The SAF Botafogo secured a court ruling in Rio de Janeiro that overturns the latest decision by the arbitration panel in a dispute with Eagle, although John Textor remains suspended as a result.
Durcesio Mello, former president of Botafogo, now leads the SAF. The recent move by the FGV arbitration panel had removed Durcesio Mello from his position and restored political powers to Eagle within the SAF. Botafogo challenged this decision and succeeded in getting a judicial ruling that suspends the arbitration’s order, reinforcing Durcesio’s role as interim manager and keeping his appointment valid, including the upcoming general assembly scheduled for Thursday (14) to ratify his nomination.
Technically, SAF Botafogo filed a motion to annul the arbitration award within the Rio de Janeiro State Court (TJ-RJ). The arbitration panel had previously placed itself in a jurisdictional conflict with a first-instance judge at the TJ-RJ, with one side returning and the other stripping Eagle of political powers. According to the arbitration panel, the case should be resolved by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).
However, SAF Botafogo argued that it could find a legal path without going to Brasília, leading to the filing of a partial arbitration award annulment action. The attorneys for SAF, from the law firms Salomão, Basílio e Fux, claimed that the arbitration panel was exceeding its scope. In Botafogo’s view, now endorsed by the court in today’s decision, the arbitrators should have ruled only on Textor’s suspension and the validity of the July 2025 assembly.
The court ruled that even without agreeing or denying this claim, the latest arbitration decision is no longer valid. “Despite SAF Botafogo’s allegations, any deliberation on these flaws at this moment is premature, requiring procedural formation, respecting the principle of adversarial proceedings and full defense,” stated Judge Marcelo Mondego de Carvalho Lima in the ruling.
The practical effect is: “All decisions rendered in the ongoing cases are maintained, and the general assembly must occur as determined by this Court, keeping EAGLE BIDCO’s political rights suspended to vote in any deliberation of SAF BOTAFOGO, as well as any manager or representative acting on its behalf in the management” of SAF Botafogo.
