STJD · History

The Superior Tribunal de Justiça Desportiva (STJD), Brazil’s Superior Court of Sports Justice, is the highest body of sports justice in Brazilian football. It rules on disciplinary offences committed in the national and interstate competitions run by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), which funds it, and hears appeals against rulings by the state Sports Justice Courts (TJDs). Although the confederation pays for it, the code that governs it defines it as an autonomous body. Its decisions have changed standings, titles and relegations in the Campeonato Brasileiro.

Origins and legal basis

Brazilian sports justice predates the STJD in its present form. In 1962 the former National Sports Council approved the Brazilian Football Disciplinary Code, split into a procedural part and a penal part and applied to football alone. The list of presidents published by the court begins in 1946 with Luiz Gallotti. The 1988 Constitution gave sports justice constitutional standing in Article 217: ordinary courts only hear cases on discipline and competitions once the sports bodies have been exhausted. Law 9,615 of 1998, known as the Pelé Law, set out how these bodies are organised.

The next legal milestone came in 2003. Following the Fan Protection Statute, Law 10,671 of 15 May 2003, the National Sports Council approved the Brazilian Code of Sports Justice (CBJD) through Resolution No. 1 of 23 December 2003. The text was amended by Resolutions 06/2006, 29/2009 and 37/2013, which reworked penalties and procedures.

Structure and procedure

Cases reach the STJD either through charges brought by the court’s prosecutors or on appeal from the state TJDs. First-instance hearings are held by Disciplinary Committees of five judges each, known as auditors and elected by the members of the full court. The Full Court, with nine auditors, is the final instance of national sports justice. Seats are shared out by sector: two members appointed by the CBF, two by the Brazilian Bar Association, two by the national federation of professional players, two by the clubs and one by the body representing referees.

The court’s president can grant suspensive effect to first-instance rulings, allowing a suspended player to keep playing while an appeal is pending. The CBJD also allows part of a suspension to be converted into a fine or a donation. Once the Brazilian sports route is exhausted, parties may turn to international arbitration and, finally, to the ordinary courts.

The 2005 annulment

The court’s best-known case came out of the 2005 refereeing scandal known as the “Máfia do Apito”. When referee Edílson Pereira de Carvalho was found to be working with gamblers, the STJD, in a ruling written by Luiz Zveiter, annulled the eleven 2005 Campeonato Brasileiro matches he had refereed and ordered them to be replayed. The decision rested on Article 275 of the code then in force and also wiped out the goals and cards from those games. Challenges reached the ordinary courts, but in November 2005 the Superior Court of Justice rejected a request to keep the original results. The matches were replayed and that year’s title went to Corinthians.

Ineligible players and racism

In December 2013 the court heard the case of Portuguesa fielding midfielder Héverton, who was serving a ban, in the closing round of the Brasileiro against Grêmio on 8 December. Portuguesa were docked four points, dropping from 48 to 44 and from 12th to 17th place, and were relegated; the Full Court upheld the penalty in an extraordinary session. Fluminense, who had finished in the relegation zone, kept their Série A place. In the same period Flamengo were also docked four points for fielding André Santos while ineligible, with no effect on the table. In January 2014 a São Paulo court, acting on a fan’s lawsuit, temporarily suspended the effects of the ruling.

On 3 September 2014 the 3rd Disciplinary Committee expelled Grêmio from the Copa do Brasil over racist abuse aimed at Santos goalkeeper Aranha by home supporters. The auditors described the sanction as educational, while the defence argued that only five people out of a crowd of around 30,000 had taken part. The penalty also carried a fine and became a reference point in the debate over clubs’ liability for their fans’ behaviour.

Match-fixing

From 2023 the STJD began trying players charged over betting schemes investigated by prosecutors in the state of Goiás. On 1 June 2023 defender Eduardo Bauermann was banned for twelve matches in one of those cases.