SAFiel outlines advance funds for Corinthians, confirms political backing | OneFootball

Carlos Teixeira, a businessman involved in the creation of SAFiel, spoke again about the possibility of the project advancing funds to Corinthians if the club needs money to address more urgent financial problems. The proposal calls for turning the black-and-white club’s football division into a Football Corporation (SAF), with fans participating in the purchase of shares.

According to Teixeira, the non-binding memorandum presented to Corinthians’ board already includes the possibility of an investment before the public fundraising begins. The idea would be to provide the club with the financial conditions to get through the period until funds are raised from supporters and other investors. The businessman, however, stressed that an operation of this kind would depend on the presentation of guarantees considered adequate.

Photo: Reproduction/Central do Timão

“(This topic) was the subject of my last conversation with Stabile. Since the first proposal we submitted, we laid out a timeline that runs from the signing of the non-binding memorandum to the public fundraising. SAFiel is a democratic model; we will distribute the shares democratically to all Corinthians supporters. The challenge is if the club needs funds in advance, and we made it very clear in our latest proposal that an advance of funds is indeed possible. Obviously not in the amount of the entire public fundraising, but in a volume that allows the club to reach that stage in healthy financial condition. We confirmed that it is possible, as long as the guarantees are sound,” he said in an interview with the program Mundo dos Esportes on Rádio Bandeirantes.

Teixeira also explained how this possible advance could be structured within the model proposed by SAFiel. According to him, the funds could initially be provided by institutional investors and later converted into equity participation after the SAF is established. The distribution of shares to supporters would only take place after the necessary review and approval stages are completed.

“The shares among supporters will only be distributed after the entire due diligence process and approval by the competent bodies. But our model provides for two classes of shares: one for supporters and one for institutional investors. So we can bring in institutional investment ahead of supporter investment if the club needs funds before the public fundraising,” he detailed.

The businessman also commented on recent speculation about possible talks between Corinthians representatives and groups interested in a possible SAF of the club’s own. For Teixeira, the movement caused concern among supporters, mainly because of the perception that the SAFiel proposal has been receiving different treatment.

“I think this has really stirred the emotions of all the supporters, because at the very least there is a very big difference in treatment. SAFiel, up to this point, continues to be ignored, while at the same time Corinthians’ situation only gets worse. What is going to happen to Corinthians? Are we heading for more transfer bans? Will we need to sell half the team? How are we going to enter next year? How are we going to deal with financial fair play regulations? How are we going to pay our debt? When will we have money to sign good players like Flamengo and Palmeiras can? When will the supporter be able to vote, to take part in the football side of things? In other words, the Corinthians supporter has many doubts and unfortunately there is a great lack of transparency with the supporters. And no one communicates, no one says what the plan is,” he lamented.

The meeting between president Osmar Stabile and members of Gaviões da Fiel also came up in the conversation. Teixeira said he spoke with the black-and-white club executive after the meeting. Regarding the information that the Advisory Council (Cori) had no intention of analyzing SAFiel’s proposal at the meeting scheduled for this Monday, the businessman preferred not to criticize the club’s internal process.

“It would be very inappropriate on our part, very disrespectful, to interfere in the procedures of how the president and Cori discuss and deliberate on matters. I even think it is natural that SAFiel is not on Cori’s agenda, because when he spoke to us, the meeting was already scheduled and the agenda, I imagine, was also already set. So we prefer to wait. We believe everything Stabile told us. I asked him directly whether he had a genuine desire, despite all the difficulties, to build this with us, to move it forward. And he said yes. So I understand that with willingness, we can build it. We are not going to interfere in the procedures between the president, Cori, or any other body,” he said.

In the final stretch of the interview, Teixeira revealed that the project has been receiving contact from political groups linked to Corinthians. According to him, these conversations represent expressions of support for SAFiel, but they are not coming from candidates for the club presidency in the elections scheduled for the end of the year.

The businessman also said that the group does not intend to associate the proposal with any specific candidacy, even if a candidate publicly expresses support for the project during the election period.

“We do not want to link SAFiel to any specific candidacy; that is not our strategy. We are indeed being approached, but not by presidential candidates, rather by organized political groups within Corinthians showing support for the proposal. So we are very happy about that. I think SAFiel is a new element in Corinthians elections, and certainly all candidates will need to take a position regarding the project. They can praise it, criticize it, say they do not agree with this or that, or that they have doubts here or there, and that is all fine. What they cannot do is dismiss the project without presenting a clear solution on paper that is just as good. In that sense, I think SAFiel is already playing a very important institutional role for Corinthians,” he concluded.

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