CBF sends lawyer to Brazil’s Supreme Court hearing on betting ban as clubs push for a transition period

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) will not send its president, Samir Xaud, to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) public hearing on the ban on bets in Brazil. Instead, the federation will be represented by a lawyer at the meeting, set for Monday (3/11) at 10 a.m. at the STF.

1. The hearing was called by Justice Luiz Fux, who is the rapporteur in the case seeking to suspend the Provisional Measure (MP) that banned the operation of betting companies in the country. According to Globo Online, the clubs had already expected Xaud to stay away, and they see the CBF as influenced by figures tied to power in Brasília.
2. Had Xaud shown up, there was a risk of public embarrassment. He had personally opposed a meeting with the Ministry of Sport to discuss solutions before the presidential election and had aligned himself with Flávio Bolsonaro. After Lula’s victory, Xaud became persona non grata in the federal government.
3. Behind the scenes, Xaud had been betting on a Bolsonaro win to distance himself from the Brasília group that controls the CBF and make another re-election bid possible. That group is centered on Francisco Mendes, vice-president of the Mato Grosso federation and son of Justice Gilmar Mendes. The election result killed that plan.
4. Fux invited clubs that filed actions in solidarity with the sector: Flamengo, Fluminense, Cruzeiro, Corinthians, and São Paulo. Palmeiras is also expected to attend. Other invitees include the prosecutor general, associations linked to betting, commerce and industry, the Ministry of Finance, and the CBF. The constitutional challenges were filed by the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR).
5. At the hearing, the clubs will push for a longer transition period if the MP is not revoked. Their view is that the measure had an electoral motive, and that with Lula’s re-election the government would have more to gain from bringing sports betting back into Brazilian football.

For high-risk operators, the detail that matters is not just the legal challenge itself, but the transition window clubs want if the ban survives. In practice, that is where payment flows, sponsorship money, and merchant relationships start to get messy.