Zico responds to Globo journalist after controversy with Flamengo president

Zico spoke about the controversy involving Flamengo and journalist Renata Mendonça, from Grupo Globo. In an interview after the “Game of the Stars”, the rubro-black idol responded to the commentator’s criticisms of the structure of CFZ (Clube de Futebol Zico), of which he is the owner. The venue serves as a training center for the club’s women’s team.

“She said I agreed (that the club didn’t offer the structure of a training center). I didn’t agree. It’s good that people know what happened. If it’s not the structure of Flamengo women’s football, that’s another problem. I tried to offer the best we had. And the pitch, okay, it’s smaller, but it was wonderful. Nobody could complain about the pitch,” he said. Zico said.

Subsequently, the former player declared that the journalist had damaged the image of the CFZ with her criticism of the structure of the place. Zico also said that other teams train there, although less frequently than the Flamengo women’s team: “She denigrated the Zico 10 football school. And there are a lot of people who are silent. Nobody went to talk about her words at CFZ. Why did she do that at CFZ, the football school? So the story is different, it’s good to know.”

Remember the controversy

Last Tuesday (23), Flamengo president Luiz Eduardo Baptista offended Renata Mendonça during a presentation of the club’s financial results for the season. The manager, known as “Bap”, called the journalist a “big nose” as she presented the 2025 women’s football results.

“There is the ‘big nose from Globo’ who continues to speak ill of us and of everything else, of football, which does not stimulate. He makes you want to say: ‘My daughter, convince your company to invest 20 million reais per year in broadcasting rights and things will get better’. But what happens to João must also hit Maria,” said the club representative.

Bap’s speech was a response to criticism made by Renata about the structure of Flamengo women’s football. In partnership with the “Dibradoras” portal, specialized in covering women’s football, the journalist denounced the structure of the CFZ, considered precarious for the work of athletes. The location in question is CFZ, in Zico.

After Bap’s crimes, the “Dibradoras” portal spoke out, declaring that Zico “recognized that the place was not created conceptually to be a training center, therefore it does not meet the needs of a professional team.”

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