In 2008, current Manchester City CEO and former Barcelona manager, Ferran Soriano, released the book “A Bola Não Entra por Acaso”. In it, the Catalan explains the need to reduce mistakes in football, especially off the field, to try to control results in an unsupervised sport.
Because Palmeiras and Flamengo have doses of luck and bad luck. However, through planning, they increasingly increase their distance from others. The long run shows how Saturday’s final will put the best clubs of the century face to face, in search of an unprecedented fourth Libertadores title for Brazil.
In 2015, Colombia’s Atletico Nacional and Ecuador’s Independiente del Valle reached the final. I remember that year we discussed the absurdity of a country like Brazil not having representatives in decision-making – while more modest, but organized, clubs had gotten that far.
Ten years later everything changed. Brazilian football has become what we expected it to be: technically and financially dominant in America. Brazilian clubs have learned to make money by retaining fans, negotiating better television deals and sponsorships (the existence of betting has led to a boom in this regard). Palmeiras and Flamengo, in addition to learning to win, have learned to spend very well.
Let’s look at the numbers to get an idea of what happened. According to the Convocados report, issued by Galapagos Capital, top-flight clubs’ revenues have doubled in ten years, rising from R$5.2 billion in 2015 to R$10.2 billion in 2024.
The average attendance in the top flight also follows the growth: of the six largest matches in history, five are the most recent (excluding 2020 and 2021, due to matches without spectators during the pandemic).
We increased our revenues, and fans started going to the stadium more. Brazil is able to poach talent in South America and pay very high salaries to keep good players in the country longer and attract players from abroad. Jorginho, Saul, Vitor Roque and Andreas Pereira have just arrived to reinforce the finalists.
The distance that separates us from competitors in South America, in terms of economic power, is enormous. The six Argentines who participated in the Copa Libertadores in 2025, according to financial website Capologie, earn an average annual salary of R$93.4 million per club. The average for the seven Brazilians was R$185.7 million. double. Palmeiras and Flamengo pay more to their teams than all the Argentine participants combined.
As much as criticism is one of our favorite sports, things are getting better here.
All these numbers show what we see on the field in each tournament. The Brazilians dominate the continent, while Palmeiras and Flamengo are a step or two ahead. The strength does not lie only in earning a lot of money, because Corinthians is also able to earn more than R$ 1 billion per year and bring Memphis a “European salary”. The secret is also knowing how to spend.
In order not to enter the ball by chance, the margin of error must be reduced. Having Memphis on an unbalanced team, for example, doesn’t help much.
What will see Palmeiras and Flamengo reach their third final in seven years in 2025 – and give the feeling that they are already favorites for 2026 – is knowing what they are doing. Knowing how to make money, knowing how to spend and having a balanced football section is what sets them apart from the rest.
It is trite to treat the hero as a role model. The Botafogo of 2024 looks more like a roulette player trying his luck at a casino than a manager plotting the safest path in such an unsafe sport. Palmeiras and Flamengo look like this manager. Each in their own way teaches others how to compete today. The problem is that they know, but they do not expect. They increasingly open up advantage and distance for others.
On Saturday, we will have a balanced confrontation, in which luck or bad luck may be a deciding factor. When things are even, the ball can enter by chance. Overall, the duo shows that this is not the case.
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