Reduction of R$600 million in debt, increase in revenue and strong squad: ‘Botafogo was very lucky to have John Textor and has a bright future’, highlights Durcesio

By 2021, the Botafogo he was practically bankrupt, in Series B and with no prospects for the future. The team gained access on the field and, off it, built the path to become SAFwhich was made official with the arrival of John Textor in 2022. The president Durcesio Mello He talked about the process in an interview with “GE”.

– Regarding our SAF, I have to go back a little to say that we worked for two years on this project, several emeritus figures, some with the capacity to carry out SAF, mergers and acquisitions, we worked to create a good shareholder agreement for Botafogo and for investors. When Eagle came, the partnership has been very good. It’s obvious that in football the final word always belongs to John Textor and his team, but I participate, we talk often, he’s become a friend. Botafogo was very lucky to have John Tetor as an investor, not only because he is a football lover, rather than just an investor, but because he really likes Botafogo, which made him fall in love with Mais Tradicional. I have a good relationship with him, I am even part of the SAF Board of Directors. It’s John Textor, me and three other Americans. We often have meetings to discuss everyday matters, I am always monitoring this. I don’t participate in the day-to-day football, because I prefer not to, although I give tips and speak to the managers. The most important thing, with the split, is that John understands that it is important for the club to be strong and have a good image, because it helps football. And vice versa. Hence my action after the change of key on March 11, 2022, then I started dedicating more time to the club – said Durcesio, who has also been working on the issue of transparency.

– We have a representative from the SAF Supervisory Board and I am on the Board of Directors. And we have clauses in the shareholders’ agreement that must be complied with. For example, loan level, a percentage of income that they cannot exceed. If they exceed it, they have to explain to the club how they are going to fix it. Once it passed, they quickly injected money and fixed it. This past week they invited me to the stadium to present me with the budget before taking it to John Textor and the Board of Directors. There is this respect, this monitoring, of monitoring, I know what is happening. There really was a transparency problem, with me not providing some information that the Botafogo Fiscal Council requested, this has already been corrected. Now we have the 2024 budget that will be approved and the 2023 accounts that have already been presented, we are just discussing it to reach the club’s Supervisory Board and the benefactors. This year things will be right and we will be in brigadeiro heaven – he guaranteed.

The director cited other examples of Botafogo’s transformation.

– Today the SAF has 600 employees, including professional and base players. We prepared a lot. Botafogo is starting to reach a structural level equal to that of other major Brazilian clubs, including in terms of signings. Today we have a CFO, a director who came from Flamengo, we are going to hire the director of Athletico-PR for the base, we have a stadium director, the football structure, as a scout. This is a legacy that is remaining for Botafogo. The only thing missing is the definitive CT, which I can’t talk about right now, but we will soon have news about the new CT. We will use Lonier and one more to do the basic and professional integration. With SAF, we were able to negotiate all labor debts and establish a special RCE, which we will pay off in 12 years. We have just concluded an extrajudicial recovery agreement, which includes debt including mine, from 2008, which I did not even expect to receive. We are starting to renegotiate the tax debt, we are going to enter into another payment agreement model. Our debt a few years ago was the club with the highest debt, then other clubs passed. When it became SAF, it was more than R$1 billion. Today it is a little over R$400 million (reduction of R$600 million), all of it balanced, with fair correction, it is not the Selic that killed us. If Textor left and we took over the club again, it would be completely viable, because the debts are resolved, in 15 years Botafogo will have zero debt. And revenues have increased, the stadium generates revenue, we have one of the biggest shirt sponsorships in Brazil, the club is super viable. This year will still have some hiccups, but next year… – he projected, before talking about football.

– Our budget is top-5, top-6 in Brazil. Botafogo has a bright future, before it was a club that had no future. What we achieved with SAF already means the club is always fighting for titles. I always joke that I started the Brazilian Championship as a fan, won a game, said “41 points to go”, thinking maybe about the South American Championship. Today we’re fighting up there, whether we’re going to be champions, I don’t know, but we’re going to tweak things. Now we have a very strong squad, practically two quality players for each position. Which team in Brazil, apart from Flamengo, has an attack like ours? We can substitute one for the other. Óscar Romero arrived in a critical position for us, there was only Eduardo. The squad has become very strengthened, there are still base players settling in, when the team is doing well it is easier. We are well prepared for a future, I’m not talking about this year, for a future. If John Textor decided to leave, Botafogo would be able to manage the club today – he concluded.