LIMA, PERU – NOVEMBER 23: Diego Alves, Everton Ribeiro and Diego of Flamengo lift the trophy with … [+] teammates after winning the final match of Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores 2019 between Flamengo and River Plate at Estadio Monumental on November 23, 2019 in Lima, Peru. (Photo by Daniel Apuy/Getty Images)
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When Flamengo and their rock-star coach Jorge Jesus swept the Brazilian league and the 2019 Copa Libertadores, South America’s equivalent of the Champions League, in a final for the ages against River Plate with modern, high-pressing soccer, the rest of the world sat up and took notice. Could the Brazilian club break the glass ceiling of Europe’s super-club monopoly?
After all, since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich acquired Chelsea in 2003 to kickstart the age of the super-clubs, that preserve belonged to Juventus, Bayern Munich and others, but never to a club outside the Old Continent – not to Egyptian giant Al Ahly with a fan base of 35 million, not to Buenos Aires behemoth Boca Juniors. But Flamengo, claiming 40 million fans, rooted in South America’s most powerful soccer economy, might be different. That 2019 season offered a glimpse of a brighter, more lucrative future.
On Saturday, Flamengo is back in the Copa Libertadores final, this time against defending champion and Brazilian rival Palmeiras from São Paulo; the super-club question ever more pertinent. Brazilian sports lawyer and former Flamengo director Marcos Motta believes the club has “all the ingredients” to become one. Flamengo was rather skeletal during Motta’s time at the club, but the austerity regime of previous president Eduardo Bandeira de Mello between 2013 and 2018 redressed the club’s catastrophic finances, reducing the level of indebtedness while augmenting revenue with a 2016 high of 648 million reais ($155 million).
Since 2019, Flamengo’s operating model became even more aligned with the club’s seize, maximizing revenue ticketing, merchandise, membership, television income, and outgoing transfers. Flamengo introduced more membership categories, FlaTV+ and will open a state-of-the-art museum in 2022. Revenues skyrocketed: 939 million reais (€206,8 million) in 2019; 756 million reais (€128,6 million) in 2020 and this year the club projects to pass the 1 billion reais mark. The club has vowed to keep debts below 400 million reais (€62,8 million) by the end of 2021.
The Rio club is also pondering a takeover of Portuguese club Tondela in a first step to build a network of clubs, an idea driven by Flamengo’s vice president of finance Rodrigo Tostes. All of this corresponds with what is needed to build a super-club according to Motta: expansion, monetization365, fan engagement and data intelligence.
Today, Flamengo likes to think it is too big for Brazil, with Palmeiras and Atletico being the only other two clubs to pull away from the rest of the competition. That’s a dangerous assumption. Brazilian sports lawyer Pedro Trengrouse emphasizes that a healthy ecosystem is required for Flamengo to thrive. In his view, the organization of the Brazilian league, even though clubs are considering investments from various consortiums with private equity links, is too bare-bones. He says: “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Brazilian clubs will never be able to compete globally while the ecosystem of Brazilian soccer remains amateur.”
Across the Atlantic, the presence and power of the Champions League confronts Flamengo, and much of the rest of the world, with the economic realities of the game. It is impossible to compete with those riches. Even so, there is little denying that the club has taken steps forward. Flamengo returned to the top, and while it is notoriously difficult, if not impossible, to impose a hegemony in the Brazilian domestic game, the club is in a position of sheer power: it sells and attracts stars, and is nationwide supported by fiercely loyal fans.
Journalist and South American soccer expert Tim Vickery ponders: “What is the possible stepping stone that will allow them to genuinely become global giants? Infantino’s Club World Cup doesn’t offer enough. And with Brazil’s total domination of the Copa Libertadores, it is difficult to see what the rest of the continent can do.”
A solution could lie north. An American Super League, with Liga MX clubs and Major League Soccer franchises, could help Flamengo and other South American giants bridge the gap with European elite clubs, exploring and exploiting the flush American market. That’s perhaps a distant dream, with super league proposals ever under attack. For now, another Copa Libertadores victory will remind everyone that Flamengo is here to stay.
