Spending cap in football? CBF unveils new rules for the Brasileirão | OneFootball

Financial Fair Play and Spending Limits Are Hot Topics Among Brazilian Football Fans and the CBF

With Flamengo having the financial means to sign players from Europe, rival fans are calling for financial fair play without even understanding what it is about. In addition, there are those who argue that there should be a spending cap in the Brasileirão. However, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) rules out controlling how much each team can invest.

— Using the models we know from abroad, and which I think work better for football, it should always be a percentage-based relationship. With a defined cost, how much you spend on payroll, investment, signings in relation to the club's revenue. We have to remember that I can't make the unequal equal. A club that earns R$1 billion has reached that value for a reason. So I can't make a club that earns R$1 billion spend the same as a club that earns R$200 million — said CBF consultant Cesar Grafietti in an interview with ‘GE’.

— What do I do with this money and all the efficiency generated by management in some way? We have Flamengo, Palmeiras, Corinthians reaching R$1 billion, even more than that. Why say they can only spend R$200 million or R$300 million because a regional or small-town club can only generate that much revenue? It's unfair to those who managed to grow and do a good job of restructuring and boosting their revenues — added the CBF official.

AND WHAT ABOUT FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY, WILL IT BE IMPLEMENTED?

Some fans believe that implementing financial fair play will be able to limit the spending of teams that are currently in a good financial position. However, the model only aims to ensure that clubs do not spend more than they earn. The CBF wants to implement this new rule as early as 2026.

— The financial fair play model has a single and basic objective: to make clubs pay their bills on time. It will not balance competitiveness, it will not make everyone spend the same amount. That's not it. So, when it is applied and the fan of a club that earns half of what the top-earning club does realizes that to comply with fair play, they will need to control their accounts, won't be able to sign as many players, will have to pay everything on time, maybe they'll feel uncomfortable at first — he explained.

— But, in the long run, this translates into greater competitiveness. It may seem like a paradox here, but by paying on time you can convince more players to join your club, attract more sponsors, and improve your management. It's no coincidence that Palmeiras and Flamengo managed to stand out once they became sustainable and balanced. So, at first, maybe fans will miss some of their club's competitive ability, but that's because their club's competitiveness was based on imbalance, debt, and late payments — Grafietti concluded.

GOOD NEWS FOR FLAMENGO?

The information provided by the CBF consultant brings more peace of mind to Flamengo. After all, the club is already in compliance with financial fair play rules, even though the model has not yet been implemented in Brazil. On the other hand, the news about the spending cap also does justice to the long period of spending adjustments made since 2013.

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