“Santa Cruz’s claim is understandable, but, in my opinion, it would hardly be supported by the STJD. Firstly, sports courts rarely interfere in the regulation of competitions in respect for the constitutional autonomy of sports entities, except in cases of flagrant illegality. In the background, in the case at hand, it seems to me that the criteria relating to the distribution of places and the modus operandi in the case of withdrawals are contained in the competition regulations. And such criteria are technical, although it is possible to disagree with them. Reanalyze the criteria at on the eve of the competition, as the club intends, could generate even more legal uncertainty and result in a rush to the STJD by those potentially affected. All the fuss and the feeling of injustice ends up being the result of excessive withdrawals, which is a fact that is completely out of control of the CBF”, says sports lawyer Carlos Henrique Ramos.
“I understand that Santa Cruz’s chances of competing in Series D are nil, due to the places distributed to each Federation. The Pernambuco Football Federation (FPF) has already defined its two places. In turn, the FMF has a better position in the ranking of federations has the right to distribute three places. The FMF had nominated the clubs, however, after several clubs withdrew, the Democrat-SL, according to technical criteria, was the best classified, that is, it inherited this place. The management of places is defined according to the technical criteria of each Federation, in this way Santa Cruz, as a club affiliated to the FPF, could not interfere with the technical criteria of the FMF. We conclude that after the withdrawals of other clubs from Minas Gerais and because it has a better general classification in the FMF, the Democrat-SL is correctly qualified to compete in the competition and Santa Cruz would only compete in the competition if one of the clubs nominated by the FPF withdrew from the competition, which did not happen”, says Matheus Laupman, a lawyer specializing in sports law.
What Santa Cruz claims
Democrat-SL was invited by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF) to inherit one of the three places to play in the fourth division after Villa Nova, Democrat-GV and Caldense withdrew.
However, Santa Cruz claims that, having been demoted to Module II of the Campeonato Mineiro in 2023, Democrat-SL does not have the right to compete in the national competition, since the technical criteria required by article 193 of the General Law of Sport (LGE) were not met. As it is the club with the best position in the CBF National Club Ranking (RNC) among teams without a national division, Tricolor understands that the place should be theirs.
“We are going to judicialize the issue because we think our rights are good. That’s what democracy is,” stated Bruno Rodrigues.
Tags: Santa Cruz promises activate STJD place Series chances
