Palmeiras and São Paulo criticise Flamengo in Libra row

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·27 settembre 2025

Palmeiras and São Paulo criticise Flamengo in Libra row

Flamengo Files Lawsuit Against Libra

The Flamengo, through a lawsuit, managed to 'freeze' part of the broadcasting rights money from the agreement between Libra and Globo. As a result, some clubs were not pleased with Mengão's action. Palmeiras and São Paulo, in fact, released official statements about the case.

See Palmeiras' official statement:

Palmeiras Sports Society expresses its repudiation of the conduct of the current management of Flamengo Regatta Club, which, through an injunction granted by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice, froze the transfer of R$ 77 million related to one of the installments of the contract signed between Libra (Brazilian Football League) and TV Globo regarding pay-per-view earnings. By contradictorily and improperly obstructing the flow of these resources, the strategy of the Rio club reveals itself to be predatory and vile, as it seeks to financially suffocate the other institutions that make up the block, some of them in difficulty, in order to subjugate them and extract even more individual benefits. It should be noted that Palmeiras has a place to speak on the subject; after all, besides being economically balanced, it would be one of the direct beneficiaries if the change requested by Flamengo's current management were to prosper. However, Palmeiras understands that it does not play alone and, therefore, advocates for the collective growth of Brazilian football. The arrogant and deceitful posture of Flamengo's current management, unfortunately, does not surprise. This is the same political group that, at the beginning of the year, refused to sign Libra's manifesto demanding action against racism on South American pitches. The Brazilian club with the most national titles, Palmeiras works for the construction of a sustainable future for all. We trust that the Rio de Janeiro Justice will soon realize the real intentions behind Flamengo's actions - including concluding that the ones harmed by the injunction were, in fact, the other clubs of Libra - and will restore the legality of the current agreement between the group and TV Globo, in order to preserve the spirit of cooperation that should guide the sport", said Palmeiras.

See São Paulo's official statement:

São Paulo Football Club hereby expresses its repudiation of the conduct of the management of Flamengo Regatta Club. Even after signing the agreement with Libra (Brazilian Football League) and TV Globo, it froze the transfer of R$ 77 million related to one of the installments of the broadcasting rights and pay-per-view through an injunction granted by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice. Flamengo's current management seems not to understand that it is responsible for the contracts it inherited. Especially since the enormous history of the Rio club was built over the years, and not by the current leaders. Flamengo's attitude is not consistent with its grand past and intends to financially disrupt Brazilian football, as the clubs need this money for their expenses. We trust that the Rio de Janeiro Justice will be able to evaluate the Rio club's attitude correctly and impartially.

What did Flamengo say?

It is worth mentioning that Flamengo spoke about the lawsuit filed against Libra. In the statement, the club denied the organization that had promised justice in the division of broadcasting revenue related to the audience, equivalent to 30% of the total.

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What are the impacts of Flamengo's action?

Due to the lawsuit filed by Flamengo, part of the TV contract money is frozen, amounting to R$ 77 million. Moreover, if the freeze persists until the end of the year, it means that about R$ 230 million will be under legal dispute.

Therefore, the Libra clubs will not receive the Globo broadcasting rights money until the situation is resolved. It should be noted that, in addition to Flamengo, São Paulo, Palmeiras, Santos, Bahia, Grêmio, Vitória, Atlético-MG and Red Bull Bragantino form the group.

What upsets Flamengo about the quota division?

According to the plan of the other Libra clubs, the idea was to equally divide the values in relation to the audience. However, Flamengo does not find this formula fair and even cited the example of a match with Red Bull Bragantino, for the Brasileirão.

The logic of Flamengo's board is as follows: in a clash between the teams, the vast majority of viewers will be Flamengo fans. Therefore, it would not be fair for Bragantino to receive the same amount, since Mengão is the main attraction of the match.

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