SAF and the challenges of professionalizing a Brazilian Football Club: Goalkeeper Fábio (Cruzeiro)

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Summary: Cruzeiro became, on last December 18th, the first club company via Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF - Football Joint Stock Company), and this shook up the prospects of soccer in Brazil. The former striker Ronaldo Nazário became the majority shareholder of the club. Much is said about the need for professionalization of the sport and how the new law can contribute to this process. However, one of the first measures taken by the new management of the Raposa was to dismiss one of the greatest idols of Cruzeiro, goalkeeper Fábio, who announced his departure from the club after not having his contract renewed by the new management. So, the first great challenge arises, post-SAF, to be understood by all those involved in Brazilian soccer. The bad news is that there is still a lot to happen for brazilian soccer culture to finally adapt to professionalism within the most popular sport in the world. The good news is the paving of the road that begins with a shock of reality such as the end of the term of one of the greatest idols of one of the biggest clubs in the country.

It all starts with the Football Anonymous Society

The clock struck 9pm on January 5th, 2022, when a post on Instagram shocked the soccer community, especially the blue part of Belo Horizonte: it was the experienced goalkeeper Fábio, 41, considered one of the greatest idols of Cruzeiro, announcing the end of his 17-year career, 13 titles, 34 penalty saves and 976 games for the team, on his personal page on the platform.

The fact occurred exactly 18 days after the announcement of the purchase of the club, via Sociedade Anônima do Futebol, by former striker and national idol Ronaldo Nazário, the Phenomenon (O Fenômeno), who became a major shareholder. The roller coaster ride took off not long after the post-disclosure international uproar of the purchase of one of the biggest clubs in Brazil by one of the most famous sports faces in the world.

Ronaldo played for Cruzeiro from 1993 to 1994, the year in which he was called up to the Brazilian national team and eventually became World Champion. In a recent interview with FlowPodcast, which took place in early December, i.e. before the announcement of the purchase, the former player declared his love for Cruzeiro:

"...I am passionate about Cruzeiro too. Cruzeiro is giant, it will come back with everything."

Right after making public the sale of Cruzeiro, becoming the first club-company via a Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (Football Joint Stock Company), many questions hovered in the air, especially regarding the business format to be implemented. Pedro Mesquita, Head of XP Investimentos, the company that participated in the negotiation, gave an interview to Itatiaia radio station and commented on the main topic related to Ronaldo's purchase: management transition.

"Ronaldo is forming a transition team to take over all of soccer. He will choose people to be in charge. Ronaldo and his team will be in charge of Cruzeiro. Cruzeiro will be a private team, with an owner. This owner decides, imposes his management and is the one who indicates the professionals", said Mesquita.

As it turned out, the first shock of reality was quite intense and left many questioning the necessary professionalism of Brazilian soccer in correlation with the passion that involves traditional clubs that move millions of fans, such as Cruzeiro.

The challenges of professional management

After all, what is the limit between doing what is planned in your management strategy and facing the anger of passionate fans because of a particular decision that is unpleasant?

What is the limit to face the fan as a "mere" consumer/client to the point that his opinion no longer has the same relevance as before, when the club did not really have an owner?

Is the mistake in the decision or in the way the situation was handled? The line is tenuous.

Decision made from analysis, strategy, planning. But what about the other side of the table, what do they have planned for themselfe?

Every negotiation table has at least two sides. Ultimately, a negotiation is precisely the search for the middle ground between the interests of all those involved in the process. Assuming that Cruzeiro has a professional management, with ideals that are in line with good management practices, I cannot read goalkeeper Fábio's statement and conclude that Ronaldo and co. simply decided to give up the possibility of doing a huge marketing campaign around the athlete's 1000th game, i.e., not earning revenue. It would be quite inconsistent with a publication made by Cruzeiro itself, via Twitter, on December 20, two days after the sale to the former player:

Translation: o @socio5estrelas is going to be FENOMENAL! A historic turning point for Cruzeiro's supporter program is coming. You are invited! Make your pre-registration.

It is no news that, in order to increase revenue, one of the first measures taken by any club is to bring its fans closer. The reformulation of the Supporter's Membership program, intended by the new Cruzeiro management, meets this objective. This would also contribute to the increase in ticket sales, culminating in more visibility, which may mean new sponsorships. All these elements are essential for the success of the business in the medium and long term.

Did the new management really not know all this when they negotiated with Fábio? I didn't take part in the negotiation, but I would honestly say that the decision was taken after much conversation, analysis, and rigidity in what was proposed in the strategic planning. More than that, I would say that it was not a unilateral decision. It may be that the short and medium term path presented has not exactly pleased the idol of Celeste, making the continuity of the negotiation impossible.

Could it be that the decision was Fabio's own? Maybe. I don't know. As I said, I didn't take part in the negotiations and I can't say. What I do know is that it is clear that the rupture without an honorable farewell was not in the interest of a management that seeks credibility, support and increased revenues. In fact, the reality presented does not seem to be in anyone's interest at all. Such a decision, surprising in the eyes of fans, media, and other stakeholders, ends up exposing a reality inherent to any professionally managed company: the interests of those who contribute the money will always be greater than the interests of those who are employed. Dona. A. Who. Doer. Planning is outlined and is followed to the letter in order to achieve the goals and make the project more predictable, less risky, and much more sustainable over time.

"The fans have a fundamental role in the resurrection of the club and the engagement of the program is essential for the club to get back on its feet. The fans have a very strong role with Ronaldo to make the team fight again, be competitive and return to Serie A," Pedro Mesquita told Itatiaia radio.

The internal excitement was so great at the announcement of Cruzeiro's purchase of Ronaldo, that Fábio himself posted the following on Twitter:

Translation: What news is this my Cruzeiro, memorable day BLUE NATION, congratulations @ronaldo you are a Phenomenon!

Now, if the player himself was excited about the change of direction of the club, what could have gone wrong, then, in the negotiation? We have to understand the following facts:

1. it was not in the club's interest to lose revenue from Fábio's 1000th game
2. it was not in Fábio's interest to leave the club
3. the fans, in its majority, do not support the goalkeeper's departure
4. the final decision was not taken without prior analysis by the managers
5. Cruzeiro has an owner, and his name is Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima
6. Fábio spoke up before, and this influences the story
7. the club took a long time to position itself, and this also influences the story
8. nobody left this meeting fully satisfied

Perhaps the idea of SAF has not yet been fully understood by the media, fans, lovers, sponsors, and the like. Maybe the athletes themselves will have to understand what this new reality is all about. The flesh will still bleed until things really change in Brazilian soccer. Fábio's plans, perhaps, were not in line with what the new management intended and, although he celebrated the arrival of Ronaldo and his team, he himself did not agree with the way things will be handled inside the Toca da Raposa. This is conjecture, after all.

- I am very happy to have concluded this operation. To say that I have a lot to give back to Cruzeiro, to take Cruzeiro where it deserves to be. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I ask the fans to connect to the club again, to go to the stadium, because we will need a lot of strength and unity. We have a lot of work and ambition to make Cruzeiro great again. We have nothing to celebrate yet, but we have a lot of ambition - said Ronaldo.

The certainty we have in this story is that the fans were not taken into consideration at any moment, to the point that the new managers did not take any care during the negotiation with this party, since it was obvious the dissatisfaction of the millions of passionate fans of Cruzeiro Esporte Clube. In other words, despite foreseeing the negative reactions, the professional posture remained firm, thinking of the management as a whole.

It is the ingredient called "passion" that differentiates soccer from a company, and the balance between treating the supporter as a customer needs to be found, as Brazil is the only continental-sized country in the world with several traditional clubs supported by millions and millions of people. Here, the experience found is totally new, since the reality is different from any other ever experienced. It is a challenge for everyone involved.

New Reality

Just like a former employee of a large company who goes through a restructuring process and ends up being fired after years of contribution, leaving without any kind of recognition, with one hand in front and one behind, the time has come for us to see a new reality in Brazilian soccer, where players are now literally seen as assets, and fans become clients. The difference is that nobody supports McDonald's or Burger King. If you don't like the sandwich at one, you go to the other. In soccer, passion is eternal and the understanding of professionalism within it has to do with the club always being above individual or collective interests, unless these interests are those of its owner.

Conclusion

It is this level of complexity that we need to understand about the SAF. Before taking one side of a story or the other, we need to analyze the facts, especially when it happens in a completely new scenario in our culture, where money has an owner, and the loss of it hurts someone's pocket, not being interesting for those who are managing it, obviously. For years, Brazilian soccer got used to associative clubs receiving financial support from so-called patrons. This usually culminated with titles, which is what pleases the fans, for the most part. The business logic of our soccer is "if it's winning, then it's good," even if all the metrics and reports point to a collapse.

In 2022, we still have big clubs working with terrible EBTIDA, with revenues two or three times lower than the debt, while acting at the limit of the correlation between "revenue x expenses" - when they don't end the year in the red -, without even being able to pay short-term debts or comply with agreements from tools created precisely to help them get out of the mud (PROFUT, for example).

All this while they continue assembling teams without any austerity and betting on the request for debt forgiveness, a fact that goes totally against a professional management, which is organized and assembles the team it can assemble - and manages to get results -, as is the case of Club Athletico Paranaense and Fortaleza Esporte Clube, models of management.