressure. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for November 24.

Romeu's plans, however, have caused an internal conflict within the club. According to the report, Paulo Pedro and other members of Cori (Advisory Council) believe that the counselors need more time to discuss the project and promise to take the reform to court if there is not a thorough discussion of the text, which was presented at a press conference on October 27.

(Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians)

The counselors would like more meetings to be held, in addition to the one scheduled for November 24, in order to debate the project in greater detail. Tuma, on the other hand, does not intend to give in. He believes that the counselors can meet unofficially throughout the month to discuss the text or send proposals to the Council, so that the 24th is reserved only for voting on the new statute.

The president of the Council had already publicly expressed his desire to conclude the process before the end of 2025.

And what about SAFiel?

The heated discussions at Parque São Jorge may stall the process of voting on the new statute. Amid this scenario, SAFiel emerged as an alternative. However, the project that foresees transforming Corinthians into a SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol, or Football Corporation) has not yet advanced.

One of the main reasons is the recommendation from the compliance department, which evaluated the proposal submitted to Romeu Tuma Júnior and the club's president, Osmar Stabile. The department raised questions and suggested that the board not sign the letter of intent at this time.

‘Red flags’

There were three ‘red flags’ (an English term meaning “warning signs”) pointed out by the club's compliance team. The first point is the fact that the company Invasão Fiel S.A was opened recently, with a low share capital of only R$ 3,000, despite promising to raise R$ 2.5 billion to pay off Corinthians' debts and invest in football.

(Photo: Disclosure/SAFiel)

In addition, the club's compliance found that Maurício Chamati, one of the creators of SAFiel, was involved in a fraud case in court, which was archived but mentioned in the investigation. Also weighing against the businessman, who is co-founder of Mercado Bitcoin, is his relationship with the club's former management, led by ousted president Augusto Melo.

Chamati participated, for seven months, in the Independent Finance Committee of Corinthians. The members of the group, created by Pedro Silveira, then the club's financial director, signed an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) valid for five years, in order to prevent the leakage of confidential information.

The businessman, therefore, committed to maintaining confidentiality about the data he had access to. However, months after the dissolution of the Committee, which was disbanded after the impeachment of Augusto Melo, Chamati began working together with Carlos Teixeira and Eduardo Salusse on the development of SAFiel. The project was officially launched on October 28 of this year.

In a statement, SAFiel responded to the ‘red flags’ raised and emphasized the need to debate the proposal within Corinthians' internal bodies. The project's members say they are “open to dialogue” with counselors and members of Parque São Jorge.

In Stabile's hands

The decision to sign or not the SAFiel proposal is in the hands of Osmar Stabile. However, the likelihood of the Corinthians president moving the project forward at this time is low, given the compliance recommendation.

Last Tuesday, after the launch event for the 2026 Campeonato Paulista at Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu, the director said he would not sign anything until the issues raised are addressed.

“We received the project and took it to compliance. Corinthians has a compliance department that works; in this administration, it works. In other administrations, I don't know if it worked or not, but in this administration, it works. We are not going to leave any cursed legacy for the future. If there is any issue, as there was from compliance, Corinthians will wait. The board will wait to see if they resolve the issues pointed out and then we will discuss the technical part, the marketing part, all of that,” said Stabile.

“It has to go through compliance first. Corinthians does not sign a contract with anyone, whether SAFiel or any other company, if there is any issue,” he concluded.

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