Rio de Janeiro, Dec 7 (EFE).- A court in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday dismissed the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Ednaldo Rodrigues, and instead appointed an auditor to lead the organization.<\/p>
The court annulled Rodrigues’ election in 2022, considering that a change to the electoral rules, introduced shortly before the voting, was invalid, according to local media.<\/p>
The president of the Court of Sports Justice of Rio de Janeiro, Jose Perdiz, will temporarily assume the CBF presidency until a new election is held within 30 days to replace Rodrigues, according to the court’s decision.<\/p>
The CBF leadership is meeting to evaluate the court decision and may appeal against it, sources within the organization told EFE.<\/p>
The court rejected the validity of an agreement signed between Rodrigues and the Public Ministry (prosecutor’s office) of Rio de Janeiro in 2022 to run as the sole candidate for a four-year term until 2026.<\/p>
With this agreement, Rodrigues intended to close five years of crisis in the CBF, in which three presidents were investigated for corruption scandals and a fourth, Rogerio Cabloco, was removed from office in 2021 due to complaints of sexual harassment of a worker at the entity.<\/p>
The institutional crisis and the court order comea at a worrying time for the Brazil football team, which slipped to sixth position in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and ended the year 2023 with four consecutive games without a win.<\/p>
The draw at home against Venezuela (1-1) and the defeats against Uruguay (2-0), Colombia (2-1) and Argentina (0-1) aggravated the situation of the organization that is waiting for the arrival of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, currently at Real Madrid, in June.<\/p>
Fernando Diniz, the coach of Copa Libertadores champions Fluminense, is currently at the helm of the Brazil national team.<\/p>
Rodrigues claimed to have struck an agreement with Ancelotti, though the Italian coach has always maintained silence about it. EFE<\/p>
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