“They care more about elections than the team”: Casares drops FIP, calls in ‘successor’ at Barra Funda | OneFootball

It was just around 9 a.m. (Brasília time) when cell phone messaging groups containing political allies of President Julio Casares at São Paulo FC were already buzzing with various messages demanding changes from the president.

Since the previous night, when the team suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Mirassol, away from home, in the Brazilian Championship, Casares took a deep breath and informed those close to him that he would only address possible changes in the professional football department on Monday (20th).

From São Paulo’s capital, where he is recovering from back pain and therefore did not travel with the team on medical advice, he only made sure to inform coach Hernán Crespo that his position was not in danger. It is important to note that he did not do the same for football director Carlos Belmonte.

The message was passed on to allies, but even during the early hours, the messages demanding changes intensified. The reason shifted focus. In addition to the defeat to Mirassol, which makes qualifying for the next Copa Libertadores even harder, there was discomfort with news spread by opposition members that the club owes image rights to the players.

Throughout the morning, Casares met with close allies and decided to act to stem the crisis knocking at São Paulo’s door in this final stretch of the season. As AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR found out, one of the voices the president listened to most was that of a former president who has become a kind of consultant for decision-making. And the ‘verdict’ was succinct and quick.

“These guys are thinking more about the election than about the team. And the season isn’t over yet,” said the former president, bluntly, bringing Casares back to reality.

And so, starting at 1 p.m. (Brasília time), the president’s spokespersons began to spread the decided changes. One of them can be seen as a mere formality: the increase in the prize for qualifying for the Libertadores, something anticipated by us at AMT over the weekend.

Seeing that his investment and participation fund (FIP) project for Cotia, besides failing to gain support, completely split his allied base and put the succession project for next year’s elections at risk, the president decided to back down. He announced to the groups that make up the administration that he would stop ‘pushing the issue’. And that the matter is temporarily suspended.

Mind you, this does not mean it is off the table. But it does mean that, until the environment improves, the president will not insist on the matter, no matter how much he wanted to see it implemented at the start of 2026.

The last of the changes was not made public to journalists at first, but the information ended up leaking: Casares convinced Márcio Carlomagno to accompany him daily at the Barra Funda training center. He will now work from the professional football headquarters.

The report revealed that there was some resistance from the club’s superintendent, currently the most likely name to be nominated by Casares as his successor, to fully enter the daily routine of professional football. There was a certain respect for Belmonte’s image. But the moment of extreme crisis made him change his mind.

With Carlomagno more present at the training center, the idea being sold is to strengthen internal communication and closely monitor the environment and demands of professional football. But, in practice, it is about Casares giving visibility to the name that today stands out as the main contender to succeed him.

“The presence of the executive alongside the players and the coaching staff will also be a way to give more support to Crespo and reinforce the board’s control over the daily life of the squad, which is going through one of the most delicate phases of the season,” said one of the sources consulted by AMT.

What remains to be seen now is what will happen to Belmonte. Victorious in the FIP issue, where he always expressed internal opposition, the football director takes the hard blow of seeing the rival for the president’s chair at his side in Barra Funda, a place that gives him the necessary status to keep dreaming of becoming president from 2027 onwards.

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