Swimming in debt, Brazilian football clubs want to become corporations

In March, Eurico Miranda passed away at the age of 74 from a brain tumor. He was the epitome of a Brazilian football cartola, or “top hat,” the term used for the administrators of the country’s clubs and synonymous with corruption, financial opacity, and amateurish management practices.

Eurico Miranda’s club was Vasco da Gama, one of the biggest sides in Rio de Janeiro, and for a large part of his life, it really was his club. From 1980 until a year before his death, he was the leading power broker within Vasco, serving as a controlling vice president under Antônio Calçada for 20 years, and occupying the top job himself from 2001 onward.

Mr. Miranda was famously caught walking home after a Vasco match in 1997 with the game’s gate receipts stuffed into his jacket. He later claimed the cash was stolen in an armed robbery, and BRL 75,000 of the club’s money simply vanished into thin air.

At the end of the day, Eurico Miranda loved his football club. And by hook or by crook—though more often by crook—he did everything in his power for his Vasco da Gama to rise to greatness. His death, however, could signal the end of an era in Brazilian football, ushering in a...