March 13 – Two-time World Cup winner Ronaldo (pictured) has withdrawn from the race to be president of the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) after failing to drum up enough support among the state federations.
He wrote on social media: “On my first contact with the 27 regional federations, I found 23 closed doors. If the majority of decision-makers believe that Brazilian football is in good hands, it doesn’t matter what I think.
“The federations refused to receive me in their homes, on the grounds of their satisfaction with the current administration and support for [Rodrigues’] re-election. I was unable to present my project, put forward my ideas and listen to them as I would have liked. There was no openness to dialogue.”
Last December Ronaldo announced his intention to run in next year’s election based on a campaign to restore the prestige of the Brazilian game. The five-time world champions have fallen on hard times in the international game while the CBF has lurched from one institutional crisis to the next.
In December 2023 current president Ednaldo Rodrigues was removed from the presidency by a local court before being reinstated following intervention from FIFA. Rodrigues serves as a member of the FIFA Council, having ousted Fernando Sarney.
Ronaldo, the two-time Ballon d’Or winner, was always going to struggle to make inroads in the politics of the Brazilian game, with the 27 state federations serving as the traditional powerbase of the CBF. They hold three votes each, while the 20 Serie A clubs have two votes each and the 20 Serie B clubs one vote each.
“The statute gives the federations the strongest vote, so it’s clear that there’s no way I can run. Most of the local leaders support the incumbent president. That’s their right and I respect it, regardless of my convictions,” concluded Ronaldo.
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