In a worse moment ahead of Flamengo, Landim tries to be re-elected

A week after losing the Libertadores title to Palmeiras, Flamengo is back to experience a Saturday (4) decision. Club members and advisors must appear at the headquarters of Gávea, in Rio de Janeiro, from 8 am to 9 pm, to elect the president for the next three years (2022 to 2024).

There are four candidates: current representative Rodolfo Landim (UniFla plate) will seek reelection in the face of competition from lawyer Marco Aurélio Assef (Sempre Flamengo), administrator Ricardo Hinrichsen (Flamengo sem Fronteiras) and lawyer Walter Monteiro (Flamengo Maior).

The result will be announced hours after the polls close. The club estimates that nearly 6,500 people are expected to participate in the election. Landim is the most likely to win, but the bad phase on the field has become a powder keg.

Former director of Petrobras, the civil engineer and entrepreneur took over Flamengo in January 2019.

​Before Eike Batista’s right-hand man, Landim also approached the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (no party).

Although the Flemish board denies political preferences, Bolsonaro edited Mandante MP, provisional measure 984, of June 2020, which gave the host club the exclusive right to broadcast the game or negotiate the broadcast, after having lunch with Landim, in Brasília.

The text did not pass through the houses of Congress and, 120 days after its publication in the Official Gazette, it expired. During this period, however, Flamengo adopted the MP to show Rio State matches (a tournament that the team had no agreement with Globo) on its internet channels.

Landim participated in the management of his predecessor, Eduardo Bandeira de Mello, who started the club’s financial restructuring (with a debt of BRL 741 million in 2013), but had more failures than successes (two state titles, in 2014 and 2017, and the Brazil Cup, in 2013) on the field.

In Landim’s first two years, Flamengo again won the Libertadores, in 2019, and lined up two cups in the Brazilian Championship (2019 and 2020). Off the field, early in his tenure, he had to deal with a fire in the Vulture’s Nest, an episode that ended with the death of ten young players at the base.

The leader saw the blame for the tragedy fall on Bandeira de Mello, but his board has been responsible for negotiating compensation for the families of the dead.

Allies of his management highlight, despite the coronavirus crisis, Flamengo’s ability to leverage revenue. There were BRL 668 million in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Data published in the association’s balance sheet.

The budget for 2022 foresees a turnover of R$ 1 billion and a surplus of R$ 186 million.

The way would be clearer for the current administration if the team did not disappoint on the field. Accustomed to recent glories, the fans did not spare Landim in Flamengo’s victory over Ceará by 2-1, on Tuesday (30). It was the team’s first game at Maracanã after being overtaken by Palmeiras, in Montevideo (URU), in the Libertadores decision.

Before the final, the situation in the football department was no longer comfortable. According to vice president Marcos Braz, in an interview to the GE website, on the 24th, the sector should undergo a restructuring.

In addition to the continental competition, the team was eliminated in the semifinal of the Copa do Brasil by Athletico, in Maracanã. The club was also no match for Atlético-MG in the Brazilian Championship.

With this, the season will end not only marked by failures on the field, but by the dismissal of coaches Rogério Ceni and Renato Gaúcho.

The State of Rio de Janeiro and the Supercopa do Brasil, against Palmeiras, were the titles conquered. Little for the fans of the most expensive squad in national football.

wanted by sheet, Landim did not respond to requests for an interview.