The Brazilian football transfer window closed at 11:59 pm on Tuesday (3) with the 20 clubs in Series A of the Brazilian Championship having invested around R$1.6 billion in reinforcements for the season.
The value corresponds to a 24% drop compared to the first window of last year, when the Brazilian football elite spent approximately R$2.1 billion on signings, in values adjusted for inflation.
According to experts, the drop reflects the teams’ greater concern with their finances, in the first transfer window after the presentation by the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) of the rules of the new financial fair play system to be implemented in Brazilian football.
The Brazilian model, called SSF (Financial Sustainability System), will be based on standards already adopted abroad, establishing limits for debts, squad expenses, debt capacity and clubs’ operational balance.
“The trend towards greater rigor in the allocation of resources for this purpose seems evident. The most logical deduction is that it is an immediate and pedagogical effect of the beginning of the financial fair play recently instituted by the CBF”, stated Michel Fauze Mattar, professor at FIA Business School.
“The exceptions are clubs whose financial restructuring has already been implemented and those SAFs whose investors contributed capital to this line of investment”, added the expert.
General director of Trevisan Escola de Negócios and specialist in sports management and marketing, Fernando Trevisan said that the drop could also be related to the reduction in betting sponsorships, in the wake of an increase in regulation in the sector that reduced the margin for investment in sport.
“We may be seeing an adjustment to this scenario of a bubble that existed in the past and that no longer exists. Including some clubs starting the championship without sponsorship, which has not happened for some time,” said Trevisan.
Vasco, Internacional, Grêmio, Coritiba and Bahia started the Brazilian Championship without master sponsorship, after ending their contracts with sports betting houses.
As has been common in recent windows, Flamengo and Palmeiras once again led spending to reinforce their already strong squads, with Cruzeiro’s SAF and Fluminense coming a little behind.
The red-and-black was responsible for making the biggest signing in the history of Brazilian football, repatriating Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paquetá, a creation of the Rio de Janeiro club’s academy who spent the last few years at West Ham, in England, for R$ 257 million.
Flamengo also invested R$62.4 million to take defender Vitão from Internacional, in addition to another R$9.2 million to bring goalkeeper Andrew from Gil Vicente, from Portugal.
Palmeiras, in turn, had Colombian striker Jhon Arias as their biggest signing of the window, who had left Fluminense last year for English club Wolverhampton and was brought back to Brazil for R$152 million.
Alviverde also paid R$31.2 million for midfielder Marlon Freitas, from Botafogo, and another R$24.5 million for defender Bruno Fuchs, from Atlético-MG.
Cruzeiro bet all its chips on midfielder Gerson, who left Zenit, from Russia, for R$165 million — at the time of the announcement, he became the most expensive signing in Brazilian football, surpassing Vitor Roque, who came from Barcelona to Palmeiras for R$162 million in February 2025, in values adjusted for inflation, but surpassed a few days later by Paquetá at Flamengo.
“There was an increase in the value per athlete. The clubs were more selective at this time in the search for players of a higher quality, instead of looking at quantity. Perhaps we now have a better qualification of the squads compared to the previous period”, said Trevisan.
Despite the high prices with important signings by the trio, the clubs remained within the new limits established by the CBF’s fair play. “These are negotiations that have a small impact and should not create problems in complying with the rules”, said economist César Grafietti, one of those responsible for preparing the program.
“The amortization of Gerson should represent around 7% of Cruzeiro’s revenues, while the signings of Flamengo and Palmeiras should represent 3% of revenues. We are not talking about prohibitive amounts, but at Cruzeiro the impact is greater, with the advantage of being able to count on capital contributions from the shareholder to compensate for any amounts above the limit”, added the economist.
Grafietti pointed out that Brazil currently represents the sixth largest league in the world in terms of revenue, with the evolution of clubs’ financial conditions over recent years based, in part, on better management of teams such as Flamengo, Palmeiras and Athletico-PR, and also on the impact caused by the SAFs.
“But attention is needed, because although the party can make these investments without difficulties, there are still cases of unbalanced clubs that react without capacity. Grêmio, Internacional, Corinthians, Santos, São Paulo are examples of this”, said Grafietti.
Clubs will still be able to reinforce their squads between this Wednesday (4) and March 27, but, in this case, they will only have available athletes who competed in the state championships or who recently terminated their contracts.
The “traditional” transfer window, with teams able to bring players without any type of impediment, opens again between July 20th and September 11th.
The five biggest signings in the history of Brazilian football
1) Lucas Paquetá (from West Ham-ING to Flamengo) — R$257 million
2) Gerson (from Zenit-RUS to Cruzeiro) — R$ 165 million
3) Vitor Roque (from Barcelona-ESP to Palmeiras) — R$162 million*
4) Thiago Almada (from Atlanta-USA to Botafogo) — R$156 million*
5) Jhon Arias (from Wolverhampton-ING to Palmeiras) — R$152 million
*values adjusted for inflation
