Part 3/7:
Prior to the official announcement, Flamengo reached out in an effort to highlight the negative impact of playing in such high temperatures. José Boto, the director of Flamengo’s football department, indicated that playing in these conditions compromises not only the health of the athletes but also the caliber of the game itself. He emphasized that it is a collective issue faced by all clubs, stating, “We cannot exhaust our best players so early in the season while subjecting them to conditions that are not suitable for football.”