Football Season Guide

Since winning the title back in 2012, Flu has only made one top half finish in Série A (6th, in 2014). Ever since, all poor performances, and getting weaker by the year. Last season it was another very poor display, despite some good ideas from Fernando Diniz in the first half of the season. Odair Hellmann is the man in charge for this next season, after a good job at Internacional. However, the competent manager will face a very tough challenge this time, as Flu's squad is considerably weaker than the ones he had at his former team. All hopes from the fans will be pointing to club legend Fred, who got back at the club after 4 seasons away. The fans' idol is now 36 and had many physical problems last season at Cruzeiro. Will he still be able to deliver? Aside the iconic striker, Flu barely brought any significant new name in for this season, a sign of the club's deep financial problems. On the way out, Caio Henrique, Allan and João Pedro are massive (but expected) losses. The team will be highly dependent on the good form of veterans like Fred, Ganso and Nené, which doesn't seem very realistic to expect, judging from late performances. There's always the youth system, but no big talent seems ready to stand out in 2020.