:strip_icc()/s.glbimg.com/es/ge/f/original/2019/12/14/whatsapp_image_2019-12-14_at_16.07.32.jpeg?fit=%2C&ssl=1)
The former president of Corinthians Alberto Dualib died this Tuesday, aged 101. The cause was not reported. On June 13, 2021, he had been admitted to Hospital Santa Catarina, in São Paulo, and had been monitored ever since.
–
In an official statement, Corinthians lamented the death and also informed that, widow of Elvira Real Dualib since 2011, Dualib is leaving behind three children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
–
Also former president of Corinthians, Andrés Sanchez lamented the death in a post on social media:
–
Dualib presided over Corinthians for 14 years, between 1993 and 2007. He resigned from his position during an impeachment process at the Club’s Board of Directors and had his name excluded from the membership in the year following his resignation, after being investigated and denounced by the Public Ministry Federal.
–
Accusations of money laundering, conspiracy, embezzlement and issuing of cold bills were weighing against him and directors of the former MSI Group, led by Iranian agent Kia Joorabchian, a former partner of Corinthians.
–
In 2013, Dualib was sentenced in second instance by the São Paulo Court of Justice for embezzling R$1.4 million from Corinthians’ coffers. It appealed in freedom until the extinction of the penalty by prescription, in the Superior Court of Justice, in 2018.
–
Before presenting the resignation letter, in September 2007, Dualib accumulated titles and became the president with the most cups in the history of Corinthians. There were 12 important achievements in the period: five São Paulo Championships (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003), three Brazilians (1998, 1999 and 2005), two Copa do Brasil (1995 and 2002), a Rio-São Paulo League (2002 ) and a Club World Cup (2000) – as well as a Bandeirantes Cup (1994) and a Ramon de Carranza Trophy (1996).
–
– Corinthians was ungrateful to a man who did everything for the club. Instead of being chased, I should be honored for everything I’ve done. No team in the world has a headquarters like ours. In 14 years, we have won 14 important titles and have rebuilt the club in its greatness. We built a memorial that is the envy of any club in the world. Where people step in Parque São Jorge there is a work by Dualib – said the former president, soon after being expelled from the club.
–
–
Alberto Dualib, former president of Corinthians — Photo: Personal archive
– –
But he was also the main responsible for the saddest moment in Corinthians history, the relegation to Serie B of the Brazilian, at the end of 2007. Financially, the club saw the debt take off and reach, for the first time, the R$ mark 100 million – closed that year with R$ 101.6 million, with annual revenue of R$ 133.7 million.
–
It was during Dualib’s administration that the partnership with MSI was born, which took Corinthians to the police news, with cinematographic scenes of police vehicles invading the club’s headquarters to seize computers and documents, or with officials tapped with authorization from the Justice and leaked audios in the press.
–
–
Alberto Dualib with Carlos Alberto Parreira — Photo: Milton Michida/Agência Estado
– –
The partnership with MSI was the third sewn by Dualib at Corinthians. The first, with Banco Excel, lasted only one year, between 1997 and 1998, and had the hiring of former striker Túlio Maravilha as its flagship.
–
The second and most successful was with the American fund Hicks Muse Tate & Furst. With the HMTF, a ten-year contract was signed, starting in the second half of 1999, and the team that won the 2000 World Cup was assembled. The partnership, however, was broken up in 2001 because the fund was dissatisfied with the return of the investment made in Brazilian football – there was also a partnership with the Cruzeiro of the then president Zezé Perrella.
–
Alberto Dualib was born on December 14, 1919, in Glicério, in the Araçatuba region and about 500km from the capital of São Paulo – the same city as president Jair Bolsonaro (no party), who was registered in Campinas. In the resignation letter, the former Corinthians president boasted of his life dedicated to the club. He joined in 1946, at the age of 27, took his first managerial position at Corinthians in 1960 and became president in 1993, at the age of 73.
–
–
Alberto Dualib with the 2000 Club World Cup — Photo: Eduardo Nicolau/Agência Estado
– –
He was a businessman, had five companies registered while he was president, and he said he had invested his own money in the club a few times to hire or pay back the cast’s back wages.
–
As in the hiring of Marcelinho Carioca, one of the greatest idols in the club’s history, at the end of 1993, the first year of his first term. Although he never showed supporting documents, he claimed that he had funded – or “donated” – around R$ 12 million to the club.
–
In the last months of his life, he lived in an apartment in Vila Madalena, West Zone of São Paulo, always accompanied by a caregiver. The club’s memories were limited to photos, paintings, and posters taped to the wall. Or the memory of titles and scandals.
–
In 2013, he visited the Neo Química Arena still under construction and was also at CT Joaquim Grava at the invitation of former president Andrés Sanchez. Dualib was moved and said he even cried during the visit.
–
–
Andrés Sanchez, André Luiz Oliveira and Alberto Dualib at the Arena still under construction — Photo: Personal Archive
– – – –
