Is limiting foreign players really the answer for Brazilian football? Dive into this hot debate as we break down the CBF's controversial decision, its real impact on youth development, and why it might backfire! Join the conversation—subscribe to our channel and tell us in the comments which part of this discussion got you thinking the most! #soccer #football #Brazil #sports #debate
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0:00 - CBF's New Foreign Player Rule
1:11 - Silas's Critique and Grêmio Example
2:08 - Challenges of Youth Player Development
5:44 - Economic Impact of Foreign Player Limits
6:57 - Market Shifts and Limitations
9:03 - Big Clubs' Advantages and Youth Not a Solution
11:28 - Club Decisions and Weak Rationale
14:17 - Debate and Call for Reflection
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@futebolmaximo
0:00 - CBF's New Foreign Player Rule
1:11 - Silas's Critique and Grêmio Example
2:08 - Challenges of Youth Player Development
5:44 - Economic Impact of Foreign Player Limits
6:57 - Market Shifts and Limitations
9:03 - Big Clubs' Advantages and Youth Not a Solution
11:28 - Club Decisions and Weak Rationale
14:17 - Debate and Call for Reflection
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/
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SportsTranscript
00:00The CBF and the clubs have decided that over the next three years the limit of foreign players who
00:04can be named to the matchday squad will gradually drop from nine to just five. Looking from afar
00:10or focusing only on what the CBF wants to sell, this seems like a measure to strengthen youth
00:15development. But the truth is that this decision is a real shot in the foot for the clubs and
00:20will weaken Brazilian football. To Strengthen's point, the CBF brought out this post here that
00:25we're going to look at, understand some details and see if that's really it and if it makes any
00:29sense. More space for young Brazilian players, that's what it says here. The participation of
00:34young Brazilian players in national football has been dropping and the data helps us understand
00:38this scenario and the changes that were proposed. It's a carousel post, let's go, point by point.
00:42The first topic is this one here which says that young players are losing their place because only
00:4611.5% of the minutes played in Serie A were by under 23 players, right? The participation of
00:52foreign players in the minutes played in Serie A was 23.7%. Almost a third of the total minutes in
00:58the Campeonato Brasileiro. It's getting close, right? More or less close. So the CBF wants to
01:03defend this point. According to them, foreign players take away opportunities from youth players,
01:07rising stars, and youth academy prospects. Ultimately, they don't play because of the
01:12foreigners. So the CBF singled out the big villain, the foreigners. But if we really dig into it,
01:17analyze it, and look at it case by case, that's not quite how it is. This whole story started gaining
01:22a
01:22lot of traction. In recent weeks, Silas gave an interview to ESPN Argentina talking about this
01:28very issue. That's when this quote stood out, right? Brazil will never be world champion again.
01:33That's what Silas said. Let's listen to what he said about this point and what it has to do with
01:36this conversation we're having right now. Check it out.
01:39Brazil will not be champion, I think, never again. Grêmio, just an example. It has 13 foreigners,
01:46none of them play as starters for their national teams. And they're blocking the guys who will,
01:52the kids who would go there. Brazilian football and the Brazilian national team,
01:55they are going to struggle to become world champions. A lot. Yet they take the young kids
01:59away. They don't get promoted. Why don't they get promoted? There it is. Look,
02:02because there is a league full of foreigners. It's full of foreigners. Nine can play. Nine of
02:07them can play. So here he makes his first point, right? Let's take a quick look at his view here.
02:12He said, using Grêmio as an example, that some teams sign too many foreign players and don't use
02:17their academy players. The CBF is relying on this argument to make this change, this ban,
02:22this limitation on foreign players in Brazilian soccer. So those of you watching who are very sharp
02:28have already noticed that the CBF's reasoning is very similar to Silas's. If I don't develop
02:34players, if I don't give them playing time on the big teams in Brazilian soccer, I'm not going to
02:38have a strong national team. I won't have strong fullbacks. I won't have strong defensive midfielders.
02:43I won't have strong attacking midfielders. I won't have strong strikers. But let me tell you
02:47something. Just between us here. A secret. It doesn't work that way. But this simplistic view
02:52of taking them from the academy, putting them on the first team, ignores some very important aspects.
02:59We need to balance patience versus the development of a young player. Because when these things collide,
03:06the chances of ruining and especially losing a very young player are very high. Because it's not
03:13a simple equation to take a 16, 17, 18-year-old boy in his development process, both as an athlete
03:20and as a person. I put him in a club, fighting against relegation, in a club with unpaid wages,
03:26in a club with political issues, in a club where fans show up at the training ground gates or break
03:31in to make demands. Imagine how a player starting his professional career will react to all these
03:35things happening at once. And this happens week in, week out in Brazilian football. The exceptions
03:39are the usual ones. Palmeiras and flamingos. The rest are all invariably plunged either into an
03:45institutional crisis, a financial crisis, or a run of poor results. Or often in all three of these
03:51things combined together at the same time. So this maturation, this transition of the player from the
03:58youth academy to break into the first team and perform, it is not a linear curve. Those who break
04:04from that pattern, which is the norm, and manage to quickly adapt, performing way above, they are the
04:09extraordinary ones. And they are quickly sold. I'm talking about Henrik, I'm talking about Esteval,
04:14I'm talking about Vinicius Jr., I'm talking about Rodrigo back then, about Neymar when he burst onto
04:20the scene. These kids show up really young, quickly stand out, and are quickly sold to also finish this
04:25development process playing in Europe. Or do you think it's just a coincidence that Europeans are
04:30increasingly coming to fetch younger players in Brazil, even before they come of age? And here I'm
04:35talking about tier 3 players, or rather top tier clubs. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester
04:40City. These clubs don't come looking for a kid at 23, 24 years old after he has already completed his
04:46entire development process. No, they come to get them very young to finish that development process
04:51over there. Because they also see that in Brazilian football, although there is a lot of talent, there is
04:56a gap in the quality of young athletes' development. So it's too simplistic to say that foreign players
05:00take away opportunities from youngsters, and that the youth don't play just because foreign players
05:05are there. These two things aren't necessarily related. Developing and fielding young players is a
05:10massive challenge. So much so that we consistently hear managers talking about the difficulty of this
05:16transition. Because these kids are so young, they're dealing with so many things at once. I've already
05:20mentioned a few, but with a chance to play for a big club, comes fame, comes money, comes the nightlife,
05:25come the women. And man, all of that is a whirlwind in the head of an 18-year-old kid
05:29who often didn't
05:30have a solid family foundation. He didn't have a family behind him that could give him the structure
05:35to be a grounded athlete, focused on the goal of becoming a soccer player. That only happens with
05:39about 1% of the players that break through, maybe 2%, 3%, 4% of those who actually make it.
05:45The others don't. They go through a lot of hardships as people just to be able to make it as
05:49players.
05:50So, this imposition backed by the idea that youth academies will gain ground and take center stage
05:55ignores everything I've said. It takes all of this, sweeps it under the rug, throws it away, disregards it.
05:59As if these weren't crucial aspects for us to take into account in this debate,
06:03they were simply ignored. Ignored. And the clubs, for their part, accepted it in a way that seems to me,
06:12honestly, I think we'll be hearing about this very soon. Like, they didn't even stop to actually reflect
06:18on the decision they made by approving this measure that the CBF put forward in this week's meeting.
06:22To me, many of the clubs clearly haven't understood yet the impact this will have down the road on
06:29the Brazilian football ecosystem and how the market will end up becoming more inflated. And I say this
06:35inflation issue, but the market itself because we need to understand the movement. Today, clubs often
06:42loop to South America for players who are cheaper than many of the standout players in Brazilian football,
06:46and who also earn a lower salary as a result. In other words, they are more accessible.
06:53Whereas that door is going to close and you won't have that possibility. The average or good players,
06:58let's say in Brazilian soccer, and I'm not even talking about world-class ones, okay? The good
07:02players in Brazilian soccer, they will naturally, just from this movement alone, increase in value
07:07significantly. And then the teams with money, like Palmeiras, like Flamengo, and then you have other
07:13prospects for Cruzeiro, which now has an owner and is in good financial shape, for Botafogo and Vasco,
07:18which look forward to a corporate ownership model next season with a greater capacity to invest.
07:21These teams will be able to sign players who stand out at other clubs. I'll take as an example,
07:27a negotiation that happened in Brazilian soccer this year, which was Flamengo's attempt to buy
07:32Marcos Antonio from Sao Paulo. Since Flamengo has the means to sign other players out there,
07:38Flamengo ended up, they tried, it didn't work out. Sao Paulo didn't want to sell,
07:40Marcos Antonio didn't want to leave, Flamengo didn't want to match that price, so Flamengo went
07:44ahead and walked away from the deal. They didn't want to sign Marcos Antonio anymore.
07:47Now, with this new approach, what happens? If Flamengo needs a midfielder, they won't be able
07:51to look for a player in Uruguay, in Argentina, in Ecuador. Flamengo has started to explore the
07:56South American market in recent years. If Flamengo goes to Sao Paulo, then they'll pay more for a
08:01player like Marcos Antonio, for example. Except that Sao Paulo, in turn, being a club that's in a
08:06very complicated financial situation, won't be able to reinvest that money they'll get for Marcos
08:10Antonio. They won't be able to make that purchase within Brazilian football, which will be more
08:15expensive. So in Serie A, they won't be able to sign any players, so what are they going to do?
08:20They'll have to look at Serie B, and in Serie B we know, being Serie B, it's a lower level
08:25league,
08:26so they'll take that money, sign players from Brazilian Serie B, and won't get the same results.
08:31When the market is open, they can go to South America and sign players from River, Boca,
08:36racing, or teams from Uruguay. Of course, there are bad signings, terrible ones.
08:42And Sao Paulo is an example of that, right? In recent years, they brought in a lot of bad
08:46foreign players, but it's not simply, hey, I sold Marcos Antonio. There are no big names in Serie B,
08:51so I'm going to play a 17-year-old kid, which is more or less what CBF is thinking, right?
08:56The team
08:56doesn't have a midfielder, they won't sign from Serie B because the level is low, so they're going to bring
09:01in a 17-year-old to play. They won't do that. And I very honestly believe there is a huge
09:08mistake
09:09in treating academy players, rising youngsters, still maturing as players, as the solution to any
09:16team's problems. It shouldn't be like that. And in a country where there's a project to develop players,
09:23a 17-year-old kid doesn't have to save a team from relegation. Clubs aren't going to just throw the
09:29kids in. Coaches aren't going to be forced to put, and that's where the main mistake in this
09:34whole thing lies. It's forced. This has to be a long-term football project. Clubs need to be
09:41incentivized to develop youth players. A good environment needs to be created so that the
09:46youth players emerge, break into the first team, and have a structure to develop as players,
09:54and not forced into it. Just because my team can't afford to make a signing,
09:57sells a good player to a rival with more money, can't reinvest that cash, or thinks it's not worth
10:02reinvesting in a lower-tier Serie B player. In other words, the gap, the difference, is going to get
10:09even bigger. Because besides cleaning up across South America, or signing good players maybe coming from
10:14Europe, Flamingo, Palmeiras, these other two I mentioned, Vasco and Botafogo, if they have a
10:20structured SAF next year, Cruzeiro, which also has good financial muscle, they're going to start signing
10:26players from Sao Paulo, Santos, Fluminense, and other teams, Coritiba, Atletico, Paranaense,
10:32and then that gap will start to widen. We're going to have a pack of three, four, maybe five teams
10:37at
10:37the top, the two richest and others that might eventually hang with them. And the rest will
10:42basically be left with more modest squads, second division level players, and the occasional academy
10:47kid who, on the trial by fire, can step up to fill the gaps in a big club that's in
10:52a financial crisis,
10:53watching their rival win. Look how bad that setup is for a kid trying to break through and perform.
11:01That's why this measure, this imposition, makes zero sense. And that's even more reason why, to me,
11:07it makes no sense at all that the clubs accepted this. I mentioned Vasco's example. Vasco just had
11:14a transfer window where they signed several players scouted across South America and they're really
11:18delivering results. Vasco voted in favor of a deal like that. How can a club that just signed players
11:24from South America who are actually solving the team's problems do that? The team's performance
11:30is improving. They're fighting at the top and they have a real shot at winning one of the two cups.
11:35How can a team that made that move vote in favor of banning the signing of foreign players? My friend,
11:41that doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. And there's another thing here that also needs to be
11:47put into perspective. Of course, there are some players who come here from abroad, foreigners
11:52playing in Brazilian football, who don't add anything, who don't stand out, who don't make the
11:56teams any stronger. That is, of course, a portion of the bad signings. A bunch of executives who sign
12:01bad foreigners will also sign bad Brazilian players. That's where the problem is. It's the business model
12:06that's poorly run. It's the scouting that's bad. And often it's the limited investment power that
12:11gets in the way of this kind of thing. So yes, that needs to be weighed. That needs to be
12:15looked at.
12:16This has to do with the way clubs manage their resources. But no, you're not going to solve this
12:21issue by limiting them or not allowing them to do it. It's not by stopping Fluminense from signing
12:28foreigners that you get them to make better signings within Brazilian soccer or make use of their
12:33youth academy players. That's why, to me, this measure is rather unintelligent and makes no sense
12:40given its objective, which is to develop more players. These things just don't align. It's not
12:47by removing foreigners from Brazilian soccer that you will automatically open the floodgates for
12:52countless talents to emerge every year across several different teams. It doesn't work that way.
12:59Look, I am strongly in favor of having a debate about Brazilian soccer, of thinking of ways to
13:04improve the development infrastructure in Brazil, how clubs use academy players, how they will rise
13:09to the national team and improving the youth national team setup. And that, down the line, at the top of
13:16the chain, right at the top of the pyramid, would benefit the Brazilian national team. It would be great,
13:21but that's not going to happen with a forced, ill-considered measure. Because the CBF could
13:26consider this measure, could bring studies, arguments, elements, and give them to the club
13:32so they could go back home. And, together with the coaching staff and the board, sit down and weigh
13:38the pros and cons, allowing multiple voices to be heard. And then, in some time, have another meeting
13:43with a new round of arguments and elements. And further down the line, again, until a decision could be
13:48made, perhaps at the end of the year. Not something done this way. Sitting in a meeting,
13:53showing half a dozen PowerPoint slides, tossing out a few numbers without putting them into context,
13:58and shoving an absolute truth down everyone's throat. The clubs just take it without even
14:03thinking about it. In Serie A, only Flamingo and Bahia voted against this move. The clubs didn't
14:09reflect on it, they didn't sit down to think it through, with a wider group, coaching staff,
14:13other directors, the board, people who actually understand football. To really understand the
14:18measure, its effects, and what kind of impact it actually has. And only then, further down the
14:24road, make a real decision, right? So, the CBF imposed this situation on the clubs, and they just
14:29accepted it, as if it were going to solve their problems. It won't. It's going to make things worse,
14:34and I imagine, as I said, we're still going to see many, many more chapters of this unfold in the
14:38coming weeks. There's still a lot to unfold on this topic, but I think having this debate,
14:43this discussion here on Futebol Maximo, and across several other television and YouTube
14:48channels about this topic, is already a step forward. Here, we're doing what the CBF failed
14:53to do. Think, present the facts, and get people to reflect on the issue. And if you want to check
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