Flamengo's youth academy director uses stereotype about Africans and apologizes

"This issue is quite problematic because it updates the idea from the slavery era, when Black people were seen as physically privileged precisely to work harder and not to think, like animals. The exploitation of the workforce was also justified by this. On the other hand, the premise is reaffirmed. Positions that require intellectual skills are reserved for white people: presidents, directors, coaches, the number 10s," wrote psychologist Fernanda Lima, in a text reproduced in 2020 on the Observatory website, originally published on the Peleja website.

The Flamengo director later apologized for his remarks. Alfredo is Portuguese and arrived at Flamengo at the beginning of the season.

Alfredo's full response at the press conference

What the Brazilian athlete has, perhaps nowhere else in the world. The gift, the magic, the irreverence, the ball becoming part of the body. Then there are other parts of the globe that have other strengths. Africa has physical strengths unlike almost any other part of the world. The mental aspect, we have to look to other parts of Europe and the globe.

"There's a reality in Brazil where they thought Europeans came to Brazil to buy strength, tall, big, strong athletes. If we look at the reality of Brazil, there are rules and exceptions. The exception was Ronaldo, who had everything. But the rule is that we have the Neymars of the world, players who are frail but who carry the ball like a part of their body, who find solutions on the field like no one else. Who can get past physical playmakers. And Brazilians began to emphasize physical fitness, wanting very strong, fast, vibrant players."

"Europe doesn't ask for that from Brazilians; it asks for what they don't have there: magic. Often, when working out at 12, 13, or 14 in a gym—pardon the expression, for me it's even a crime. We're not just damaging what's good about them, we're taking away their magic. The world has changed more in the last 10 years than in the last 50. Today, if a 14-year-old boy takes a selfie in front of a bulging mirror for Instagram, he'll have a lot of followers. If that boy didn't have that bulge, he'd be more agile, he'd go after his opponents, quickly. That Brazilian athlete we're used to seeing. They stopped doing that to turn boys and teenagers into robots in gyms. That's what Boto wanted to explain. Europe doesn't come looking for that in Brazil; they come looking for talent, magic. I don't pay to see a big, strong guy, but to see something different. We want to recapture that, and we can be a pioneer in that at the biggest club in Brazil."