Cartola for 43 years and president of the São Paulo Football Federation since 2015, Reinaldo Carneiro Bastos, 70, says that Brazilian legislation is lagging behind the most recent changes in national football, driven by the expansion of the virtual betting market.
For Bastos, this gray area has generated financial losses for national sport, as online betting companies do not pay taxes. On the other hand, he says that it is possible that this scenario has created an inflated market for all agents, including communication companies, which tends to wither with the implementation of charges.
Deregulation also explains, according to him, the lack of rigor in the punishments of those who have been involved in match-fixing schemes.
The top hat claims, for example, that he considered the punishment of 12 games of suspension imposed by the STJD (Superior Court of Sports Justice) to defender Eduardo Bauermann, from Santos, one of the cases of the most recent betting mafia.
Bastos proposes that a new legislation include mechanisms to mitigate the harmful effects of betting, such as the definition of limits on who can or cannot bet based on income criteria, in addition to the funding of education courses by betting companies.
Possible candidate for the presidency of the CBF several times in the last decade, he says that the matter is already over for him. Former ally of CBF commanders who fell out of favor amid corruption scandals, such as José Maria Marin and Marco Polo Del Nero, Bastos says they no longer have influence in the organization, which, with Ednaldo Rodrigues, would have entered a lawsuit of democratization and modernization.
According to him, the next inevitable step in this direction is the formation of a league by the clubs, commanded by professional directors disconnected from the associations, as in the great European centers.
How do you see the situation of Brazilian football today? We need management more and more. Transparency, fair play. Not just in football. But it needs professional management. The Arrival of the SAFs [Sociedade Anônima de Futebol, que permitiu que clubes sejam transformados em empresas]regardless of how it arrived, it will do good for football.
The CBF has changed. With the arrival of Ednaldo [Rodrigues, presidente] it changes. The CBF never left the hand of whoever was in the chair, having to have eight signatures of the president of the federation to run for office. Now I only need four. Now it’s viable.
It has to have a platform, it has to have a project, it has to have a plan. It is no longer enough to be anointed by a sponsor, by two or three sponsors. So, this new administration of the CBF that starts has recovered credibility in South America, in Fifa, in the international community.
Financially, they [sites de apostas] they are in 97% of the competitions, in 97% of the clubs and investing a lot of money. What worries me is that we have been without a rule for some years now. without paying tax
But the logic follows the same, doesn’t it? The federations continue to receive their allowances, even larger ones, and this continues to count when making decisions and giving support. “Allowance” is a term I don’t think is appropriate. The allowance you ask for, for the Paulista Federation and for the bigger ones, means very little.
But it means the subsistence of the little ones. If you take the ranking, turn it upside down, at least until the tenth or even the twelfth they survive with this allowance from the CBF.
It’s very easy for us to say that the federations were hung up on this allowance. But when you see that you have a single ticket, how are you going to oppose it?
That’s why having four federations just in the next electoral process opens up a new reality for Brazilian football that we will only know what will happen when the elections begin. I’m optimistic it will get better.
Brazilian football has a new player, which are sports betting sites. How do you see their influence on football today? Political influence I haven’t felt any yet. Financially, they are in 97% of competitions, in 97% of clubs and investing a lot of money. What worries me is that we have been without a rule for some years now. Without paying tax.
Any of us here, if we do an account, if we had gone three or four years without paying taxes, our bank account would be much better.
They are sponsoring Brazilian football a lot. What will happen when it is regulated, when it starts to have obligations and when it starts to pay taxes? I don’t know. What will happen specifically for football, I don’t know. If the money decreases, football will feel it. And it’s not just football. Communication companies too. They are on radios, on TV.
Do you think it’s healthy to encourage the population of a country like Brazil to place bets? Everything that does not have a rule enables this type of comment. There’s no rule. This is too big a matter, too serious, to live without a rule.
I think the person has to have a minimum income to be able to play or, according to their income, have a limit to play per month. But, mainly, there is no investment of bets to educate.
Education is essential to teach young people that they cannot play, young athletes that they cannot play, already professional athletes that this is a crime, that they cannot play, teach citizens that this can be harmful to their income, that it could hurt his family
Do you defend that this should be included in the MP for sports betting? Somewhere it has to be. I think there should be a rule for people. For many people, this is an addiction. As such, it must be treated, cared for and observed. I believe that the law or the Provisional Measure need to deal with this seriously, they need to establish a rule.
Whose responsibility should it be to educate? It’s always the government. But I think that if I’m going to sponsor, I have to allocate a percentage to educate who you’re going to reach.
This is a subject that I have already turned the page, I will not be a candidate for the presidency of the CBF. I am in my last term here in the Federation, I cannot be re-elected. My age has come, I’ve contributed all I could contribute
They say that companies are not very willing to allocate some money for this. I think this statement is very generic. We need to show them what the rules of the game are. Since we are going to start, we are going to regularize this, let’s update the law, shall we? Our legislation is old, archaic. There cannot be a law that the punishment is for manipulation of the result. That’s back there. Now it has [apostas sobre] corner, yellow card, foul number. It’s not just a result. We have to be firm on this.
What did you think of Bauermann’s punishment? Speaking not as a lawyer, I don’t know the records, but I didn’t like it, I thought it was bland. It has to be very strict.
Banishment? There has to be a ban, yes, this is serious. Strictness with athletes, strictness with harassers, you have to be strict with everyone, that’s why we need to improve the legislation.
And the leagues? It’s the solution. I defend that the league should not be commanded by any football director, nor former president of the federation. It has to be people from the market who don’t bring this parochialism together. There was a dubious arbitration move, it’s because the league president is from such a team. We have to take this away.
Are you the next CBF candidate? This is a subject that I have already turned the page, I will not be a candidate for the presidency of the CBF. I am in my last term here in the Federation, I cannot be re-elected. My age has come, I already contributed everything I could contribute. I could be on a slate as deputy again. Being the leader of this project no longer delights me. CBF is something so great that I see it as the second most important position in Brazil.
This is a subject that I have already turned the page, I will not be a candidate for the presidency of the CBF. I’m in my last term here at the federation, I can’t be re-elected. My age has come, I’ve contributed all I could contribute
What did mr. How do you like the management of Ednaldo Rodrigues? I think that if he left enemies there, it’s already a good sign, because he took a lot of people out of there. If I were president of the CBF, I would also take it. I see constant dedication in him, working more than 20 hours a day.
I stress again. In addition to the respect that the CBF regained in the entities, a great legacy was leading this process of democratization of the CBF. The next CBF elections will be democratic, transparent, they will not be held behind four walls calling for president [de federação] to sign under pressure a support.
Will legislation that is more adequate for this issue of betting arrive first, or will a coach arrive in the Brazilian national team? Being fast doesn’t mean making the best choice. This is a process that is entirely in the hands of the present Ednaldo. I think the most important thing is to choose well.
Among the names on the table, who do you prefer: Carlo Ancelotti, Abel Ferreira, Dorival Júnior or Fernando Diniz? I have my convictions, but, as president of the São Paulo federation, expressing my opinion only gets in the way.
Do you regret having been part of CBF’s past administrations? No, because if I hadn’t been part of the management, I wouldn’t be here, nobody changes anything from the outside. If you’re not poking, pushing, demanding, demanding, you don’t change outside the system.
