Fortaleza expects 30% increase in revenue in 1st year at Libertadores

In 2022, the northeast region of the country will once again have a representative in the Copa Libertadores dispute after 13 years. The responsible for the end of the hiatus will be Fortaleza, which ended the Brazilian Championship in 4th position, guaranteeing a direct place in the group stage of the continental competition.

In 103 years of history, this will be the first time that the tricolor team will compete in the tournament. The visibility that participation will bring to the club makes President Marcelo Paz project a 30% increase in revenue.

“We now have a bigger search [de empresas]. There are already sponsors looking for us for shirt space. And we estimate a 30% increase with sponsorship and with the supporting partners in 2022”, said Paz, to leaf.

In 2020, revenue from sponsorship and advertising was the fourth largest in the club, with 11% of the R$ 85 million, about R$ 9 million, which entered the tricolor box. The value obtained with the partners was the second highest on the balance sheet, with 16%, around R$ 13.6 million, behind TV rights (36%). The sale of athletes accounted for 14% and was the third largest source, according to a report by the bank Itaú BBA.

According to the document released by the financial institution, Fortaleza’s total debt is around R$ 43 million.

Although the expectation is to obtain a higher billing, the president of Fortaleza warns that the club will not change its spending policy next season.

“Our payroll is R$ 3.5 million a month. For next year, we expect to increase, as we will have five competitions, but our team is not made up of stars and does not have such a great exponent, the strength is in the collective and also in the offensive DNA that comes from the passage of Rogério [Ceni].”

Despite his current term ending this month, Marcelo Paz is already working on planning for 2022 as he will have no opponents in the election scheduled for the next 11th.

The top hat has been at the head of the club since November 2017, when Eduardo Girão resigned to run for the Senate elections in 2018, and his then vice-president took over. Afterwards, Paz was elected in 2018, with a term until December of this year. last Saturday (11), he was re-elected, with a term until 2024. In this way, the manager was part of all the recent rise of the team.

FROM SERIES C TO LIBERTADORES

Just four years ago, the team from Ceará played in the Series C of the national event. After winning two consecutive hits, he reached the elite in 2019, the year he was ranked ninth. In the following edition, he had an irregular season and almost returned to the Second Division, escaping from sticking only because he had a better goal difference than Vasco’s (-10 against -19).

The descent would be an accident in the course of the club’s trajectory, which restructured itself by betting on a management that avoids spending more than it collects.

“With our restructuring, we managed to bring in foreign names. The coach who came [o argentino Juan Pablo Vojvoda] he sought to surround himself with information about the club before closing, to find out if we were honoring our commitments”, quotes the president.

Hired in May, Vojvoda managed to keep Fortaleza in the top five at the Brazilian Nationals for most of the competition. The team’s worst position in the tournament was falling to sixth place.

With 17 wins in 38 games, in addition to 7 draws and 14 defeats, the Ceará team had 58 points under the Argentine’s command, finished fourth at Nacional, becoming the first northeastern club to win a spot in the Libertadores in the era of running points, started in 2003 —it is also worth noting that the team was semifinalist in the Copa do Brasil, phase in which it was eliminated by Atlético-MG.

The last team from the Northeast to qualify for the competition was Sport, in 2009, in a spot won by winning the 2008 national knockout.

In addition to the team from Recife, which also played in the continental tournament in 1988, Bahia (1960, 1964 and 1989) and Náutico, in 1968, represented northeastern clubs in the continental tournament.

“[A classificação do Fortaleza] it is a feat for the region. For the fourth year in a row we had four teams from the Northeast at the Brazilian Nationals. It is a region that loves football, has passionate fans, has high-level arenas and clubs that are organizing in terms of management. It is very important for international and South American football to start getting used to more northeastern clubs in tournaments,” said Paz.