July 20 – Suspended Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) president Rogerio Caboclo (pictured) has claimed that Marco Polo Del Nero blackmailed him. Alienated, Caboclo is exploring legal means to return to his role.
In four videos, sent to the presidents of the 27 state federations and obtained by Brazilian outlet Metropoles, the disgraced official, suspended for allegations of sexual harassment, says he is the victim of “blackmail, espionage and attempted coup” by Del Nero. Del Nero was banned for life from football by FIFA in April 2018.
In one of the videos, Caboclo claims that in April a senior CBF leader visited his office “carrying a clandestine recording device” and says that he was later asked to pay 12 million Brazilian reals for the recording not to be released. He goes on to say that he “preserved the organisation’s cash” and that the recording was leaked to the press.
Del Nero however didn’t mince his words and went on the attack in a statement of his own to TV station Globo, saying: “My answer to the attacks of the ungrateful and unhappy Rogério Caboclo on my person is the question he is asking himself in the scenes of harassment against his victims, in which he is involved. Am I hideous?”
“The videos, the harassment, now in greater number, because he has two victims and others will emerge and everything he has done, is an answer to his own question. Am I a monster, a liar or just a pervert?”
Even so, Caboclo’s lawyers have appealed to the STJD (Superior Tribunal de Justiça Desportiva) to try and overturn the suspension that removed their client from the CBF presidency. Caboclo was first suspended for 30 days, before that period was extended with another 60 days.
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