A court in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday ordered the dismissal of Ednaldo Rodrigues as president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), citing legal issues surrounding his employment agreement.
Rodrigues had previously been suspended in 2023 following a court ruling that found irregularities in his 2022 election. However, he was reinstated after a Supreme Court judge intervened, amid warnings from FIFA that Brazilian football risked sanctions for allowing judicial interference in CBF affairs.
In the latest ruling, the court declared Rodrigues’s contract with the CBF “null” and void, pointing to concerns over the legitimacy of the document. The judge noted that one of the signatories of Rodrigues’s 2025 contract was deemed mentally unfit to sign, raising the possibility of “forgery”.
International football bodies FIFA and CONMEBOL had previously opposed Rodrigues’s removal, warning that Brazil could be suspended from international competitions over governance issues.
Rodrigues had been at the forefront of efforts to appoint Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti as Brazil’s national team coach—a move that eventually fell through.
Speaking earlier in the day from a FIFA meeting in Asuncion, Paraguay, Rodrigues defended the validity of his contract, expressing “absolute certainty” that the agreement was legitimate.
