By David Gold
October 29 – Marcos Motta, a partner at law firm RBMF Advogados, which counts Neymar (pictured) and the Brazil Football Confederation among its clients, has spoken to insideworldfootball about the rapid growth of Brazilian football in recent years.
Motta will be speaking about this new era in Brazilian football – which has been propelled by the country’s rapid financial growth – at the 13th International Football Arena (IFA) conference in less than a fortnight.
His firm has been involved in some of the biggest transfer deals in Brazil in recent years, such as Ronaldinho’s move from AC Milan to Flamengo and Thiago Silva’s switch from Fluminense to the Italian champions.
The strength of the economy has resulted in 49 million people moving into the middle and upper classes of Brazilian society since 2003, and, for a football-mad country – which has 100 million supporters – this has spurred a significant period of growth for the biggest clubs, such as Corinthians, Flamengo and Sao Paulo.
Then there is Santos, winners of the Copa Libertadores (pictured, below) earlier this year when they beat Uruguayan side Penarol, who boast the two most iconic members of the new generation of Brazilian footballers, Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso.
Ten to 20 years ago, Neymar and Ganso – as well as Internacional’s Leandro Damião and São Paulo’s Lucas – would probably have left Brazil to ply their trade, courted, as they are, by top European sides,
“Brazil met Argentina recently and if you compare the squads you see the difference because all the players were playing domestically,” said Motta.
“Brazil won 2-0 and the strikers – Lucas, Ronaldinho, Neymar and Damião – all are playing in Brazil at the moment.
“It is quite bizarre. When you look back at the 1994 World Cup, you had Romario [at Barcelona] and Bebeto [at Deportivo la Coruña].
“This is due to the Brazilian economy booming, having an impact on the consumer market.
“This impact raises revenues, such as TV rights.
“Now clubs are negotiating their TV rights individually and not collectively, so larger sides like Flamengo and Corinthians are [doing] their own deals.”
The rapid growth of Brazilian football is likely to result in television revenues per year rising to more than €400 million (£343 million/$548 million), according to Motta, which would place it on a par with the current television rights deal in the French first division.
Few clubs are doing more than Santos or Corinthians to stimulate the growth of Brazilian football.
Santos’s fanbase has increased by 151 per cent in recent years, helped by the popularity of Neymar, the poster boy of the new generation.
Corinthians, meanwhile, have seen their shirt sponsorship value rise so much that it is now the fifth most valuable in the world.
This is in partly down to the club signing Brazilian legends Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, in 2009 and 2010 respectively, and this trend has been copied by their rivals in recent years, with top players coming back to the country closer to the peaks of their careers than ever before.
As well as Ronaldinho’s return to Brazil, striker Fred left Olympique Lyonnais for Fluminense, who also signed former Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder Deco, while Adriano is now at Corinthians and Elano has joined Santos.
Luis Fabiano left Sevilla earlier this year to join São Paulo at the height of his career and Brazilian teams are now also able to keep youngsters, such as Ganso and Damião, for longer than they could previously.
These players can attract wages on a par with Motta, who should know, having been involved in the transfers of some of Brazil’s biggest names. As he explains, venture capitalists help to fund player salaries through a part-ownership model alien to most European audiences, though it is a practise common to some Portuguese teams.
Brazilian clubs can only expect a percentage of a player’s transfer fee to go to them because they are part-owned by third parties, but these investors enable clubs to afford better players than they would otherwise.
The next big-name signing to land in Brazil could prove a watershed moment, marking emphatically the Brazilian league’s new stature in the world game – and appropriately, he is the man who introduced third-party ownership to England.
Carlos Tevez (pictured, above) has made little secret of his desire to leave Manchester City and, after a row with manager Roberto Mancini over his alleged refusal to play for the club in a Champions League game with Bayern Munich, he is increasingly likely to part company with his employers sooner rather than later.
Corinthians made a bid for the player in the summer, but City pulled the plug on the deal and, with the player expressing his desire to play as close to Argentina as possible, Brazil may be his best option.
He previously played for the club before signing for West Ham in 2006 and a return appears increasingly likely now his value has plummeted.
Motta is convinced they can afford the Argentine’s wages.
“They know what they are doing,” he said.
They will never jump into a situation they cannot afford, especially this transaction with a worldwide impact.
“They have the background of Ronaldo, who was very successful, they also brought Roberto Carlos.
“I am pretty sure they know what they are doing and if they are making an offer it is because they can afford it.”
Is there a risk, though, that with the individual negotiation of television rights the top teams in Brazil could move away from the rest and leave the league far less competitive than it currently is?
Brazilian football is noted for its competitive nature, with five, six or seven teams often competing for the title in the final weeks of the season.
This season, Vasco de Gama (pictured, above) and Corinthians are battling for the Brasiliero with just seven weeks of the season to go, and even eighth-placed Figueirense could still clinch the Championship – but Motta says the new television deal could consign such thrilling finales to history.
“This is a concern few people have noticed,” he said.
“There can be a gap between the richer clubs and the rest.
“I see small clubs now are still happy, they have had their TV rights raised with the new deal.
“In the near future, Corinthians will bid for Tevez and other clubs will make the same kind of move looking for these kind of players.
“Only Flamengo, Corinthians, Sao Paulo, these kind of clubs, can afford such transactions.
“In the middle to long term, this can lead to a big gap between the top clubs and the rest in Brazil.”
Away from the players on the pitch, Brazilian football is also trying to modernise its crowded football calendar.
In addition to the main championship, the Brasiliero, Brazilian teams play in two national cup competitions and local state leagues, as well as the continental tournaments – the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.
It means, in addition to international dates, Brazilian football is played all year round, devaluing the main championship.
This season is a prime example of that, as Santos, having won the Libertadores and, therefore, already qualified for the tournament next year, have taken their foot off the gas and are sitting in 12th, preparing instead for December’s World Club Cup in Japan, where Neymar and Ganso will come up against European champions Barcelona.
Motta says the domestic calendar is one of the biggest issues facing Brazil and must change to allow clubs to make the most of their commercial possibilities from international friendlies.
“Clubs want to go global trying to find windows in the calendar to play friendly tournaments in Germany, England and Holland,” he says.
“There is no calendar for that…this is another issue we have.”
Though grappling with logistical issues, Brazil is a country so vast that it can sustain its own rapid growth without too much outside investment.
The main sponsors of Corinthians are all Brazilian and then there is the World Cup, accelerating the development of modern stadia and infrastructure, which can only help improve club revenues further still.
The future seems bright, and very much yellow and blue for the country with the world’s most successful international side.
It may be a long way off still, but with such developments in their domestic game, it may not be too long until their top club sides are able to compete on a par with their European rivals.
IFA Zurich 2011 takes place on November 7 and 8 at the Dolder Grand Hotel, Zurich.
To find out how to attend please click here.
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