Brazil, one of the most beautiful football countries in the world. Footballers like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka are idols for many of us. However, it appears that the coaches of Brazil (Solari, Dunga, Menezes en Tite) have not been free in their decisions since 2006, research by newspaper Estadão indicates this. After a long research by Estadão, it emerged that the Brazilian football association named CBF has signed a contract with a marketing company that makes various decisions since the beginning of 2006.

The company with which the CBF (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol) would have signed a contract is marketing agency International Sports Events (ISE). This company would use the Brazilian football team to make as much money as possible, by making certain choices based on commercial purposes. Estadão reports that ISE paid $ 800,000 to former president Ricardo Teixeira in 2006 for the marketing & media rights of Brazil’s national team. This allowed ISE to determine which countries Brazil should play friendly matches against. Hence, opponents of friendly matches are sometimes a surprise. This is not the only decision they have power over. ISE even controls the players who are called up for the Seleção. This indeed means that the coach cannot choose who he wants to call up for the national team. ISE wants to call up and even decide the starting 11 that would be very profitable from a commercial point of view. Simply, ISE uses Brazil’s national team to make money, since they own the rights. If the CBF goes against the choices made by the ISE, they will face fines, because it would clearly state in the contract what the ISE is allowed to decide on. The contract with ISE, which is a subsidiary of Dalla-Al-Baraka (owned by Saudi top banker Saleh Abdullah Kamel) will run until 2022.

Several former football players from Brazil have commented on this issue. Former Fenerbahce player Alex de Souza says: ‘’I am very angry and I cannot accept this. The Brazil national football team belongs to the Brazilian people and not to a company. The only one who can decide on the team is the coach’’. The CBF also had a response to Estadão’s report: “The suspicions Estadão makes regarding the agreement between us and ISE are not true. The national team is not in the hands of a marketing company and the coach determines everything, as it should ”

Initially, the CBF had denied Estadao’s report. However, it has been confirmed that it is true that Ricardo Teixeira sold the Seleção’s media and marketing rights in 2006 for $ 800,000. Last year he was banned for life by the FIFA for taking bribes. FIFA made a statement “The investigation into Mr Teixeira referred to bribery schemes, conducted during the 2006-2012 period, in relation to his role in awarding contracts to companies for the media and marketing rights to CBF, Conmebol and Concacaf competitions”.