Textor possible reinstatement before April 29

John Textor’s removal from Botafogo SAF is not final: the club company asked Brazil’s Fundação Getulio Vargas arbitration panel to reconsider the order before a new review on April 29. (uol.com.br) (ge.globo.com) The arbitration tribunal removed Textor on April 23 after Eagle Bidco sought relief in the fight over control of the club’s football corporation, known in Brazil as a Sociedade Anônima do Futebol, or SAF. The panel said recent moves by Textor could cause “irreparable damage” to shareholders and Botafogo supporters. (ge.globo.com) (poder360.com.br) The two acts cited by arbitrators were a judicial-restructuring move filed on April 21 and a share-purchase agreement signed on January 26 that would transfer Eagle Bidco’s stake in Botafogo SAF to a Cayman Islands company. Eagle told the tribunal the contract was signed irregularly and without required formalities. (ge.globo.com) (poder360.com.br) Botafogo SAF’s appeal attacks both the procedure and the evidence. Its lawyers say Eagle asked only to overturn a prior injunction that had kept Textor in control, not to remove him immediately from management. (uol.com.br) The filing also says an email was left out of the record in a way that changed the meaning of the Cayman transaction. Textor told ge that Ares, the creditor group controlling Eagle, omitted the message showing the transfer could not proceed without Ares approval. (uol.com.br) (ge.globo.com) That matters because the current order is provisional, not a final merits ruling. The tribunal’s own decision says Textor’s removal will be reanalyzed after the company’s submission on April 29, 2026. (ge.globo.com) For now, Durcésio Mello is running the company as interim director-general. He resigned his seat on the board to take the post, and Botafogo said the football department’s day-to-day work would continue. (poder360.com.br) The dispute sits inside a wider fight between Textor and Ares that has been running since last year over debt, control rights and the Eagle Football group structure. Textor told ge that Ares lawyers misled arbitrators; Eagle’s position, as reflected in the ruling, is that his recent acts breached governance rules. (ge.globo.com 1) (ge.globo.com 2) The next hinge point is April 29. If arbitrators accept Botafogo SAF’s arguments, Textor could return to management or the panel could narrow the order that pushed him out four days earlier. (uol.com.br) (ge.globo.com)