This again? Flamengo back in court with São Paulo over Taça das Bolinhas | OneFootball

It may seem unbelievable, but Flamengo has once again gone to court to fight São Paulo over the controversial Taça das Bolinhas, a trophy the Rio club is still complaining to the CBF about.

This week, the Rio de Janeiro club filed an appeal with the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3), requesting a suspensive effect to prevent the CBF from handing the trophy over to Tricolor before the end of the case still pending in court. The information was first reported by O Globo.

The Taça das Bolinhas controversy is quite old and has dragged on for more than a decade on the national stage, with some rulings already favorable to São Paulo regarding possession of the trophy, which is still under legal dispute. Even so, Flamengo is clinging to new appeals in an attempt to prevent that outcome until the case is definitively closed.

The controversial honor was created by the CBF to pay tribute to the first club to win either three consecutive Brazilian Championship titles or five non-consecutive ones. The dispute stems from the fact that the Rio club claims to have achieved the feat in 1987, a year in which Brazil’s top football authority does not recognize Fla as the national champion, but rather Sport.

Thus, it stated that São Paulo, by winning its fifth national title in the 2007 Brasileirão, was the rightful holder of the Taça das Bolinhas.

Now, in this new request, Flamengo claims there is a risk of irreparable harm if the CBF and Caixa Econômica Federal hand over the trophy before the trial is concluded, since any transfer could produce effects that would be difficult to reverse if the final ruling favors Rubro-Negro.

The Rio club’s lawyers also say that other previous court decisions had already recognized the need to preserve possession of the trophy until the dispute between the parties is settled. Flamengo is also challenging a Federal Court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit related to the case without allowing broad production of evidence, arguing that this compromised its right to a full defense.

Meanwhile, the decision continues to drag on, and the Taça das Bolinhas remains in the possession of the CBF until the courts finally define São Paulo as its legitimate holder.

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