The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) is currently facing one of the biggest credibility crises in recent years. The beginning of 2025 has been marked by a succession of scandals at the CBF that expose not only questionable million-dollar expenditures but also reveal possible abuses of power, external interference, and controversial administrative practices.
Amid requests for a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) and the removal of ESPN journalists allegedly influenced by the CBF, the main entity of Brazilian football finds itself at the center of a storm of allegations that threaten its institutional stability and call into question the management of its president, Ednaldo Rodrigues.
To update you on all the scandals at the CBF in 2025, we have created this dossier, with a comprehensive summary of everything happening with the country’s top football authority.
1. Scandal at the CBF: The Report That Shook the CBF
The succession of scandals at the CBF began in early April 2025, when Piauí magazine published an extensive report titled “CBF’s Endless Extravagances,” written by journalist Allan de Abreu, which brought to light an X-ray of Ednaldo Rodrigues’ management at the CBF.
The material, the result of three months of investigation and interviews with 22 current and former employees of the entity, revealed an alarming scenario involving:
- questionable financial management;
- possible conflicts of interest;
- internal surveillance practices.
The report revealed, for example, that during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the CBF financed the expenses of a group of 49 Brazilians who had no direct connection with the confederation or state federations.
These people enjoyed perks during the three weeks Brazil was in the competition, including:
- accommodation in five-star hotels;
- tickets to matches;
- VIP airport service;
- first-class flights;
- corporate cards with a daily limit of 500 dollars (about 2,500 reais).
According to sources in the report, all these expenses were documented through internal CBF leaks, including guest lists, travel payment documents, and spreadsheets detailing the use of corporate cards.
In total, it is estimated that the entity spent about 3 million reais on this group during the World Cup.
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2. Million-Dollar Spending on Lawyers and Settlements
One of the most controversial points of the CBF scandal is the excessive spending on legal proceedings.
According to Piauí magazine, the CBF spent more than R$24 million on lawyers and settlements in recent years to resolve legal disputes!
A notable case occurred in 2021, when the entity’s accounts were frozen for R$52 million due to a lawsuit filed by Icasa, a club from Ceará that demanded compensation for not being promoted to Série A in 2013, alleging a confederation error.
To resolve the situation, the CBF hired lawyer Gabriel Soares Amorim de Sousa for R$5.7 million, paid upfront and without a “success clause,” which normally ties full payment to winning the case.
One day after the lawyer filed the 3,300-page case, the president of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Humberto Martins, granted an injunction suspending the execution of the debt.
The average time for ruling on injunction requests in the court that year was 55 days, according to the National Justice Council, raising questions about the speed of the process.
Another notable case was the removal of Ednaldo Rodrigues from the CBF presidency in December 2023, on allegations of irregularities in the election. The entity appealed to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and paid R$6.5 million to the office of Pedro Trengrouse, its legal advisor. Piauí magazine pointed out that one of the two invoices signed by the lawyer dates from when he was no longer acting for the confederation in any case.
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3. CBF Scandal in the ESPN Journalists’ Dismissal Case
One of the most recent CBF scandals was the removal of six ESPN journalists after they criticized the entity. On April 9, 2025, the broadcaster suspended Dimas Coppede, Gian Oddi, Paulo Calçade, Pedro Ivo Almeida, Victor Birner, and William Tavares. The decision came after the airing of the “Linha de Passe” program the previous day, which discussed the allegations published by Piauí magazine about Ednaldo Rodrigues’ management.
During the program, the journalists took a critical tone towards the entity, commenting on excessive spending and questionable practices of the current management.
According to UOL, after the program aired, the broadcaster’s top management was approached by the confederation’s leadership to discuss the content.
ESPN’s management was reportedly irritated at not being informed in advance about the program’s content.
The journalists were suspended for two days and returned on April 11. Gian Oddi himself confirmed the return in a video posted on his social network: “I’ll be back on Linha de Passe on Thursday, not just me, but also my colleagues and, honestly, if I’m back on Linha de Passe, it’s because I’m confident that we’ll be able to keep speaking our minds as we always have, with the freedom I’ve always had since I joined ESPN over 15 years ago.”
The episode gained even more attention due to the existence of a commercial partnership between ESPN and the CBF for the broadcast of the Brazilian Série B Championship.
The CBF denied any interference in the broadcaster’s decision. In an official statement, the entity said: “That’s not true. The CBF respects freedom of the press with responsibility and does not request any kind of interference in the editorial line of media outlets. Any narrative different from this is false and slanderous.”
4. Hidden Cameras and Espionage at CBF Headquarters
The scandals at the CBF don’t stop there; the most recent is related to hidden cameras at the confederation’s headquarters, which led to allegations of espionage against employees at the CBF headquarters.
According to a report by the “Leo Dias” portal, published by the O Tempo website, the entity, at the behest of president Ednaldo Rodrigues, installed security cameras at various points in its headquarters, located in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.
In images released by the portal, it is possible to see that the cameras were hidden in fake fire alarm devices. All images and audio collected were sent to a computer in president Ednaldo Rodrigues’ office.
The report also revealed that, in an audio recording, Haroldo Aguiar, an employee in the CBF’s IT department, gave instructions to infiltrate a group of employees during the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
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5. The Request for a CPI to Investigate the CBF
The scandals at the CBF and the allegations against the entity have reached such proportions that they have reached the National Congress. On April 14, 2025, Congressman Coronel Meira (PL-PE) filed a request in the Chamber of Deputies to open a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) to investigate possible irregularities in the confederation.
The proposal aims to investigate allegations of misuse of the entity’s resources and the “structuring of political influence networks” to benefit president Ednaldo Rodrigues.
In the justification for the request, the congressman points out that, although it is a private law organization, the entity “manages an activity of relevant public interest, with serious economic and social impacts.”
This would not be the first time the CBF has been the target of a CPI. In 2001, the CBF-Nike CPI investigated suspicions of corruption and favoritism involving sponsorship contracts.
6. The Strange Request to Série B Clubs
Amid the allegations, another CBF scandal drew attention. On April 11, 2025, the confederation sent a letter to the directors of all Série B teams requesting the contracts signed for this season with TV broadcasters.
According to Veja magazine, although the CBF has the authority to make such a request, this has never been done before.
Among the teams, the request was interpreted as possible retaliation against ESPN (which holds the tournament’s broadcast rights) for the program that echoed the Piauí magazine report, as explained above. In the letter, the CBF asks participants in the 2025 Brazilian Série B Championship to “send the entity copies of the respective contractual instruments before the start of each competition, ensuring the confidentiality of the information, allowing the CBF to participate in contracts not yet signed, as an intervening party.”
The document is signed by legal director André Mattos but does not explain the reason for the request.
The timing of this request and the suspension of ESPN journalists, who broadcast Série B games, raised suspicions about the real intentions of the confederation.
The series of scandals at the CBF exposes not only occasional administrative problems but also points to structural issues that may explain the decline of Brazilian football in recent years.
