Stoppage to plunge football teams into dire crisis

São Paulo's Pacaembu Municipal Stadium. Edsom Luiz Jr/FP

Hello, and welcome back to the Brazil Sports newsletter. With no sport on the TV, we’re doing things a little differently this week. First, we have an update of how football clubs and players are handling the forced stoppage, then we go back to 1958 for a little treat: looking at the three minutes that changed world football forever. Enjoy your read!

The show must NOT go on

With football completely paralyzed, players quarantined and tournaments canceled, the sports pages of the Brazilian press have been left almost blank. The coronavirus pandemic has rightly taken precedent over everything, and football clubs are beginning to do their bit to help out.

Stadiums. The Brazilian Health Ministry has predicted that the country’s public health system will collapse by the end of April, with a huge demand for beds and respirators. As a result, there have been plans made to set up a number of temporary field hospitals, and some of the country’s biggest football clubs are lending a hand.

In São Paulo, the big four clubs—Corinthians, São Paulo, Palmeiras, and Santos—have offered up their training centers and stadiums to be used by the health authorities, and the previously municipal-owned Pacaembu stadium is already being kitted out with hospital beds to receive patients. Bahia are doing the same, as are Athletico-PR in Curitiba.

Finances? One of the big worries in Brazilian football is regarding the potential loss in revenue felt by the clubs during this exceptional stoppage. At the best of times, teams in Brazil are just about financially operational. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, several clubs—with the likely exceptions of Flamengo and Palmeiras—will soon have difficulties paying the wages of their staff and players. There is a risk of sponsors pulling out, and revenue will tumble thanks to the lack of gate receipts. Unless these clubs are already in a reasonable position in terms of cash flow, we could be looking at the financial decimation of a huge number of top division sides.

The three minutes that changed world football

Garrincha gets passed a Soviet defender. Photo: Archives

During the coronavirus pandemic, you’ll understand if we have some...

Euan Marshall

Originally from Scotland, Euan Marshall traded Glasgow for São Paulo in 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics, and the connection between the two, he authored a comprehensive history of Brazilian soccer entitled “A to Zico: An Alphabet of Brazilian Football.”