Chapter 81

In the second round of the championship, São Paulo faced Gama away from home.

Gama is a team from Brasília, the capital of Brazil. This team is not very strong and is certainly not a traditional powerhouse in Brazilian football.

However, this team made a significant impact by directly suing the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in a civil court.

This incident dates back to 1999. At the end of that year's league, the traditional powerhouse Botafogo faced the embarrassing result of relegation. However, as a traditional giant in Brazilian football, how could they easily accept the fate of relegation?

Thus, the Brazilians, who are good at exploiting loopholes in the rules, started to think.

According to the CBF's rules, four teams would be relegated at the end of the season, but the decision on who would be relegated was not based on the final league points of the season. Instead, it was determined by the average points from the first phase of the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Why such a bizarre rule? It was to protect the interests of the big clubs and ensure that traditional giants in Brazilian football would not be relegated due to unexpected circumstances.

However, this bizarre decision was not unique to the CBF; they had learned from the rules of the Argentine league, where even the results of the previous three seasons were considered.

Even so, the big clubs still did not give the CBF any face.

According to this rule, the traditional powerhouse Botafogo from Rio de Janeiro would definitely be relegated.

Botafogo had a shameful 1-0 loss to São Paulo in one of their matches that season. However, São Paulo used a forward named Sandro Ilo, who was suspected of age fraud and transfer fee disputes. Technically, he had not fully become a member of São Paulo, making his use illegal. Botafogo used this point to sue the CBF in the highest sports arbitration court. The court naturally ruled in favor of Botafogo, and the match was counted as a win for Botafogo. This gave Botafogo an additional three points, and their average score over the two seasons was enough to avoid relegation.

However, this meant that another traditional giant, Internacional, would be ranked fourth from the bottom and face relegation. Internacional, of course, was not willing to accept this. Conveniently, São Paulo had also used Sandro Ilo in a match against Internacional, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Internacional followed the same strategy, sued the CBF, and the court ruled in favor of Internacional, changing their points from one to three. This also allowed Internacional to avoid relegation.

However, the appeals of these two giants resulted in Gama, which had no prior risk of relegation, being ranked fourth from the bottom due to their additional points, and thus had to be relegated to the second division. This team had just barely been promoted from the second division the previous season and was naturally furious at this unfair treatment. They bypassed the sports arbitration court and sued the CBF in a civil court.

If it were just a lawsuit against the CBF in a civil court, it wouldn't have been a big deal.

In Brazil, the national football association has a poor reputation and image.

What was truly sensational was the outcome of this lawsuit...

The civil court ruled in favor of Gama, allowing them to remain in the first division for the 2000 season. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), which usually opposes teams taking legal action in civil courts, immediately decided to ban Gama from all levels of competition. This put the CBF in a difficult position. According to national law, Gama should be allowed to participate, but FIFA had banned them from playing. With less than a month before the league started, no one knew if any organization would step in to manage the competition. To protest this absurd situation, a fan even went on a hunger strike in front of the CBF's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

In Brazilian football, the "Thirteen Clubs" have significant influence, affecting the entire country's football scene. Although named "Thirteen Clubs," there are actually twenty major clubs.

These big clubs came up with a solution: they decided to host a one-time event called the João Havelange Cup, independent of the CBF. To legally exclude the uncooperative Gama, any part of the João Havelange Cup that resembled the national league had to be cleverly redesigned. Thus, the 104 invited teams were divided into four levels, called "units," and distinguished by color. It seemed they could get away with it.

But how could Gama accept this? They sued again and won the right to participate in the "Blue Unit," which was a disguised first division. When the João Havelange Cup finally started, the number of participating teams expanded to 116, making it the largest event in Brazilian football history.

Even by the standards of previous chaotic competitions, the organization of the João Havelange Cup was terrible. In the "Blue Unit," some teams had three more home games than others, a third of the matches were rescheduled, and one team didn't play for a month...

A team's relegation or promotion ultimately led to such a chaotic event. This is Brazil, this is Brazilian football.

Many people's impression of the chaos in Brazilian football may stem from this—although the Brazilian league was already chaotic before, the João Havelange Cup, which emerged at the turn of the century when media was becoming more advanced, naturally gained more attention.

In Brazil, whenever there is a need, Brazilians can always find a way to deal with the rules. In Brazil, rules are meant to be overturned, and people are accustomed to using connections and backdoor methods rather than following regulations.

Perhaps this is why Brazil is called the "China of South America." In some ways, Brazil and China are indeed very similar...

※※※

There wasn't much to say about São Paulo's away match against Gama. The match itself was less interesting than the controversy Gama had caused.

Rong Guang did not score or assist in this match, but the strong and well-performing São Paulo still easily defeated Gama 2-0 away from home.

Although he did not score or assist, Rong Guang's performance was still recognized by many, especially the commentators.

From their professional perspective, a player's performance cannot be simply judged by whether they scored or assisted.

Especially for a player like Rong Guang, who has a single characteristic, even without scoring, he can play a significant tactical role.

Only Rong Guang seemed very depressed when he was substituted.

Because, apart from the appearance fee, he got nothing. The goal and assist bonuses were all lost.

In fact, he tried very hard to score in the match.

He kept attempting to shoot.

But unfortunately, he did not have the luck to score today.

Kaka played five more minutes than in the first match, coming on at the 75th minute.

He replaced Rong Guang.

But he did not score either.

※※※

After the match, criticism of Osvaldo for his stubbornness increased because Rong Guang did not score.

They believed that Kaka's poor performance was due to the limited time he was given.

In the previous match, he played for ten minutes, and in this match, it was only fifteen minutes.

What can you do in fifteen minutes?

Kaka had just finished warming up when the match ended!

What could you expect from him?

A media outlet published a photo of Kaka looking frustrated and helpless during the match.

Images are always more powerful than words.

This single image alone could make countless Kaka fans, especially female fans, feel sad and angry.

However, Kaka did not publicly express dissatisfaction with his current situation. He just trained harder and waited for his opportunity.

The pressure was all on São Paulo's head coach, Osvaldo.

A TV show host even joked about it in his talk show.

"Who is the bravest man in São Paulo now? Of course, it's São Paulo's head coach, Osvaldo de Oliveira! He completely ignored the protests and anger of tens of thousands of female fans and insisted on keeping Kaka on the bench! He's really brave. If it were me..."

The host shook his head and clicked his tongue. "I would have probably begged Kaka to play! You can provoke anyone, but not women! Especially fanatical fans!"

The audience burst into laughter.

※※※

In the third round of the league, São Paulo faced Paraná Clube away from home.

This was the first time Rong Guang had encountered a team not from São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro in his six months in Brazil.

Paraná Clube is a team from Curitiba, Paraná.

In Paraná, they have won twenty state league championships and are considered a strong team in the state. However, in the entire country of Brazil, they are not a significant team.

Even Paraná state is not considered a football powerhouse in Brazil.

But this team is the defending champion—they won the Brazilian National Championship last season!

The Brazilian football scene at the turn of the century was very chaotic, not just in terms of the competition format but also in the overall situation. Due to the lack of star players, the teams were more evenly matched, making the chances of winning more random. Paraná Clube, which had even experienced a coaching change during the season, managed to win the national championship.

The team had no big-name stars, and both the coach and players were relatively unknown. Yet, they won the national championship last season.

Moreover, in the quarterfinals of the championship, they defeated São Paulo!

At the time, São Paulo had veteran Leonardo, the in-form Baptista, and the rising star Kaka, who had just emerged in the Rio-São Paulo Championship. They still lost 1-2 to Paraná Clube away from home, with Paraná's top scorer, Alex Mineiro, scoring the decisive goal in the last ten minutes.

If it weren't for Paraná Clube, São Paulo might have won the league championship last season.

This time, going away from home, the entire São Paulo team was determined to seek revenge.

With the momentum of winning the Rio-São Paulo Championship, São Paulo headed to the Mario Celso Petraglia Stadium in Curitiba.