Member of Thairo Arruda already Matix Capital and today a member of Eagle Footballin the area of strategic planning, Danilo Caixeiro gave an interview to the “Sports Market Makers” podcast and gave details of how the purchase of the SAF do Botafogo. He actively participated in the process that led John Textor to invest in the club.
– We spoke with Textor for nine months. In June 2021, we started talking to him, because we saw in the Portuguese press that he was wanting to buy Benfica. Our Portuguese partner, Fernando Capello, got his contact, got in touch via LinkedIn, we started talking, trying to talk about Portugal, but we knew deep down that the law was changing in Brazil. And it was in Brazil that he really wanted to talk and make progress with us – explained Danilo Caixeiro.
– And then it wasn’t like that, América-MG or Botafogo, we did a study of the market and showed everything that we thought was available and that could make sense for it. What we thought was available was América-MG and some other clubs, I think what was public was Londrina too. We didn’t convince him to go to Botafogo either, we thought Botafogo was the best target for him. We said “if you want to do restructuring work and unlock a lot of value from a giant club in Rio, which has a large fan base, much greater commercial potential than was being used, it will be a lot of work, but there is a lot more value to unlock here.” There were other targets that were less complex, other clubs that would require less work, but also less return, in our opinion. Now, knowing John better, it was obvious that he would go, the guy is super entrepreneurial, if you tell him that it exists, that you can get a much greater return, with a lot more work, he will go for it – he added.
Danilo Caixeiro also said he was a fan of John Textor.
– I’m a groupie. I’m suspicious when it comes to talking, he’s my boss, I get scolded from him from time to time, but I really like him. He is truly a born entrepreneur, with absurd vision, the courage to implement those visions, and intelligence beyond what normal human beings see. We didn’t worry too much about trying to tie this guy down, get him a contract, get him a mandate, find out how much we would earn, we just wanted to be in partnership with this guy. We knew that this would bring benefits, in this level of confidence that he himself conveys, that you can feel. The people around him also end up embracing a positive force there, that business. The real entrepreneur, the visionary guy, is so confident in that business, he gathers people who believe around him and the impossible thing ends up happening. He is very different and he is also super fair, he takes care of those who take care of him – he said.
And what are the plans for Botafogo and Lyon, Crystal and RWD Molenbeek, other members of Eagle Football?
– It’s important nowadays to make John’s vision clear. The objective with Botafogo, as with any of our clubs, is that all these communities, all fans, have the right to want to have a champion club. We will not at any time relegate a club to a position of never having ambition, of being there to generate players, to do something else. We have to be competitive, aim to always fight for titles, perform as well as we can, without going crazy either. As for expanding to other countries, yes, as long as it is strategic. We have already looked at other markets, we will continue looking, it is not exactly our philosophy to simply be an aggregator of a bunch of clubs, there is a logic in the countries we are in, precisely these paths for players and markets that we find very interesting . It’s a strategy to seek synergy between the clubs we have rather than adding more clubs.
