With no vacation and tired of the difficulties, the only female president of Serie C thinks about stopping

Maria José Vieira knows that the expression of wear and tear is noticeable. So much so that he is not surprised by the question about it.

Yes, you are very tired.

“You know all those things you imagine about a football club? So, unimagine it now. There’s none of that here,” he says.

For six years, she has been president of Atlético Cearense, a team that last Saturday (13) was relegated to Série D of the Brazilian Championship. Maria was the only representative of a Serie C club. The same is true among professional football clubs in Ceará.

Atlético had to play in the third national division without money, revenue, fans or sponsors. The only investor is Ariclenes da Silva Ferreira, 36, aka Ari, a player who spent 12 years in European football, between Sweden and Russia. He is the owner, maintainer and striker of the squad. Like the others, he is unpaid.

Ari put some properties up for sale to pay off debts made by the club that was born as Uniclinic in 1997, was leased by him in 2017 and transformed into Atlético Cearense.

“I get rid of some goods not out of vanity, but because I want to keep everything running. I can’t help but believe because I see this project with great potential. So far it has been a high investment. I believe it is around R$ 30 million “, esteem.

Last Saturday’s game was the last in 2022. There is the Fares Lopes Cup in the second semester, a state tournament that offers a place for the Copa do Brasil — the most lucrative championship for national teams, with a budget of more than R$ 500 thousand just for the participation in the first phase. Atlético don’t have the money to play for it.

The team entered the field to face Confiança, in Sergipe, for the last round of Series C, needing to win to, depending on the result of Altos, from Piauí, avoid the fall. Lost 1-0. It could also have been Maria’s last game as president. Because, as she repeats, she is tired.

“The first thing I’m going to do is go on vacation, something I haven’t had in six years. I need to rest. I don’t know. [se vai continuar]. I need to think. I’m not in love anymore. Being a woman in football and being a representative breaks this romanticism a lot. Bills come, disparities come, inequalities come, worries come. That cools any passion,” she notes.

Her own trajectory in the world of football is unusual for someone like her, who, to use a familiar expression, carries a curricular fruit salad.

“Football called me because I like a lot of challenge and research, of finding questions to be answered. And, if a woman could be in charge of a club, if she could be seen as a manager, it’s a big question.”

It’s a huge question, but one she never thought to ask herself. Graduated in agriculture, pedagogue, specialized in community education and health, post-graduated in psychopedagogy and with an MBA in environmental management, Maria Vieira does not correspond to the normal characteristics of cartology.

Not in profile, not in speech. Not just any club president has studied Latin.

“I learned few things, but the one that impressed me the most was the phrase by Horacio [poeta lírico e satírico romano]: ‘Blessed is he who knows the cause of things’.”

Playing in this year’s Series C was only possible because she went to the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), in Rio de Janeiro, to ask for help from the entity’s president, Ednaldo Rodrigues. The trips were insane, he says. The confederation provides airfare and accommodation, but for games in Pelotas (against Brazil) or Porto Alegre (against São José) the players didn’t have enough warm clothes to face the cold in the south of the country. Hotel rooms did not have heaters.

“This year’s formula [da Série C] it was a gale. One day it was 4ºC in Rio Grande do Sul. Then we faced 40ºC in Piauí. We either bought coats or ate,” says Maria.

She sometimes tries to understand how it all started. She was only invited to write a book. It would be the biography of Ari, who had become owner of Atlético Cearense shortly before. He decided to invite her to help him and run the club. As “happy is the one who knows the cause of things”, she decided to accept.

Ari is a naturalized Russian and was called up to the local team. He was the first black man to represent Russia. He is married to a Russian. While he was in Europe, Atletico managed to walk with difficulty, but they walked. There was some money. When he decided to return to Brazil, last year, everything became very difficult.

Maria decided to go out into the field in search of other investors and sponsorships. That’s when she realized the weight of being a woman in football.

“We never have a quiet day. And that’s not easy after six years. We have to break the hypocrisy that the state government helps football. It helps clubs that have fans and votes. We don’t have votes. very difficult to see that investors do not believe in a woman’s work. They ask: who is there [no Atlético], who’s in charge? What they have here is me. You realize that people don’t judge competence, they judge gender,” he blurts out at the tone, once again weary.

Ari does not talk about the future of the club under the command or not of Maria José Vieira. He says he is very grateful for everything she has done and that they have a “deep” relationship of friendship and trust.

“He is a person who gives me a lot of security, especially in the financial part.”

But all that work comes at a price. For the manager, not only physical, but emotional. And being president of a club from Ceará in Serie C was a huge strain.

“I’m a woman on a small football team. It’s hard to understand. Other people’s hearts are land no one walks on.”