Sociedade Anônima do Futebol

Sociedade Anônima do Futebol ("Football anonymous society", SAF) is a type of public limited company in Brazil. It was introduced by Law 14193/21, which sought to improve the governance and financial management of Brazilian football clubs.

Background
Until 2021 football clubs in Brazil were structured as non-profit civil associations, who were exempted from taxes, and could not be sold to investors. Law 14193/21 seeks to provide a legal framework for clubs to transition to companies, providing mechanisms such as a centralized regime for indebted clubs to pay their creditors, allowing clubs to issue CVM-regulated securities and incentivizing new investments. Other than the civil associations, some football clubs were structured as public limited companies prior to the introduction of the SAF model, such as Cuiabá Esporte Clube (later transitioned to a SAF) and Red Bull Bragantino.

The law was based on a study by the lawyers Rodrigo Monteiro de Castro and José Francisco Manssur, published in their 2016 book Futebol, Mercado e Estado (Football, Market and State), which analyzed the business structure of Brazilian football and compared it to foreign models. Afterwards, the study was presented to the National Congress in 2019 by senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), resulting in the creation of Bill 5.516/2019, authored by Pacheco.

The bill was reported to the Federal Senate by senator Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), where it was approved in 10 June 2021. It was reported to the Chamber of Deputies by congressman Fred Costa (PATRI-MG) and voted in 14 July, where it was approved with a 429-7 vote.

The bill was sanctioned by President Jair Bolsonaro in 9 August 2021, resulting in the creation of Law 14.193/2021.

List of SAFs

 * The list takes into account clubs of Série A and Série B.