25 years ago, under the sponsorship of an Italian company, Palmeiras formed a star-studded universe team, but the team's glory did not last long.
The striker combination of Palmeiras and Rivaldo in 1994 was Edmundo, no team in the domestic league can prevent such a combination of attacks. Palmeiras scored a total of 58 goals throughout the season, and the "Trident" arranged 38 of them. It is not an exaggeration to call Palmeiras a Galacticos. They also have Sampaio, Mazzinho and Zinjo in the midfield, and even Roberto Carlos in the defense. In July of the same year, the Brazilian national team won the United States World Cup and won their fourth Remit Cup.
However, just five years ago, Palmeiras was so downhearted to fight for relegation. The team was almost relegated twice in three years. What caused the situation at that time?
- Italy's largest dairy giant settled in
For Palmeiras fans, the 90s were like a dream Beautiful. In 1992, the club signed a three-year contract with the Italian company Parmalat. The dairy giant is run by Calisto Tanzi and has been in sports sponsorship since the mid-1970s. The best example of
is their relationship with the Serie A team Parma. Parma signed Thomas Brolin, Fastino Asprira and Gianfranco Zola under the sponsorship of Parmalat. , All this is to promote the company's rapid development.
Parmalat then planned to export its dairy products to the South American market at the same time. Sponsoring a local Brazilian team to enhance their international influence, in the end they chose Palmeiras. The main reason is because Palmeiras was founded by four Italian immigrants, in addition to the club also has very enthusiastic fans and good infrastructure. Of course, there is another factor that cannot be ignored. Palmeiras has achieved nothing in the previous 17 seasons. The short time results will undoubtedly make them the focus of Brazil.
- Huge transfer budget, 1.2 million sky-high price sign "The Beast"
Parmalat modernized the board of directors after moving in The transformation, first redesigned the team uniforms, and arranged for the owner's cron Brunolo to take charge of the club's finances. The most significant change is that Palmeiras received a huge transfer budget, which was almost unimaginable before. At the beginning of 1993, Palmeiras signed Roberto Carlos, Antonio Carlos, Edilson and Edmundo the "Beast". Edmundo’s transfer fee was even as high as $1.2 million. This was a sky-high price at the time.
Palmeiras did not expect that this was just the starting point of the team's aggressive purchase. After that, Parmalat sent Brunoro to Argentina to negotiate with Maradona. Unfortunately, the king is not willing to go to Brazil to play.
In less than a year, Edmundo and his teammates conquered the entire league. When Rivaldo joined in 1994, Palmeiras was already Brazil’s strongest team . At that time, the team's coach was Van der Lai Lusenborg, who played a 4-2-2-2 formation. Under his leadership, the team showed a free-spirited offensive style. It is no exaggeration to say that the overall strength of this Palmeiras is second only to the 80sEarly flamenco of Zico and Santos of Pele.
After winning the league for two consecutive years, Palmalat became Parmalat Melas perfectly. Marketing tools. However, just after that championship, the team began to fall apart. Edmundo joined the Flamengo team to realize his desire to cooperate with Romario, Rivaldo landed on the European continent to start his brilliant career, Sampaio and Mazzinho also left the team one after another, gold The generation was dissolved.
In 1999, under the leadership of Scolari, Palmeiras won the first Libertadores Cup championship in team history. The fans seemed to have seen the glory of the past. But the talented cosmic team in 1994 is gone, and Parmalat has also begun to gradually reduce its investment in the club.
- False prosperity, Parmalat filed for bankruptcy
After the lack of star players, Palmelas' performance began to decline sharply . In 2002, ten years after the Italian sponsor Parmalat acquired the team, Palmeiras was relegated from Brazil's top league. On December 19, 2003, Parmalat's financial scandal was exposed. The company's share price plunged 66% that day. Due to its inability to fill the financial black hole of more than 10 billion euros, Parmalat finally filed for bankruptcy. Although it was sponsored by another Italian company FIAT, compared with the huge sponsorship of Parmalat, this is obviously insignificant. From the top league championship to the fight for relegation, fans are naturally unacceptable.
Fortunately, God is merciful and will return in July 2018. The former Evergrande coach led the team from sixth to the top of the list, and eventually helped the team win twice in three years. After the 23rd round of the Brazilian League this season, Palmeiras ranked second behind Flamengo by 5 points. They still have a long way to go if they want to reshape their glory in 1994.
