Simply saying that Pedrinho “runs Vasco SAF” does little to understand the structure that exists today. Since the decision of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice on July 10, 2026, he and the other counselors removed in June have returned to their positions, and the judicial intervention that replaced the administration has been suspended. But the Court maintained governance controls, provision of information and supervision over economically relevant acts.
In practice, power is divided. The Board of Directors exercises corporate governance; Fred Luz, Ricardo Abreu and the executives lead the operation; Admar Lopes heads the football department; Athos Neves monitors and reports without managing; the Judicial Administration and the recovery court supervise certain acts; and 777 remains part of the corporate dispute, although it is not controlled by SAF.
This is the picture found in the research carried out on August 10, 2026. It is necessarily provisional because there are appeals, arbitration, judicial recovery and a sale transaction that has not yet been completed.
Vasco SAF's skills map
| Core | Who occupies today | What it does | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Board of Directors | Pedrinho, Christiano Campos and Felipe Passos Elias | Exercises corporate governance and Board deliberations | Temporary composition and subject to judicial and arbitration decisions, statutes and recovery controls |
| Presidency of CRVG / Pedrinho | Pedrinho | Represents the associative club politically and is a member of the SAF Council | He is not the CEO of SAF nor does he alone manage the company |
| Executive management | Fred Luz, CEO; Ricardo Abreu, COO | Conducts the day-to-day management and execution of the company | Must act within applicable corporate deliberations, budget, governance and judicial controls |
| Football | Admar Lopes, executive director of football | Leads the department and sports negotiations at the executive level | Relevant operations follow internal jurisdictions and, above the judicial level, need to be communicated |
| Independent monitor | Athos Neves | Supervises governance and finances, receives documents and reports to the Court | Does not replace administration and does not participate in the decision-making routine |
| Judicial recovery | Judicial administration and recovery judgment | Inspect compliance with the plan, transparency and certain relevant acts | They don't normally manage football or the company |
| 777 Carioca | Shareholder in dispute with Vasco | Defends your rights and interests in lawsuits and arbitration | Corporate rights were suspended; does not currently exercise operational command of the SAF |
The current composition of the Council appears on Vasco's own website as temporary and brings together three representatives of the Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama: Pedro Paulo de Oliveira, Pedrinho, Christiano Campos and Felipe Passos Elias.
What does Pedrinho’s return really mean
The July 10th injunction suspended two decisive points of the intervention determined in the first instance: the removal of the Council members and the regime in which the judicial administration replaced the SAF managers. The decision also allowed the CRVG to regularly reconstitute its internal bodies, as long as it respects the statute, judicial and arbitration decisions and the information obligations to the Justice and Judicial Administration.
This gave Pedrinho back direct influence over SAF as a member of its Board of Directors and president of the associative shareholder who, due to the court decisions in force, remains in control. What did not happen was the transformation of Pedrinho into sole administrator or CEO of the company.
There is a relevant difference between commanding politically and participating in strategic definition and executing each hiring, payment or administrative decision. The first sphere involves the Council and the position of the CRVG. The second belongs to the executive structure of the SAF.
Who carries out day-to-day administration
On June 22, even before the Board's departure, Vasco SAF itself announced an executive reorganization: Carlos Amodeo left his role and Fred Luz took over as CEO. Ricardo Abreu became COO. These changes continue to be presented by the club on its official channels.
The CEO is the company's main executive; the COO operates in the operation. This means that routine management acts do not depend on Pedrinho personally handling each process. The Board sets and oversees the company's direction, while the executive team turns these directions into concrete management.
The financial area deserves a caveat. The decision of July 10 determined that the SAF formally clarify the situation of the financial director, in addition to presenting a schedule for the meeting and regularization of financial statements and making pending documents available. As the public sources consulted do not allow the current position and all CFO responsibilities to be safely attributed to a specific person, it is not appropriate to fill this gap by inference.
Vasco maintains the SAF financial statements for 2024 and 2025 published in its transparency area. The existence of these documents, however, does not eliminate the additional duties of corporate regularization determined in the process.
Who negotiates players and makes football decisions
Football's central executive name is Admar Lopes. Vasco currently lists him as executive director of football and keeps Felipe as technical director.
This distinction became especially clear during the intervention itself. On July 9, when Athos Neves was still in the role of intervenor, it was informed that he would not participate in sporting matters and that SAF executives would continue to lead negotiations for coaches and players.
With the end of the replacement administration, this logic became even clearer: the football department conducts operational work, subject to the company's policies, financial limits and authority.
There is, however, an additional control. The second instance decision determined prior communication to the court and the Judicial Administration of acts of special economic relevance, including operations with athletes above a level to be established in the first instance. In the implementation of monitoring, communication of negotiations over R$5 million was established.
This does not transform Athos Neves into a football director nor does it give him the role of choosing reinforcements. The duty is supervision and communication.
Athos Neves supervises, but does not govern the SAF
The change in Athos' role is one of the biggest sources of confusion in this cartoon.
He was appointed intervenor during the period in which the Council was away. After the TJRJ suspended the intervention, it began to exercise the role of watchdog, or independent monitor.
The decision of July 10 itself defines the purpose: to monitor governance, receive documents, monitor compliance with determined measures and present periodic reports, without replacing the administration.
Therefore, Athos does not occupy a kind of “judicial super-presidency” of the SAF. It works as an external layer of control. According to the details published after his appointment, he must report negotiations in excess of R$5 million to the court and monitor governance and financial issues, but without participating in the company's daily processes.
The watchdog should also not be confused with the Judicial Administration of recovery. They are different functions. The Judicial Administration monitors the recovery process and monitors obligations related to it; The monitor was created as an additional governance mechanism after the Court found it disproportionate to maintain an intervention that replaced administrators.
Where the 777 still comes in
777 stopped controlling Vasco SAF's routine in May 2024, when a court decision suspended the effects of the contract with the investor, including its political and patrimonial corporate rights, and removed the representatives appointed by the group from the Board.
In May 2025, the 20th Chamber of Private Law of the TJRJ unanimously maintained the injunction that left control of the SAF with the associative club while the merits of the conflict continued. The corporate dispute also continued to be linked to the arbitration scheduled between the parties.
This creates a situation that seems contradictory at first glance: 777 does not control the SAF today, but it also has not legally disappeared from society.
The first instance decision that provoked the intervention in June highlighted that the suspension of 777's rights did not erase its status as a shareholder and linked a possible sale of shares to the company's agreement or to an arbitration authorization.
The decision of July 10, when suspending the intervention, adopted a broader formulation: any relevant sale of assets, shares or structures provided for in the recovery plan remains subject to internal controls, the Judicial Administration, the recovery court and, when applicable, the arbitration court.
Therefore, saying that the 777 “rules” today is incorrect. Saying that she “has nothing to do with Vasco anymore” is also the case. Its current weight is mainly corporate and litigation, not day-to-day management.
So who can sell Vasco SAF?
Here the power map becomes more complex, because selling control is very different from hiring a player or managing cash.
Pedrinho plays a central role in political and business negotiations, but does not have unilateral power to complete the sale.
On July 11, the design released for a new operation required consideration by the statutory bodies of the CRVG — Council of Beneficiaries, Deliberative Council and General Assembly — in addition to approval linked to judicial recovery. The same report noted that the participation discussed with 777 continued to depend on the solution of the corporate dispute.
A few days later, the process advanced to another stage. On July 15, the judicial sale procedure began for the unit that represents 90% of the shares in the new SAF. Almirante Participações e Empreendimentos, owned by Marcos Lamacchia, entered as a stalking horse bidder: its offer serves as a reference in the competitive process, and the company has preference to match a superior proposal under the conditions set out in the notice. The published deadline for completing this stage is September 30, 2026.
There is still a regulatory layer that gained relevance in August. Since 2026, the CBF has maintained the National Football Regulation and Sustainability Agency, ANRESF, in operation, responsible for the Financial Sustainability System and for rules that include the prohibition of the same owner exercising control or significant influence over more than one club in the same competition.
On August 5, Vasco sent documents to ANRESF defending the legality of the operation with Lamacchia. According to the most recent public information found in this research, the deal was not yet concluded and would undergo analysis by the agency.
In other words: even if Pedrinho and the negotiators reach a commercial agreement, the closure depends on a sequence of corporate, recovery, judicial, possibly arbitration and now also regulatory controls.
What is valid and what remains pending
The current framework is simpler when dispute management is separated.
It's valid today: Pedrinho, Christiano Campos and Felipe Elias are back on the Council; Fred Luz is the CEO; Ricardo Abreu is the COO; Admar Lopes manages football; Athos Neves acts as an independent monitor; and there is no judicial intervention replacing the administration.
Remains pending: the collegiate judgment of the appeal that gave rise to the July 10 injunction, the corporate conflict with 777, arbitration, governance regularization obligations and the closing of the operation that could transfer 90% of the new SAF.
That’s why the question “who’s in charge?” does not have a single name as an answer.
Pedrinho and the Board currently hold corporate and strategic control linked to CRVG. Executives manage and negotiate on a daily basis. Justice does not replace this management, but it has created strong inspection mechanisms. 777 does not run the company, but it remains part of the dispute that affects its shareholding structure. And a sale of the SAF depends on a rite that goes beyond the decision of any single leader.
This is the map that best describes power in Vasco SAF on August 10, 2026 — and also explains why a new judicial, arbitration or regulatory decision may force the map to be updated again.
