Without Playing Any Games, Club Declares Profit of R$ 2 million and Comes Under Scrutiny by FIFA

06/23/2016 - 10h49

A small soccer club in the countryside of São Paulo managed to pull off an incredible feat in 2015. The SEV- Hortolândia club managed a surplus of R$ 2.7 million (US$ 750,000) in its balance sheet at the same time that major teams were recording millions in losses.

Besides being a runt, the most notable thing about the club is that it has practically had its doors closed since the end of 2014, without competing in any championships - previously it had participated in the B-1 Paulista Series.

It was the sale of players that produced the positive balance. The total amount gained by transferring players was R$ 10 million (US$ 2.7 million). Around R$ 8 million (US$ 2.2 million) was passed along to managers, recorded as expenses like "third-party services" and "expenses related to player sales".

As a comparison, the Corinthians and São Paulo clubs had deficits of R$ 70 million (US$ 19.4 million) and R$ 90 million (US$ 25 million), respectively.

In reality, SEV functions as an intermediary, building bridges: it registers players who never wear the team jersey and passes them along to other teams, either on loan or by sale.

Investors are behind the scenes at Hortolândia. The strong men are Fernando Garcia, a former Corinthians board member and Marcus Sanchez, Vice-President of ESM, a Pharmaceutical company that sponsors the team.

The most famous current case involving the club is that of Corinthians player Zagueiro Vilson. He was loaned by SEV to Corinthians but he has never worn the jersey of SEV, the club that he is registered to.

There is nothing necessarily illegal about the practice, but FIFA is on the lookout and has already punished teams from Argentina, Uruguay and Belgium for similar reasons. Internal regulations are unclear and confusing and lead to different interpretations. In some cases, punishments have been annulled by the Sports Arbitration Court.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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