Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the Supreme Court (STF), denied on Wednesday (7) the removal of Ednaldo Rodrigues from the presidency of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation).
The magistrate rejected petitions presented by federal deputy Daniela Carneiro (União-RJ) and Fernando Sarney, vice president of the CBF. According to the decision, they have no legitimacy to act “in concentrated control action”, and the request for removal from Ednaldo would be “incabable” in a process that discusses the constitutionality of provisions of the General Law of Sport and the Pelé Law.
The parliamentarian and the leader manifested themselves in the context of direct action of unconstitutionality dealing with the legitimacy of judiciary interventions in internal issues of sports entities. Mendes is a rapporteur of the action.
In his ruling on Wednesday, the minister also ordered the Court of Rio de Janeiro to find out the “news and serious suspicions of consent addictions” presented by the petitions.
The participation of the magistrate in the judicial dispute that crosses the CBF is considered controversial by involved, since, since August 2023, the IDP (Brazilian Institute of Teaching, Development and Research), of which he is a partner and founder, has a partnership with the sports entity to manage CBF Acadey courses.
In their demonstrations, Daniela Carneiro and Sarney show evidence that the signature of Antonio Carlos Nunes de Lima, better known as Colonel Nunes, former interim president of the CBF, may have been falsified in an agreement signed in January this year that helped ensure Ednaldo’s continuity in charge of the entity.
At the time, Nunes and other leaders, including Sarney, signed an agreement that recognized the legality of the two assemblies that changed the statute and guaranteed the election of Ednaldo, both held in March 2022. The document was approved by Gilmar Mendes the following month.
In the document, they pledged to end all the disputes that questioned the assemblies and therefore threatened the continuity of the mandate.
However, a 2023 medical report attached by Daniela Carneiro to her petition indicates that Nunes had health conditions and intellectuals limited at the time of signing the agreement. In addition, graphical expertise also attached to the parliamentarian’s petition showed that the signature in the document may not have been made by the leader himself.
The expertise was commissioned by Councilman Marcos Dias (Somos-RJ) and signed by the expert Jacqueline Tirotti, from Tirotti Judicial Skills and Reviews.
In a note on Tuesday (6), the CBF reaffirmed the legitimacy of its processes and questioned the report.
“The CBF clarifies that it has not yet had formal access to that expert report, allegedly signed by a private expert, which is being used media and hastically,” says the note.
“The CBF emphasizes that all acts related to the agreement mentioned were conducted within the legality and with the participation of duly legitimized representatives,” adds the entity.
