The relegation is not confirmed, but Chapecoense has already thrown in the towel. With just 13 points in 28 rounds, the probability of dropping to Serie B is 99%.
“This year there is still some chance, but it is very remote. We have to be realistic,” says President Gibson Sbeghen.
On or off the field, the club has not yet recovered from the crash of the plane that was taking the team to the final of the Copa Sudamericana 2016, in the outskirts of MedellÃn, Colombia. There were 71 killed, including 19 players, 14 members of the technical committee and nine managers.
The tragedy will complete five years on the next 28th.
Chapecoense was on the rise in Brazilian football and reached the first continental final in its history. After that, the problems accumulated. The association did not have a penny of debt in 2016. Today, it is in the red at R$ 120 million.
The team was relegated to Serie B in 2019. The following year, it ran the risk of falling from the first division of the Santa Catarina Championship. It managed to return to the national elite last season, but a fall is now imminent.
The campaign in the current Serie A is one of the worst in the tournament in the era of points run, which began in 2003. The 13 points achieved represent 15.4% of success. It is slightly higher than the America-RN of the 2007 Brazilian, owning the worst percentage, with 15%…
This Monday (1st), Chapecoense visits Corinthians at 9:30 pm, at the Neo QuÃmica Arena.
“The return to Serie A in 2020 was a surprise. Our priority was not to drop to Serie C. Going up was something unexpected”, defines Sbeghen.
The president recognizes that Chapecoense’s problems were not caused only by the tragedy, although it is a relevant factor. The club lost, in the plane crash, almost all of its professional cast and the board responsible for managing the project that had placed the team on the map of South American football.
Coaches and players who have passed through the team in the last five years told the sheet that the change also happened in the management model and in the hiring philosophy. The attempt to recapture the results of the past made boards step bigger than their legs.
The current president, in office since January this year, admits that two coaches who have worked in Chapecó in 2019 are still receiving salaries, as a result of labor agreements.
Names that know how Chape was managed in the past and could collaborate more have been little used, in the evaluation of people who know the association. Survivor of the accident and former defender, Neto considers himself increasingly excluded from decisions, despite being in the position of superintendent.
The management of football was concentrated on Vice President Mano dal Piva, who left in August, when the situation was already chaotic. He amassed power because he was held responsible for putting together the cast that made a return to Serie A in 2020.
The strategy of looking for unused players in the country’s major players, but with the possibility of growing in Chapecoense, was abandoned.
The team will be led this Monday by Felipe Endres. He is the team’s fifth coach of the season.
In January of this year, the cast refused to train because of back wages. In September, Chape ended a virtual fundraiser whose goal was to raise R$300,000 to alleviate the financial situation. R$ 15,525 were obtained.
Sbeghen now also needs to think about the drop in the collection of broadcasting rights. If the elite receive between R$ 40 million and R$ 50 million, in Series B the number drops to around R$ 8 million.
There are still legal disputes with relatives of accident victims. This Thursday (28), the Labor Court of Chapecó sentenced the club to pay R$ 14 million to the heirs of defender William Thiego. The amount refers to moral and material damages and other financial matters.
“Besides, we had atypical years. In 2017, we had the help of other clubs [que emprestaram jogadores para a Chapecoense poder montar um elenco]. In 2020 there was a pandemic, which was very bad for the finances. This year is also atypical because the season is shorter. There are budget restrictions,” explains the president.
“We changed a strategy that had been working. It was a formula of volunteer people, in a more associative model. When the accident happened, we lost the experience and know-how of these people. We are going back to that to rebuild Chape”, he adds.
The next card may be to become a corporation. Chapecoense set up a commission to evaluate the matter.
“It’s a new era for Brazilian football. For us, it’s one of the paths,” says Sbeghen, recognizing that 2022 will also be a difficult year.
.
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
