The club started last year with intentions to win the Brazil women’s championship. The Brazilian outfit moved to hire Andressinha, Rincón and Antônia with the aim of leading the club to winning silverware.
Under new management, Iranduba did manage to build a strong squad but were unable to clinch top spot come the end of the season.
After the World Cup, Iranduba saw ten players leave and the club could only finish the Campeonato Brasileiro, women in tenth place. The club went ahead to play the Amazonense Championship with the under-18 squad and failed to win the trophy for a ninth consecutive time, finishing in second place.
Now, after playing just five games in the current Campeonato Brasileiro campaign, the club may yet be forced to make a premature exit from the competition due to financial issues off the pitch.
To get the club back to speed financially, Iranduba moved to sign a sponsorship deal with London-based company Vegan Nation, owned by Israeli businessman Isaac Thomas.
The company specialized in processing of Vegan food as the name implies. As part of their sponsorship details, the London based enterprise promised to make their payments in the company’s own cryptocurrency – Vegancoin.
However, Vegancoins, which launched in 2018 have not been validated until now and that means Iranduba have not received any payments whatsoever from Vegan Nation. Dating 16 months since the sponsorship was agreed, Iranduba are yet to get any financial compensation from their new sponsors.
Iranduba director, Lauro Tentartini, has also said that he is no longer able to contact businessman Isaac Thomas. “All the deadlines that have passed us have passed without any payment,” says Lauro.
All of this could result in further players leaving the club. “If there is no payment, we will not be able to play.” Lauro added.
Asides Iranbuda, Vegan Nation also signed contracts with Remo, Paysandu and Nacional-AM and those clubs are yet to receive any payments as well. However, the likes of Remo and Paysandu still survive financially due to the structure of their men’s football team.
Iranduba do not have that luxury and their current situation means the players may be without a job and the club without games when action resumes this year.
