Suffering economic crisis, Corinthians is punished and will no longer be able to register players

On Thursday afternoon (31), FIFA imposed a transfer ban on the Corinthians team, due to non-payment of image rights for defender Balbuena. The decision by football's highest governing body will be valid until the summer window of 2026, and during this period, the São Paulo club will be prohibited from registering new players. He will only have the right to contract after paying off the million-dollar debt valued at R$ 6.9 million, divided into R$ 1.9 million for the athlete himself, and the remainder, for the company The General Sports Ltdof which the defender is a partner.

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_{Balbuena in the qualifiers against Argentina (Photo: reproduction/Marcelo Endelli/GettyImagesSport)}

Financial crisis

Since Duílio's mandate, Corinthians has found itself in a 'financial hole'. In the month of September, on the fateful “Transparency Day”, it was revealed how much the club owes, and the amount exceeds R$2.311 billion. According to the São Paulo club's financial director, Pedro Silveira, of this amount, R$924 million includes players' image rights.

The debt with Balbuena refers to the defender's second spell at the club, where he played until mid-2023, coming from Dynamo Moscow. His return to Brazil was due to the war that was taking place in Russia.

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_{Balbuena during his second spell at Corinthians (Photo: reproduction/Ricardo Moreira/GettyImagesSport)}

Importance

During his first spell at Timão, Balbuena was one of the main pillars of the team led by Fabio Carille. Between 2016 and 2018, the player won the Campeonato Paulista twice in addition to taking the Brasileirão. After two years he moved to England to play for West Ham for 4 million euros.

In this second spell, the athlete still saw the chance of winning the Brazilian Cup with the club. Only for the Corinthians team to play a very competitive game against Flamengo, they were defeated on penalties. The defender played in 167 matches for Timão and scored 15 goals.

Featured Photo: Balbuena during a match for Dynamo Moscow (Photo: reproduction/transfermarket)