Modelos de gestão empresarial no Futebol Mineiro: um estudo comparativo entre o Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (SAF) e o Clube Atlético Mineiro (Holding/SAF) no período de 2022 a 2025

Abstract

Brazilian football has consolidated itself, in recent decades, as a sporting, social, and economic phenomenon of great relevance, requiring administrative structures compatible with its growing organizational and institutional complexity. This study aimed to analyze how different models of administrative structuring the Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF) adopted by Cruzeiro Esporte Clube and the holding model followed by the transition to SAF at Clube Atlético Mineiro influenced institutional and organizational sustainability, corporate governance, and sporting performance between 2022 and 2025. The research adopted a qualitative approach, with a descriptive and comparative character, based on bibliographic and documentary research, and was classified as a Comparative Documentary Case Study. The analysis was guided by an Analytical Model of Professional Management in Football, structured around five central dimensions: organizational structure, corporate governance, management professionalization, relationships with stakeholders, and institutional sustainability. The results showed that the simple adoption of a new legal form does not, by itself, guarantee organizational stability or sporting competitiveness. In the case of Cruzeiro, the conversion to the SAF model in a context of administrative collapse enabled greater institutional reorganization, strengthening of governance, and greater organizational predictability throughout the analyzed period. In contrast, Atlético Mineiro presented a process of corporatization marked by a hybrid structure, high dependence on investors, and institutional instability, even in the presence of high revenues. It was concluded that institutional sustainability in Brazilian football depends less on the legal model adopted and more on the quality of professional management, administrative continuity, and the consolidation of governance, transparency, and strategic planning practices elements that are fundamental for the competitive and organizational repositioning of clubs in the contemporary sporting environment.