About an hour after the announcement of an agreement between Flamengo and Libra (Brazilian Football League) regarding the distribution of money from broadcasting rights for the Brazilian Championship, Palmeiras announced its departure from the bloc. Irritated by what she called “selfish attitudes”, the club’s president, Leila Pereira, announced her decision on Tuesday afternoon (5).
It is the latest development in a fight that has been going on for some time. When he was elected to the presidency of Flamengo, at the turn of 2025, Luiz Eduardo Baptista, known as Bap, began to question the Libra contract, signed by his predecessor, Rodolfo Landim. He managed to block R$77 million to pay the other teams in the group.
According to the model adopted in Libra, which also brings together associations such as Flamengo, São Paulo and Santos, the money is distributed in the 40-30-30 model: 40% equally among the members of the bloc, 30% per performance in the Brazilian Championship and 30% per audience. The group reached an agreement until 2029 with Globo for its home games.
The terms of the new agreement between Flamengo and Libra were not disclosed. The official note released this Tuesday says that “a balance point was found between what Flamengo’s new board requested since taking over the club, in January 2025, and what some Libra clubs understood to be their preferred model.”
It is estimated that the Gávea association secured at least R$30 million more per year, which angered Palmeiras. Leila Pereira, who collects public and private disputes with Bap, called her rival’s conduct “nasty” several times. This was the line also adopted in the most recent statement.
“It is undeniable that the bloc has achieved achievements, including the current agreement for TV broadcasting rights. Throughout this process, however, selfish attitudes – when not predatory – made the cohesion necessary for the creation of a shared model of management and governance unfeasible”, says the text released by the alviverde association.
“Leaving Libra does not imply Palmeiras joining any other representative association. The club chooses, at this moment, to follow the next steps of the possible structuring of a league, conducted within the institutional scope of the CBF. We remain open to dialogue and willing to contribute to promoting the structural evolution that national football needs”, he concludes.
The formal announcement of the departure does not imply an interruption of the contract with Globo. As Libra’s commitment to the broadcaster was signed with Palmeiras as a member, the club will continue to receive the amounts due until the 2029 edition. Until then, there will probably be aggressive negotiations on the championships from 2030 onwards.
When mentioning in its note “another representative association”, Palmeiras refers to FFU (Futebol Forte União, the other bloc of teams that negotiate broadcasting rights.
This group, initially called LFU (Liga Forte União), with teams such as Corinthians, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo, Cruzeiro and Internacional, adopted different strategies from Libra, both in fundraising (with several broadcasters, not one) and in distribution (45% divided equally, 30% by performance and 25% by audience).
The CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), which maintained some distance from this dispute, freeing the clubs to negotiate in their own way, recently started to participate more actively in the process. On the 6th, the confederation promoted a meeting on the topic that it called “historic” with the 40 teams from the first two national divisions.
A schedule was formulated for the formation of a single league, without the current division into two blocks. But the statements made by multiple leaders upon leaving the meeting made it clear that unity is far away. Vasco president Pedrinho, for example, left the event criticizing Bap and John Textor, who still commanded Botafogo. Leila concentrated her attack on Flamengo.
“Palmeiras always walks in the position of valuing the competition. Palmeiras is not the center of the universe. Palmeiras is not the Real Madrid of Brazil or the Real Madrid of the Americas. There are clubs that think they are Real Madrid. They may even be the Real Madrid of Shopee. We all need each other”, he declared at the time.
One month after the “historic meeting”, instead of Brazilian football being closer to a single league, it is more divided.
