Corinthians post R$60.2m deficit, record debt explained by club

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Central do Timão

·12 de setembro de 2025

Corinthians post R$60.2m deficit, record debt explained by club

By Daniel Keppler / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the morning of Thursday, the 11th, Corinthians provided details of its financial situation by publishing on the official website four monthly balance sheets for 2025, covering the months of March to June. The numbers reveal a lack of control over the club's expenses in the first half, with an accumulated deficit in June of R$ 60.2 million – well below the R$ 2.3 million surplus budgeted for the period.

With the documents in hand, the Central do Timão conducted a detailed analysis of the records declared by Alvinegro, also evaluating the monthly evolution of revenues and expenses, which raised some questions that were posed to the club – and answered, as will be demonstrated at the end of the article. Check out the full analysis of Corinthians' finances in the first half of the year:

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Photo: Reproduction/Corinthians

Revenues Under Control

Revenues behaved as expected in the budget, approved in December 2024 by the Deliberative Council (CD), reaching R$ 490.4 million in the first six months of the year, just R$ 7 million below the projected amount. Football accounted for R$ 449.9 million of this total, while the social club and amateur sports generated R$ 40.4 million. Regarding net operating revenue, i.e., after taxes, the total achieved by Alvinegro was R$ 468.7 million.

The highlight for revenues was the amount obtained from player sales, which reached R$ 88.6 million in the period, representing 19% of the net operating revenue. As for recurring revenues, TV rights accounted for the largest share of the total (R$ 174.4 million), followed by sponsorships (R$ 96.2 million) and ticket sales (R$ 63.6 million). In the social club, the largest revenue came from contributions (R$ 17.6 million).

Expenses Didn't Help

On the other hand, expenses exceeded the budget by R$ 88.5 million, reaching R$ 439.9 million just in operational expenses (including transfer expenses), with R$ 378.7 million from football and R$ 61.1 million from the social club and amateur sports. Considering also non-operational expenses, which include loan interest and refinancing (for example) and reached R$ 89 million, the total expenses amounted to R$ 529 million, resulting in the R$ 60.2 million deficit.

The largest recorded expense was with personnel, hitting R$ 298.6 million. This number is surprising, as it is 36% higher than budgeted, in a context where the professional squad had only one signing in the first half – the full-back Angileri, in February. Next are general and administrative expenses (R$ 54.6 million), third-party services (R$ 37.1 million), and game expenses (R$ 29.4 million).

Debt and Arena

In another section of the June balance sheet, Corinthians updated the gross and net debt figures: R$ 2.634 billion and R$ 1.955 billion, respectively. The gross debt increased by 2.7% compared to December 2024, while the net debt rose by 4.6% in total. Although these are record indices, the values represent a slowdown in the strong debt increase recorded during the 2024 fiscal year.

Practically all the recorded increase pertains to the club, whose gross and net debt represent, respectively, R$ 1.962 billion and R$ 1.28 billion. In the case of Neo Química Arena, the value is the same in both cases: R$ 675.2 million. This number drew attention as it represents an increase of R$ 7.2 million (or 1.1%) compared to the R$ 668 million declared in December 2024.

Month-by-Month Performance

In addition to reading the June balance sheet, where the first semester data were consolidated, the Central do Timão also analyzed the evolution of revenues and expenses on a month-by-month basis by comparing the monthly balance sheets since January. The analysis showed a scenario of financial instability, with Corinthians alternating between positive and negative monthly results during the period.

In January, for example, Timão recorded a deficit of R$ 6.2 million. The following month, an injection of over R$ 50 million in TV rights allowed the club to reverse the scenario, jumping to a surplus of R$ 12.1 million – a result celebrated at the time by the Augusto Melo management, as reported by the Central do Timão in this article.

In March, expenses grew beyond control, causing the club to close the first quarter in the red with a R$ 16.4 million deficit. In April, the trend was reversed again, thanks to R$ 58 million received from federative rights, allowing Alvinegro to record its best accumulated balance, a surplus of R$ 14.9 million. However, May arrived, and a faster pace of expense increase compared to revenues led the club to a new accumulated deficit of R$ 12.5 million.

The big surprise, however, occurred in June, whose individualized data resulted in a significant worsening of Corinthians' financial situation. Both revenues and expenses recorded the smallest monthly variations of the semester: 10% and 16% respectively. However, the non-operational result rose by 46%, driven strongly by the increase in spending on interest and refinancing charges, causing the accumulated deficit to jump to the R$ 60.2 million mentioned earlier.

Change of Format

The month-by-month analysis also raised some doubts during the production of the article, especially due to a peculiarity about the formatting of the balance sheets, which followed a unique pattern between January and May, only to change completely in June. However, the change was not just aesthetic, also including changes in understanding in the reclassification of some of Corinthians' expenses.

This caused some inconsistencies that made it impossible to compare the club's expenses line by line throughout the semester. The expenses with football (games and travel), for example, were accumulated at R$ 54.2 million in May, a value that fell to R$ 29.4 million in June – such a decrease is technically impossible, as it is an accumulated value that can only increase as the months go by.

The same occurred with depreciation and amortization expenses, whose accumulated amount fell from R$ 42.3 million to just R$ 5.1 million in the same period (May and June). On the other hand, two lines recorded increases well above average: general and administrative expenses, which tripled (from R$ 18.4 million to R$ 54.6 million), and personnel expenses, which rose from R$ 217.5 million to R$ 298.6 million.

Corinthians' Explanations

The Central do Timão then approached the club, questioning what motivated the change in the balance sheet format in June, causing the reclassifications of expenses; what the explanation was for the jump in the accumulated deficit from May to June; why Corinthians' debt with Caixa Econômica for the Neo Química Arena increased during the period, despite the amortizations promoted by the Doe Arena Corinthians campaign; and whether the club would conduct a budget review – mandatory by statute, but not done by former president Augusto Melo in 2024.

All questions were answered. Regarding the change in the balance sheet format in June, Corinthians explained that the motivation was the need to present "managerial information" necessary for the analysis of the quarterly closing, such as the comparison between budgeted and realized values and debt graphs.

Additionally, they detailed which reclassifications were made: amortization expenses of economic rights were included in personnel expenses; logistics expenses were reclassified as administrative expenses (shown as "Football" in the accounting balance sheet; and game expenses, presented as "Football" in May, were presented in a specific category the following month.

The club emphasized that such reclassifications do not affect the final result of the fiscal year. However, it is important to note that they end up affecting the analysis of the monthly evolution of individualized expenses, as there is no longer a basis for comparison. Thus, it is impossible to define, for example, how much of the R$ 298.6 million recorded as personnel expenses represented an increase compared to the R$ 217.5 million in May, and how much of the amount actually comes from other reclassified categories.

Regarding the variation in the deficit from May to June, the club provided a breakdown of what caused the negative jump. According to Alvinegro, R$ 5 million relates to the difference between current revenues and expenses to keep the club operational. Another R$ 5 million represents management's recognition of "other expenses not recognized in previous periods."

R$ 8 million was spent on settling agreements and terminations that occurred during the period with the recognition of termination payments and other elements (such as unpaid athlete bonuses). Meanwhile, another R$ 18 million concerns the club's recognition of charges on debts not previously recorded. The club's response did not specify from which previous management these unregistered and unrecognized expenses and charges originated.

The remaining R$ 12 million refers, according to the club, to ticket revenue not realized in June due to the suspension of games because of the FIFA Club World Cup. The justification drew attention, as the approval of the Alvinegro budget occurred one month after the CBF announced the 2025 calendar, already anticipating the pause in June. Moreover, the accumulated ticket revenue for the semester was only R$ 2.3 million below the budgeted amount. In light of this, the Central do Timão reiterated to the club, making these considerations, and awaits a response, which will be detailed in this article through an update.

Corinthians also explained that the Neo Química Arena debt recorded an increase of R$ 7.2 million in the semester because amortizations on the outstanding balance occur quarterly, through the four annual payments made by the club to Caixa, as provided by the current agreement with the bank. According to Timão, the financial statements for July already reflect the payments made, placing the stadium's debt at around R$ 645 million.

Finally, the club informed that the budget review is "under review by the supervisory bodies" and will be published on official channels as soon as this analysis is concluded. The Central do Timão found that the cited body is the Guidance Council (CORI), which has been analyzing Corinthians' financial numbers in recent weeks.

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