The publication by the president of Corinthians, Augusto Melo, donating R$1,000 to the fundraiser organized by Gaviões da Fiel to pay off the R$710 million debt that the club has with Caixa Econômica Federal, did not go down well on social media. Fans mocked the amount invested by the agent, considering the amount low, and commented on Melo’s post.
“Augusto Melo is poorer than me”, “only R$1 thousand?” and “is it hard?” There were some comments from Corinthians fans mocking the president’s actions. Others asked for a larger donation and joked about the pause that Melo gives before putting the last zero. The video posted by the club president went viral this Thursday.
After the negative repercussion, the president stated that he will donate this amount for the next six months, signaling that he will participate in the campaign with a total of R$6,000. The initiative was launched by Gaviões, Corinthians’ main organized fan base, on Wednesday, and has already exceeded the value of R$5 million.
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The online crowdfunding was created to help Corinthians pay off its stadium’s debt to Caixa. The objective of the campaign is ambitious: to reach the mark of R$710 million, the value of the São Paulo club’s debt with the bank, relating to the construction of the Neo Química Arena.
The campaign had been drafted in recent months, on the initiative of Gaviões da Fiel, the club’s main organizer. After overcoming bureaucratic issues and receiving support from Corinthians management, the campaign was launched on Wednesday night, at 7:10 pm, in a mention of the club’s founding date (1910).
The demand for donations surprised the organization itself. The fundraising already totaled R$1 million in just 12 hours. At that point, around 40,000 people were in line to access the site. Search for the site, which has suffered repeated drops throughout the day, remains high this Thursday, similar to what happens when purchasing tickets for the most popular shows.
