Palmeiras and their fans celebrated on Wednesday, having gained the point they needed to seal what would be a record 12th Brazilian title, but Botafogo owner and president John Textor is not ready to concede defeat just yet.
On Wednesday, the final day of the season, the American businessman called on Brazil’s Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD) to either annul the results of six Brasileiro Serie A games or order them to be replayed in January because of possible match-fixing.
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Less than a day later, the court rejected the request, saying Botafogo’s reasons for such radical action were “subjective and inconsistent”.
But Textor, who also owns French side Olympique Lyonnais and a minority stake in Premier League side Crystal Palace, will now take his fight through Brazil’s common courts. Under the terms of the country’s club licensing system, he had to try the STJD route first but can now take civil action against the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) without risk of sporting penalties.
So why is the Brazilian league title a matter of such dispute, and what are the next steps? Let us explain…
What happened in the Brazilian title race?
Having won 13 of their first 15 games, Botafogo looked almost certain to win their first title since 1995.
It would have been only the third in their history; a remarkable achievement for a squad with very few recognisable names that had only returned to the top flight in 2022. But, despite a 13-point lead, they started to wobble when Portuguese coach Luis Castro left in June to join Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Former Wolves boss Bruno Lage replaced him but was sacked in October, with former player Lucio Flavio taking over on an interim basis. He lasted just eight games, though, with Tiago Nunes in charge for the last five games of the campaign.
Botafogo finished fifth, with Palmeiras ending the campaign two points clear of Gremio to take the title.
What have Botafogo complained about?
Palmeiras won four of the games Botafogo have questioned, including a pivotal 4-3 victory against Textor’s team on November 1, when Botafogo threw away a 3-0 half-time lead, missed a penalty and conceded a 99th-minute winner.
However, the key moment of the game — and perhaps the whole season — came when Botafogo defender Adryelson was controversially sent off in the 76th minute. Up until that point, the Rio de Janeiro-based club looked set to extend their lead at the top of the table, but Palmeiras took full advantage of the extra man and closed the gap to three points.
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Botafogo would not win another game, taking just six points from their last 11 fixtures, while Palmeiras only lost once over the same stretch, earning 26 points.
Palmeiras celebrate after winning the title (AFP/Getty Images)Textor, who bought a 90 per cent stake in Botafogo last year, gave an emotional interview on the touchline shortly after the final whistle against Palmeiras, accusing the referee of “corruption” and “theft”, while demanding the resignation of CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues, who hit back by starting legal action against Textor for slander.
That case remains unresolved but Rodrigues has subsequently been ousted as CBF boss, although this is related to a longstanding dispute over the game’s governance and he is challenging his removal. The federation is now under the interim control of STJD president Jose Perdiz.
Braulio da Silva Machado, the referee in the Botafogo-Palmeiras game, mentioned the scenes at the end of the match in his report.
“After the final whistle, when we were still on the field, I noted the presence of unaccredited people who invaded the pitch and approached the team of officials,” he wrote.
“They were the player Patrick de Paula…and the owner John Textor, who after speaking with players from his team and saluting the fans, approached the officials, applauding in an ironic way, then doing gestures referring to money.”
He added that verbal abuse and accusations of cheating were directed at the officials in the mixed zone by directors of Botafogo and security staff, although Textor is not among those named.
Last week, however, the STJD agreed that Adryelson should not have been sent off and criticised the VAR official, Rafael Traci, for not showing the match official all the relevant camera angles to make the right decision. It did not consider the incident warranted the suspension of either official.
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The CBF has not responded to a request for comment.
What happens now?
Some would just shrug and put this down to bad luck but Textor, who has already served a 30-day suspension from the CBF for controversial comments about match-fixing, is not backing down.
In a letter sent to the president and attorney general of the STJD on Wednesday by the club’s chief executive Thairo Arruda, Botafogo referred to “numerous refereeing mistakes” that “cause us extreme concerns” about the “possible manipulation” of results. The club also made five suggestions for improving the standard of refereeing in Brazilian club football, which include creating an independent body to oversee match officials and publishing a table that ranks referees on the quality of their decisions.
As well as the letter, Botafogo has sent the court a dossier of match reports prepared by Good Game, a Lyon-based firm set up in 2019 that uses artificial intelligence and biomechanics to detect match-fixing.
Furthermore, the club warned the STJD that they may pursue this matter through the regular courts if necessary. Textor has told The Athletic “we have multiple teams set to file an action to set aside this entire season — we have a mountain of evidence that can prove the contamination of this season’s results”.
Textor R watching Botafogo and Cruzeiro on December 3 (Photo: Wagner Meier/Getty Images)He said Botafogo may also propose that no teams are relegated this season, which would rescue Brazilian great Pele’s former team Santos from their first ever demotion, with the promoted teams joining an expanded top flight next season.
Textor admitted that would be “bizarre” but it might be “the only fair treatment after an obviously contaminated season”. He also pointed out Palmeiras collected almost half of their points this season from games in which their opponents were reduced to 10 men.
What else do I need to know?
Brazilian football is no stranger to allegations of corruption and match-fixing.
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In 2005, 11 games had to replayed after two leading referees were bribed to fix games, while 17 players from second-division clubs were implicated in a huge match-fixing scandal earlier this year.
But many in Brazil think, in this instance, Textor is just looking for someone to blame for his side’s historic collapse.
“The fact that Botafogo were top for so long, then all this trouble and turbulence, and now losing the league… I think Textor became unbalanced,” Palmeiras president Leila Pereira told Globo TV on Wednesday. “It’s actually ridiculous. He discredits and devalues this very important product. He should be more calm.”
Textor responded to Pereira’s comments by saying: “I have never suggested that she (Pereira) personally is responsible for the curious actions and outside forces that support her team’s success. Ironically, as she suggests that our inquiry must mean that I am ‘imbalanced’, I would remind her that it is a balanced and level playing field that we hope to achieve…for the benefit of all clubs, and for the benefit of Brazil.”
Textor, however, is under pressure elsewhere in his Eagle Football group, which as well as his stakes in Botafogo, Lyon and Palace, includes Belgian top-tier side RWD Molenbeek. Lyon, seven-time champions of France, are currently bottom of Ligue 1, having won just one game this season, while Palace have lost five of their last seven games to slide to 14th in the Premier League.
But he remains convinced that his multi-club model will produce positive results on and off the pitch. And, under different circumstances, Botafogo’s fifth-place finish, which brings a berth in the second round of qualifying for next year’s Copa Libertadores, would have been a good start.
“In the end, it’s a bitter taste because two things are true,” he told The Athletic. “One, with Premier League referees working in Brazil, we would have been crowned champion several games ago.
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“And two, when the refereeing work cleaned up in the sunlight, we were given many chances to save ourselves and we failed.”
(Top photo: Wagner Meier/Getty Images)
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