On November 30, 70,000 football fans filled the El Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires. They came to support two Brazilian teams, Atlético Mineiro and Botafogo, in the final of the Copa Libertadores, the main football tournament in South America. The game was fierce. In the first minute, Gregore, Botafogo’s midfielder, received a red card for hitting the cleats of his boot into an opponent’s face, leaving his team with ten players. Seconds before the end of extra time, Botafogo’s Júnior Santos dribbled past three Atlético players to shoot the ball into the goal, sealing a 3-1 victory for his team.
The match was historic for several reasons. It was the first Libertadores trophy for Botafogo, eternal underdogs. It was the sixth consecutive victory for a Brazilian team in the Libertadores, the longest streak of any country. And both finalists were SAFs (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol). Botafogo is the most spectacular success story since Brazil allowed football clubs, historically structured as non-profit associations, to become companies from 2021. It won’t be the last. Thanks to the emergence of SAFs and sports betting, Brazilian football is awash in money. Its clubs are becoming more competitive, making Brazil the most exciting market for investors in the beautiful game.
Botafogo’s trajectory is legendary and illustrates the forces at play in Brazilian football. In the 1960s and 1970s, the club was a factory for the best football players in the world. It supplied more players to the Brazilian national team than any other club. But for the last 40 years, it has been in free fall. It last won an international title in 1993. Between 2000 and 2020, it was relegated from Brazil’s top division three times. Their finances sank with it. In 2020, it had debts of more than R$1 billion and annual revenues of just R$151 million.
Then John Textor, an American businessman, appeared. His company, Eagle Football Holdings, has stakes in Crystal Palace in England and Olympique Lyonnais in France. He bought Botafogo in 2022 for around US$66 million (R$395 million). The team’s debts were cut in half. This year, he paid record sums for Luiz Henrique, a right winger, and Thiago Almada, an attacking midfielder. “We, Botafogo fans, have John Textor on earth and God in heaven”, celebrates Isaias Lieberbaum, a 70-year-old fan.
The rewards are sweet. Textor received a check for US$23 million (R$138 million) for the Libertadores victory, but winning also qualifies Botafogo to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup next year. The prize for the undertaking is gigantic. He wants to take Eagle Football Holdings public and hopes to raise at least US$1 billion (R$6 billion).
Even the losers are optimistic. “We have everything in Brazil to become like [Premier League]”, says Daniel Vorcaro, president of Banco Master, a Brazilian bank that is co-owner of Atlético Mineiro. “We have the passion, the talent, the fan base and the growth potential.” Four of Brazil’s Big 12 teams have joined have become SAFs since 2021. More are expected as the success stories accumulate In 2021, Ronaldo Fenômeno bought Cruzeiro, a team with astronomical debts that had fallen to the bottom. second division, for US$70 million (R$419 million). He sold it in April for US$100 million (R$600 million), after bringing it back to the first division.
Brazilian football has also reaped financial gains from sports betting, which was legalized in 2018. The country’s Central Bank estimates that Brazilians spent more than US$3 billion (R$18 billion) per month this year on bets through Pix, a digital payments system that it operates (including other forms of payment, the real value is much higher). This enthusiasm for gambling worried the government, which passed a law in 2023 requiring betting companies to obtain licenses.
Despite the euphoria surrounding them, SAFs cannot solve all problems. In 2022, an American investment group called 777 Partners purchased Vasco da Gama, one of the biggest teams in Brazil. The group went bankrupt in October and is being investigated in the United States for fraud. “SAFs are not a magic bullet — you need good governance,” says José Francisco Manssur, co-author of the SAFs law.
Others think there is more to Brazil’s dominance than SAFs and betting money. Irlan Simões, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, notes that Colombia and Chile adopted models similar to SAFs before Brazil, but their teams remain average. He says Brazil’s rise was inevitable. The country’s large population means a larger market for tickets, merchandise and broadcast rights. In 2016, Conmebol (South American Football Confederation), which organizes the Libertadores, allowed more teams to compete in the qualifying rounds, which benefited Brazil simply because it has more clubs.
More money, less problems
However, money clearly helps. “The association model is not fit for purpose,” says Manssur, remembering that clubs today have millions of fans and need money to buy the best players. He thinks Brazil’s SAFs could become a model for others in the region. This is a risky thought for a Brazilian. No country would benefit more from a capital injection than Brazilian football’s arch-rival, Argentina.
The country produces a disproportionate number of the world’s best players, but its domestic teams are chaos. After the Libertadores final, the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, posted on X: “Let’s talk about SAFs?” The country’s football association fiercely resisted such efforts. Perhaps the shame of seeing Brazilian teams dominate in their own territory will convince them.
