In her first year as CEO of the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation, Adriana Brandão Behar, 52, sought a series of changes to get the Superliga out of a crisis. He saw, however, the entity being charged for the disappointing performance at the Tokyo Games, specifically beach volleyball and the men’s team on the court.
“We had a good League of Nations, where the men were champions and, due to some details, a ball in or something, you lose [em Tóquio]. The level of competition is very high, with very strong countries,” says Adriana Behar to leaf.
In Japan, the Brazilian team, under the command of coach Renan Dal Zotto, finished fourth. Strong candidate to fight for the Olympic title, the men’s team lost the semifinal to Russia, by 3 sets to 1. In the decision for the bronze, the team was surpassed by Argentina by 3 to 2.
“Obviously, given Brazil’s history of always bringing a medal, expectations are very high. This competition is part of the game, and competitiveness is excellent for world sport. I don’t worry about the result. [dos Jogos], but with long-term work. As we have more athletes, we form an increasingly larger squad with quality”, he adds.
The biggest fall in Japan was beach volleyball. The Brazilian pairs were left out of the podium for the first time since the sport was included in the Olympics, in Atlanta-1996. There are 13 medals won since then, at least two per edition until 2021.
Alison, Alvaro’s teammate, made a forceful outburst after being eliminated in the quarterfinals. “Brazil won the gold medal in 2016 and nothing has changed, there was no investment, everything was stopped, in the same way, fewer stages [circuito nacional], waiting for Alison and Bruno [Schmidt, seu parceiro no ouro], as were Ricardo and Emanuel.”
According to Adriana, the organization has readjusted the national beach volleyball calendar, which from 2022 will once again be annual. The decision was taken to align with the calendar of international competitions established by the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation).
Silver medalist at the Sydney-2000 and Athens-2004 Games alongside Shelda, the carioca dedicated herself to studies after ending her career as a beach volleyball athlete in 2008.
Graduated in physical education from UERJ (State University of Rio de Janeiro), she completed a postgraduate degree in business management and, before arriving at CBV, held leadership positions at COB (Brazil’s Olympic Committee) between 2011 and 2018 .
After leaving the committee, she decided to take courses in the United States and later received an invitation to assume the position of CEO of CBV.
The work ahead of the entity has been hard. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, which damaged the calendar and aggravated the financial crisis, the volleyball scenario already inspired care: companies giving up sponsoring national teams and, due to the devaluation of the Real, difficulties in holding athletes in Brazil in the face of of advantageous proposals from abroad.
As a way of trying to expand the range of sponsorship options for the teams, the entity obtained, in October, a license from Banco do Brasil, its main partner, so that other financial institutions can invest in Superliga teams as of the 2021 edition/ 2022. Until then, the state-owned company held exclusivity.
A sponsor of CBV since 1991, Banco do Brasil renewed, in August, its contract for another four years and will pay R$ 248.8 million, in total, to the entity.
“This flexibility was done in favor of volleyball, of the market, to have more partners and investment opportunities in the modality”, says Adriana.
The bank, however, continues with its exclusivity with the national teams, in addition to beach volleyball. THE leaf showed, in August, how the CBV and Banco do Brasil summits were dissatisfied with the agreement signed between the investment brokerage firm XP and some athletes, such as Lucarelli and Douglas Souza, highlights of the selection in Tokyo.
XP is a partner of the Olympic Committee in Brazil and has assembled a team of ambassadors to promote its content on social media.
Another novelty that the confederation has introduced is to give different clothes to male and female Superligas. Each tournament now has its own logo and channels with its own content on social media.
Another new thing is to come. According to Adriana, the entity should receive up to ten pieces of equipment — the first two have arrived and are in the testing phase — to implement the “challenge” in every game in the Superliga, a desire of athletes, coach and fans.
This is the possibility of requests to arbitration to review the legality or otherwise of a bid. The expectation is that the technology will be used in 100% of matches only from the 2022/2023 season onwards.
The entity’s budget, presented at the meeting this Friday (17), will be R$ 108 million for next year, double the gross revenue of 2020, R$ 53 million, according to the balance sheet published in April this 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.
