Frederico Luz It is Managing Director of Alvarez and MarsalExperience that provided him with work in major Brazilian football clubs such as Corinthians, where he held the position of CEO between July and left in December last year.
With the experience of who was also director of marketing and CEO of Flamengo between 2013 and 2018, Fred Luz made a parallel among the teams that today represent the two largest fans of Brazilian football. In the executive’s view, the parity of conditions between Flamengo and Corinthians in the fans ranking has not been reflected in the revenue of both teams.
“You see that, for example, while Flamengo today captures $ 1.3 billion revenue, and the Bap (Luiz Eduardo Baptista, club president) has said that it is $ 1.5 billion for this year of 2025, Corinthians works with $ 800 million. Interview with the Game Changers program.
“I think Corinthians has a potential equal to or greater than Flamengo’s. But it has to work. It’s not like that,” oh, I have potential, I get there. “At that time he earned 200, it was a tenth of the potential, right? I would say now 60% of the potential,” he added.
The beginning in football
Training and Executive Engineer with a success trajectory in the area of retail, Fred Luz received an invitation in 2013 that shook him: being a marketing director at Flemishheart club. It would be the first job in sport, which left him reticent at first – but he would make a key change in his career.
“In my youth, I was a very football fan, to go to the Maracanã Flag, you know? But then I thought football was a little weird business, with agendas that were not the most interesting. So much so that when I was invited by a friend to go there to look at Flamengo and everything, my first reaction was to say: No, I won’t get into this business, you know? I don’t think it’s something for serious people, ”admitted the executive.
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Fred Light was convinced by colleagues to accept the challenge and, under the command of Eduardo Bandeira de MelloIt helped set up a Flamengo who changed the status of a debt club for financial power.
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“However, the experience for me was spectacular. We managed to do a lot by treating Flamengo as a company really,” Fred Luz explained, which, besides head marketing, held the position of CEO between 2014 and 2018.
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But it is wrong to think that the way was easy. Under the management of Flag, Flamengo recovered their financial power. On the other hand, the field turned out to be the weak point of its term (the club won a Brazilian Cup and two state in six years). Fred Luz, however, shows satisfaction with the results, because the initial scenario was very adverse, as he admits himself. “It was obvious that this Flamengo there that we got 2013, 2014, the goal was not to fall.”
Bandeira left Flamengo at the end of 2018, after his political group loses the club’s elections. Fred Luz, in turn, left months earlier to be one of the coordinators of New party of the campaign of João Amoedo to the Presidency of the Republic.
Months later, in the next management, Rodolfo Landimthe club went out to win titles: Flamengo was carioca championas well Liberators and from Brasileirão.
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Short pass like CEO of Corinthians
In July 2024, Fred Luz embarked on a new impact challenge on football. The executive assumed as CEO do Corinthianswith the mission of equating club debts and increasing revenues.
But the executive took a very adverse scenario, starting with the fact that the president of Corinthians, Augusto Melobegan to face an impeachment process due to alleged irregularities in the sponsorship contract made with the company Videbetterminated days before Fred Luz’s presentation as CEO.
Fred also faced another difficulty that limited his work in Corinthians: the hiring of an individual to the role of CEO was not foreseen in the club statute, and the inclusion would need to be approved by Deliberative councilsomething that has never happened in practice.
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But Fred Luz left Corinthians? Since the beginning of 2025, he has ceased to play the role of CEO. “Directly, I am not part of Corinthians day. As the plan was sketched, it cannot be followed as we wanted, we preferred not to continue, even for the benefit of Corinthians itself.”
In Fred Luz’s view, there is a difficulty in understanding public opinion about what is the function of the CEO in soccer associations such as Corinthians and Flamengo.
“They even talk a lot about CEO in association, as CEO is a guy who send. CEO does not send anything. No pen has,” explained the executive. “I even think it has to be that … Who rules is the president of the club and the people around. The CEO makes those wills happen.”
Fred Luz left Corinthians? Political turbulence weighed
Fred Luz admits that political turbulence has weighed, which is why he came out of Corinthians’ daily life. “I would say that in Corinthians, a condition of political alignment was not found in relation to the club’s goals.
“The president, very harassed by various issues, could not have a unit around him, from all the powers of the club. I do not see a peaceful environment in order to be able to make the larger interests of Corinthians prevail,” said the executive.
“There is a lot of political issue and the institution’s main objective is lost, which is to take Corinthians up from the point of view of revenues, results and everything,” he added.
According to Fred Luz, who today occupies the position of Managing Director of Sports and Entertainment of Alvarez and Marsalthe work he performs at Corinthians is only supported by the club’s financial management.
“We support consulting and internal management work there, but support. We did not participate in any Corinthians decision, we did not follow any Corinthians contract review, nothing, nothing,” explained the executive.
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