In recent days, the press, the fans and even Brazilian soccer officials were very critical of the CBF for maintaining excessive silence about the controversial cases of Dani Alves and Robinho, former soccer players accused and convicted of rape.
Everything seemed to indicate that, if it did not take a position soon, the CBF would be the target of increasingly stronger criticism.
Therefore, hours before the duel against the England National Team at Wembley, the Brazilian Football Confederation has published a long official statement on its social networks in which it condemns the actions of Dani Alves and Robinho, in addition to expressing its solidarity with the victims: “The convictions of Robson da Souza and Daniel Alves put an end to one of the most disastrous chapters in Brazilian football,” reads the beginning of the statement.
READ MORE
++ Robinho is detained in Brazil to serve his sentence for rape
++ The legal angles Dani Alves explored to gain his freedom
++ Brazil’s President Lula speaks out on Daniel Alves’ case
The CBF statement on the Alves-Robinho case
With a long and forceful statement, the CBF positions itself categorically condemning Robson da Souza, known in football as Robinho, and Daniel Alves:
“It is shameful that an athlete feels comfortable committing this type of perversity, believing that what he has achieved through sport will somehow protect him from any punishment.”
As condenações definitivas dos jogadores Robson de Souza e Daniel Alves colocam um ponto final em um dos capítulos mais nefastos do futebol brasileiro.
Os dois casos, que envolvem jogadores que foram estrelas da Seleção Brasileira de Futebol, um dos maiores ícones culturais do…
— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol) March 22, 2024
However, this was not the only issue discussed in the statement, since the Confederation took the opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to combat sexual violence, racism and other problems in current football.
The CBF priority agenda to combat racism, machismo, discrimination and sexual violence
With the aim of eradicating discrimination and violence inside and outside the camps, the CBF presented an agenda of priorities made up of 14 points:
- Joint work with the Racial Discrimination Observatory
- Organization of seminars on the fight against racism
- Creation of working groups to debate and build solutions to these problems
- Carrying out anti-racist campaigns
- Reform of the CBF General Competition Regulations to safeguard human rights and hold athletes, officials and fans responsible for their conduct
- Propose measures to FIFA, UEFA, CONMEBOL and other confederations
- Collective support for LGBTQIAP+ communities
- Cooperation with the Federal Government to combat violence in stadiums
- Hiring consultancies to generate an inclusion program
- Support for the organization Football Against Racism in Europe (Football Against Racism, FARE Network)
- Adherence to the FIFA Guardians program
- Bid to host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup
