Money talks as Santos bin Robinho

Welcome back to another edition of the Brazil Sports newsletter. This week, Santos sack Robinho after rape outcry, and Brazil’s World Cup TV rights at risk with new Fifa rule. Enjoy your read!

Robinho sees Santos contract torn up after rape scandal

Last week, we covered the scandal surrounding São Paulo football club Santos and their signing of former Brazilian national team star Robinho — convicted of rape in an ongoing case in Italy. The issue now appears to have been put to bed for the time being, with Santos ceding to public pressure and tearing up Robinho’s contract, but not before the story took on further gruesome turns.

Journalism decides the match. At the time of last week’s Brazil Sports newsletter, it appeared that the battle lines were drawn. Santos and their fans were adamant in their defense of Robinho and would persist with his signing, while the majority of the press, pundits, and fans of other clubs continued their protest. Journalists and commentators pledged to ignore his name on the team sheet while covering Santos matches, and some fans launched an informal pledge on Twitter for opposition players to intentionally injure Robinho on the pitch.

• On Friday, however, the story was turned on its head. Sports news website Globoesporte published an exposé authored by journalist Lucas Ferraz, who got a hold of the court order that convicted Robinho in 2017, including transcriptions of damning phone calls between Robinho and a friend, which led to the Italian courts finding him guilty.

Warning. The content of the transcriptions is sensitive and explicit, and reader discretion is advised.

• In...