John Textor Endorses Evangelos Marinakis for Botafogo Takeover

Reports across Europe and South America indicate that Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is vying to buy Brazilian club Botafogo.

Marinakis already owns a host of clubs, with Greek giants Olympiacos and Portuguese outfit Rio Ave making up his sporting portfolio alongside Forest.

The ownership of Botafogo has become a controversial and turbulent situation, following the removal of John Textor from the club’s day-to-day running.

Textor owns Botafogo, who form part of his crumbling Eagle Football Holdings Limited empire, but was removed from the Brazilian club’s SAF, the legal structure which commercially operates the club, by a court order, citing two damaging recent decisions.

Those included a filing which had the intention of “starting a judicial reorganisation process for the SAF”, as well as a purchase and sale agreement signed by the American businessman in January, which transferred shares in the club’s SAF to a company in the Cayman Islands.

That transfer came due to the financial crisis striking down Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings Limited. The company are reported to owe more than £400 million in debts, and administrators have been appointed.

Talks regarding a potential restructure, excluding Textor, have commenced but, in an interview in Rio de Janeiro, Textor insisted that he remains the club’s rightful owner, and that any transfer of power would be invalid, due to him transferring the club away from Eagle Football Holdings Limited.

“The fact is: I own 90 per cent of the shares,” Textor insisted, “It will be highly disputed between me and Eagle Bidco [Eagle Football Holdings Limited]. 

“But Eagle [the company] has no right to sell shares that I own. If they do this, the buyer has to be aware that he is buying something invalid."

Despite his insistence that he is the rightful owner of the 2024 Brazilian champions, Textor did open the door to a sale of the club, and has publicly supported an approach made by Marinakis and businessman Kia Joorabchian.

"These are two men who run very large organisations,” he said. “Kia, in particular, has become a successful person far beyond football. With relationships outside of football that I think can be used in football. 

"So, Corinthians and Kia have had an incredible evolution. I myself met some of the most amazing people through Kia. He is not only connected to many people in football, but has access to the best athletes in the world. 

"That's what we want from both. He always has a solution, always has a player, always has a coach. And it's exactly the people you want around. His role, I'm sure, due to the partnership with Marinakis, would be very different. 

"Marinakis is a well-known force. He was successful in the transportation business and in the media business. And what he loves the most is soccer. 

"I told him: 'Look, I love this club. I've always wanted to be part of it, but I want what's best for the club. If you want to come in and join me, great. If you want to buy it for yourself, I'll help you transition to the kind of business I know you can bring; that's great.' 

“This is a conversation we haven't had yet. I'm curious for us to make our own independent offer."

Textor and Marinakis are no strangers in football. Four players, Igor Jesus, John Victor, Jair Cunha and Cuiabano, joined Forest from the Brazilian club last summer. Though such business has been a two-way street, with Danilo heading in the opposite direction last July.

The American was also at the centre of Crystal Palace’s legal battle with UEFA last summer, which saw the Eagles demoted to the Conference League as Forest took their Europa League spot, due to Textor’s conflict of interest with Lyon.

Club takeovers often take a prolonged amount of time at the best of times, but the vast complexities surrounding Botafogo will only extend the length of the process, if Marinakis wants, and is able to, pursue the opportunity to add a fourth club to his sporting empire.