After all, the Fifa recognize or not the Palm trees as world club champion for the title of Rio Cup from 1951? The controversial discussion that mobilizes Alviverde fans and their rivals was reignited with an event held this Friday (1).
O Green Palacean entertainment venue with a Palmeiras theme based in front of Allianz Parque, promoted a ceremony in which FIFA minutes were delivered, in a sworn translation into Portuguese, of the meeting in which the entity recognized the São Paulo club as world champion, in June 2014 .
In addition to all ESPN content, with Combo+ you have access to the best Star+ entertainment and Disney+’s most beloved franchises. Subscribe now!
What does that mean? Nothing new in practical terms. There was no new decision or position from FIFA on the topic, just an initiative to officially translate into Portuguese, through a qualified professional, the minutes of a meeting that took place almost ten years ago, in a hotel in São Paulo.
The original document is available online. This is the minutes of the 31st meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee, held at the Grand Hyatt, in São Paulo, on June 7, 2014, on the occasion of the World Cup in Brazil. It is signed by Jerome Valckethen general secretary of football’s highest governing body and now banned from the sport until October 2025 for several infractions.
The meeting, on a Saturday, from 2pm to 6pm, was attended by several FIFA directors, many who also ended up banned from football, such as the then president of the entity, Joseph Blatteror former representative of the CBF, Marco Polo Del Nero.
One of the decisions of that meeting, as described in the minutes, was “to meet the CBF’s request to recognize the 1951 tournament between clubs from Europe and South America won by Palmeiras as the first world club competition”. In English, this final excerpt was put as follows: “first worldwide club competition”.
The sworn translation was done by the sworn translator Klébert Renée Machado Gonçalveswhich gives the document legal and official validity in Brazil – as can be done with any official documentation that is in another language.
The big issue is that, although this decision was made in 2014, in an official meeting, the FIFA never treated the 1951 Copa Rio as a World Cup. The entity considers the tournament under its organization (in 2000 and then from 2005) and understands the old Intercontinental Cup, in a single game between European and South American champions, as a precursor to the format.
FIFA has even spoken out on other occasions in English about Palmeiras’ title, using terms like “global champion” or again “worldwide champion”, which indicates that every controversy that affects rivals so much ends up being almost a semantic issue.
This is because FIFA understands that the 1951 Copa Rio was the first world-class club tournament, regardless of the name the competition had. It turns out, on the other hand, that the entity has always been reluctant – and this is how it responds today when questioned – to equate this with its World Cup – the Fifa Club World Cupin English.
For Palmeiras fans, this is a minor issue, the club is world champion, yes. For rivals, the reading is different, in a discussion that will never end – unless FIFA decides on a definitive end point.
Returning to Friday night, to the event at Green Palacethe ceremony brought together several Palmeiras idols and also served to honor Aldo Rebelo, a Palmeiras fan who was minister of sport in 2014. He was responsible, almost a decade ago, for making the document official in Portuguese – the politician received a plaque for that.