Twist: court halts Corinthians general meeting on bylaw reform | OneFootball

On Tuesday (16), the courts suspended Corinthians’ General Assembly scheduled for next Saturday (20), in which members would vote on the proposed reform of the club’s bylaws.

The decision came from appellate judge Maurício Campos da Silva Velho, of the 4th Private Law Chamber of the São Paulo State Court of Justice (TJ-SP), who granted the request for appellate injunctive relief filed by lifetime councilors Ademir de Carvalho Benedito, Alexandre Husni, and Guilherme Gonçalves Strenger and ordered the suspension of the effects of the notice convening the assembly.

Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians

In the appellate judge’s assessment, the elements presented by the appellants reveal consistent signs of irregularities in the processing of the proposed bylaw reform, which justifies the precautionary suspension of the process. Among the points raised is a possible violation of article 97, item “M,” of Corinthians’ bylaws, which assigns the Advisory Council (Cori) the authority to propose bylaw changes to the Deliberative Council (CD).

The appellants argue that the Advisory Council is responsible for proposing bylaw changes and that it did not approve the text later sent to the CD. In the councilors’ interpretation, Cori’s rejection of the draft undermines the validity of the entire subsequent process.

Benedito, Strenger, and Husni also argue that the reform process disregarded the procedure established by the bylaws. According to the argument presented to the Court, in November 2025 the CD deliberated only on the advisability of carrying out a bylaw reform, without there being at that time a draft text or concrete proposal submitted for evaluation by the body’s members.

According to the petitioners, the lower court’s decision wrongly interpreted that deliberation as prior approval of the reform proposal. In the councilors’ view, however, recognizing the convenience of modernizing the bylaws cannot be confused with approving specific content to amend the club’s internal rules.

The petition also states that the Deliberative Council itself rejected the draft text during a meeting held on April 29. Despite this, the proposal continued through its internal process until it was submitted for members’ consideration, which prompted the request to suspend the assembly.

Although he emphasized that the matter must be examined in light of the autonomy guaranteed to sports entities by the Federal Constitution, the appellate judge concluded that the elements presented justify granting urgent relief to prevent the assembly from being held before a judicial ruling on the regularity of the procedure adopted.

The councilors maintain that the alleged irregularities constitute original defects capable of compromising the entire formation of the reform proposal, which is why they could not be cured even by eventual approval from the members at a General Assembly.

With the granting of appellate relief, the Court ordered immediate communication of the decision to the lower court. Next, the opposing party will be notified to submit its response, and the appeal will proceed through the remaining procedural stages until final judgment.

Legal disputes 

Corinthians’ bylaw reform has been the subject of successive legal disputes since the beginning of this year. The first General Assembly called to discuss the matter ended up being suspended after an injunction obtained by councilor Felipe Ezabella, who is also a member of Cori.

After the proceedings resumed, the Deliberative Council once again analyzed the proposal in new meetings. Later, Leonardo Pantaleão, then acting president of the body, called a new General Assembly for June 20.

On another legal front, members linked to the groups Voz Corinthiana and Família Corinthians obtained a favorable ruling to ensure the validity of the General Assembly’s convocation. With this, the courts recognized the validity of the notice providing for the bylaw reform vote to be held.

Days later, Felipe Ezabella again challenged the procedure in court. This time, he requested that the Assembly’s agenda be limited to the highlights approved by the Deliberative Council, without including the reform’s draft text. The request, however, was denied. In addition to rejecting the motion for clarification filed by the councilor, the court converted the proceeding into a contentious action and ordered his inclusion as a defendant in the case.

Another recent development occurred in a lawsuit filed by club members challenging the requirement of five years of membership to participate in the Assembly. On that occasion, the court granted an injunction ensuring voting rights to all members of Parque São Jorge with active membership on the date the meeting was called, May 8. With the decision, members with less than five years of membership were also included in the electorate responsible for deciding on the bylaw reform.

The case that resulted in the suspension of the assembly began with a lawsuit filed by Ademir Benedito, Alexandre Husni, and Guilherme Strenger. They requested that the process be halted on the grounds that the proposal submitted to the members had not been properly constituted within the requirements set out in the club’s bylaws.

The injunction request was initially rejected by Judge Rafael Viotti Schlobach of the 3rd Civil Court of the Tatuapé Regional Forum. At the time, the judge understood that the arguments presented were not sufficiently supported by the evidence in the case file and noted that the General Assembly is the club’s highest and sovereign body, with authority to deliberate on bylaw changes under the Civil Code.

The judge also considered that the bylaw requirement related to recognizing the need for reform had been fulfilled by the Deliberative Council in November 2025. In addition, he accepted that Leonardo Pantaleão had the bylaw-based authority to call the assembly, regardless of a favorable expression from the majority of councilors.

Now, with the Court of Justice’s decision, the General Assembly scheduled for Saturday remains suspended until a new ruling by the Judiciary.

Corinthians News 

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