Alleged Mafia Scandal at CBF: Anyone Surprised?

Hello friends, how are you?

There is a sports program that I usually watch daily and today I heard about a scandal coming from the CBF, the highest body of Brazilian football. A team of investigative journalists discovered that the salary of each president of the state football federation had a salary increase of 50 thousand reais per month to 215 thousand reais. That is more than quadruple these numbers. What did they do to have such an absurd increase?

This is quite honest, it is not as scandalous as more information has been released. Since the World Cup in Qatar, in 2022, it was discovered that Ednaldo Rodrigues, recently reelected president of the CBF, took more than 40 people who have nothing to do with football, among them, some parliamentarians and their families, used and abused the corporate card and other expenses, with everything paid for by the CBF.

Now Everything Makes Sense About Ronaldo's Withdrawal

Almost two weeks ago, Ronaldo Fenômeno announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy for president of the CBF, for the simple fact that of the 27 state federations, only 4 wanted to sit down and listen to what he had to say about his proposals. At the time, of course, this was a huge absurdity. Just imagine, one of the greatest players Brazil has ever had, most of the presidents of the federations didn't even want to listen to what he had to say? Why would that be?

A week after the election, in which there was only Ednaldo Rodrigues, since Ronaldo withdrew and there was no other opposition, his reelection was already a given. This salary increase only reveals the level of mafia that the country's highest football authority is part of. It doesn't surprise me that for many years Brazilian football simply disappeared; just remember that the last presidents were either accused of corruption or even went to jail.

Football has become the second priority for the CBF. It is sad to see this and there are many people who already suspect that there is a mafia of agents that manages players who are called up to the Brazilian National Team. There is still no proof so far, but after this other evidence, it is hard not to suspect. Instead of the national team coach having the freedom to call up players who, evidently, even deserve it, some players are called up because of greater exposure and appreciation to benefit A or B.

The curious thing is that no one wants to professionalize the referees and the CBF also does not want to invest in improvements to the stadiums, bringing more improvements to the fields for the shows, they do not want to invest in more technology and changes to the football calendar. There is no shortage of reasons and it is no wonder that the presidents of the federations will always support the president of the CBF. Because of this absurd increase in his salary, it is obvious that they already knew that they would receive it after the elections and that is why they closed the doors to not even talk to Ronaldo.

If this is indeed proven, it will certainly be exposed, but I think it is very unlikely that this will happen. Especially because the chances of a foreign coach filling Dorival Júnior's position are high today. Ednaldo Rodrigues is likely to convince and give this future coach carte blanche that he will have complete freedom to call up whoever he thinks is best. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for a coach from outside Brazil to accept this absurdity.

Today, some things were exposed that prove the mafia and corruption in the CBF, where even a minister of the Supreme Federal Court is linked to Ednaldo Rodrigues. We know how much freedom of expression in the country is under threat and the chances of all this being taken seriously by the authorities are very slim. I am not so convinced that anything will be done, but it is very important that this and other things be made public so that everyone knows that in any sector in Brazil, there is corruption that has long been rooted in the country.