Sports Commission condemns attack on Fortaleza delegation

The senators of the Sports Commission (CEsp) approved this Wednesday (28) a vote of repudiation of the acts of violence committed against the Fortaleza Esporte Clube delegation by fans of Sport Club do Recife in the early hours of February 22nd. The attacks occurred when the team from Ceará was leaving Arena Pernambuco, after a game for the Copa do Nordeste. The team bus was attacked with stones and a bomb. Six athletes were injured and required hospital treatment.

The author of the request (REQ 2/2024) is senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), who presided over Fortaleza in 2017. During the vote on the request, the parliamentarian wrote about the seriousness of the incident:

— There are players with dozens of stitches, even cranial issues, who had to go to the hospital for observation. And we had an attack there, which could have taken the lives of players. So, it was something terrifying. I want to make it very clear: I want to separate the fans from the sport here. This isn't a fan thing. So, it was extreme aggressiveness, which keeps the fans away from the stadium, keeps good people away from this great spectacle that is football, which Brazil exports to the world.

According to the parliamentarian, the player Thiago Galhardo has psychological trauma, suffering from a panic attack after the attack. Given the degree of incivility of the episode, Eduardo Girão announced that, in addition to the vote of repudiation, he will present to the commission suggestions for legislative measures to prevent violence in stadiums and guarantee peace.

— [...] a package for peace in the stadiums, with imprisonment for fans who carry out acts of violence and even for them to be tried. He must go to the police station two hours before the game and leave three hours after his team's game, in some countries similar things already exist. Automatic loss of points for the team of which the violent fan is a member, because, based on the investigation, there was a lack of escort. Then there was also a security failure around the stadium; loss of immediate field command for the next game, until the trial assesses whether it is necessary to extend it. So, losing control of the field immediately; automatic imprisonment, without bail, until trial; financial punishment for the club with loss of all revenue from the game where the violence occurred; immediate implementation of facial recognition for entry into the stadium. There are projects in this sense, including already advanced ones, and we will see here how we can collaborate in this sense — he detailed.

Results manipulation
CEsp also approved a request for a public hearing to discuss the manipulation of results in the 2023 Brazilian championship. The request was made by senators Eduardo Girão and Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ). The debate should be attended by Thierry Hassanaly, representative of the company Good Game, specialized in analyzing arbitration bids.

According to the requirement, manipulation of results is another side effect of the expansion of the fixed-odds betting market, known as bets. Reference companies in monitoring sports fraud point out that security is increasingly needed in the world of internet sports betting.

Parliamentarians cite several cases of suspected fraud in the document. “These occurrences in Brazil may be just the tip of an iceberg. Sport in general and football in particular cannot be contaminated by gambling [...] Therefore, the proposition we present here aims to listen to Thierry Hassanaly CEO of the company Good Game!, always with the aim of delving deeper into the intricacies of the fixed-odd betting market, seeking to unmask companies that entice national sports figures to commit fraud”, argued the senators in the request.