GOVERNANCE
Unexpected progress as Xaud’s CBF presidency turns a year old
Samir Xaud has benefited from low expectations — but he has indeed delivered. Photo: Rafael Ribeiro/CBF
This time last year, football governance in Brazil was at a very low ebb. An exposé by Piauí magazine had exposed scandal within the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) under then-President Ednaldo Rodrigues, involving reports of financial extravagance, spying at CBF headquarters and even sexual harassment from high-ranking officials.
Rodrigues’s position quickly became untenable, and he was ousted as CBF president amid allegations of convenient forgery. In his place, state federations and clubs elected Samir Xaud, an unknown and woefully inexperienced scion from the remote northern state of Roraima, which has never seen any of its teams play in the top two divisions of Brazilian football. Pundits sighed, calling Xaud the “worst choice” for the future of the game.
Twelve months into his presidency, however, the expected disaster has not materialized — far from it. Brazilian football has…
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