After more than a month without an executive directorO Vasco chose Pedro Martins, who was in the cruise, to take the position. After a screening, his name was taken by Vasco’s CEO, Lúcio Barbosa, and approved by 777 Partners, majority shareholder of SAF Cruzmaltina.
Pedro Martins arrives with some skills that the Vasco board was looking for. Unlike the process of exchanging Paulo Bracks for Alexandre Mattos, the club was more cautious when choosing, even in a hurry.
The director is expected in Rio de Janeiro to sign a contract and closely monitor Cruzmaltino’s duel against Criciúma, on Saturday (27), at 4pm (Brasília time), in São Januário, for the fourth round of Series A of the Brazilian Championship.
Among the pillars for choosing the new director are the following characteristics:
- A structured vision of planning and financial responsibility, in addition to the purchase and sale of players. In other words, even with a bigger budget than what I had at Raposa, the idea is to work with a financial order. Request from 777 Partners itself;
- Vasco understands that Pedro Martins has led his career with a focus on developing sustainable and integrated sports projects;
- The executive, according to people linked to Vasco, has the profile of understanding that the institution must always be above, something seen favorably by everyone at the Rio club;
- Within Vasco, Pedro’s profile was detailed by the healthy and harmonious leadership of the group, setting goals and demanding;
- Regarding his career, the executive was responsible for developing Atlético PR’s sports project and the remodeling of FPF competitions, in addition to Cruzeiro.
In addition to the reasons mentioned, Vasco also understands that he managed to form a competitive squad with Cruzmaltino himself.
As an example, the 2023 Série A was used, when the teams fought in the same bracket in the tournament, with Cruzeiro finishing ahead of the Rio de Janeiro teams. Raposa even qualified for this year’s Copa Sudamericana.
At Cruzeiro, Pedro Martins worked with lower budgets than he would find in São Januário. This year alone, for example, with Mattos still in office, Vasco spent more than R$120 million on reinforcements.
In the mid-season window, Cruzmaltino, at the request of its own technical committee, will look for more players to reinforce the squad, and Pedro Martins’ mission is to optimize the values made available by 777.
Cruise wear
Pedro Martins was the constant target of fan protests. Since 2023, Cruzeiro residents, questioning the formation of the squad and sporting results at Cruzeiro, have asked for the football director to leave.
On the last international trip, when Cruzeiro went to Chile to face Unión La Calera, in the Copa Sudamericana, Pedro Martins was not with the delegation. CEO Gabriel Lima and communications director Victor Rios represented the board.
Career of Pedro Martins
Pedro Martins’ biography on LinkedIn, a corporate social network, points out that the professional has a degree in Administration with an MBA from the University of Liverpool-ING. Martins worked as football director at Ferroviária between 2017 and 2018, and in 2020.
The executive was also manager of the information department at Athletico-PR, between 2013 and 2017. He also served as vice-president of the São Paulo Football Federation before signing a deal with Cruzeiro.
