Serie C president slams Flamengo wages, blunders on fair play | OneFootball

Pedro Dantas, president of Confiança (SE), fears Flamengo will 'overshadow' competitors

What is financial fair play? In short, it's the team not spending more than it earns. However, many directors confuse the topic with spending caps. The one who made the mistake this time was the president of Confiança, from Sergipe, who demanded changes in Brazilian football to 'stop' Flamengo. However, the director got confused with his words and embarrassed himself.

— We're going to need financial fair play, otherwise the gap between the teams will become too large. A team like Flamengo has a payroll of R$ 40 million per month, while there are teams in Serie A with a payroll of R$ 5 million per month. So, soon there will be no competition. Four or five teams have been fighting for titles for a decade, and the others are just playing the championships. This is bad. In England, Leicester recently became champions. Arsenal, Liverpool, City, Chelsea fight for titles... There are ten clubs. In Brazil, Botafogo has now appeared, but lately, it's just been Flamengo and Palmeiras, Flamengo and Palmeiras —, said Pedro, in an interview with ‘ESPN’.

— If we don't have financial fair play, it will be a very ugly championship, with the rich fighting for the title and the others fighting not to fall. We need to study a way to balance. And, also, as I discussed a lot at CBF: one club cannot owe another. If you can't afford to pay, return the player. What can't happen is, for example, a player leaving Confiança and going to Flamengo, Flamengo using the player and not paying Confiança. That doesn't exist —, he added.

RIGHT AND WRONG IN THE SAME SPEECH?

Despite Pedro Dantas's blunder, the director was partly right in his statement. After all, financial fair play has one of its missions to prevent teams from hiring without paying. However, the example given citing Flamengo is a mistake, as the club does not use this practice.

However, the fact that Flamengo has a payroll of R$ 40 million has nothing to do with financial fair play. After all, the salaries paid by the club and the money spent on signings are within budget. Therefore, the Rubro-Negro already complies with the rules, should the practice be applied in Brazil.

WHY DON'T YOU WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN CLUB, PEDRO?

So concerned with Flamengo's finances, Pedro Dantas ended up forgetting about his own team. After all, Confiança finished the Serie C of the Brasileirão in ninth place and did not qualify for the second phase, which starts next weekend with eight teams. Despite the failure in the national tournament, the Sergipe team can save the year in the final of the Copa do Nordeste. This Wednesday (03), the team faces Bahia, in the first leg of the final, in Aracaju.

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