Fluminese have been saved from relegation to the Second division of Brazilian football today at a tribunal in Rio today.
Four time league champions, Fluminese, will be allowed to stay in the top divison after Portuguesa sent out an ineligible player in the final round of the Championship.
The player, Heverton, was sent off in a pervious round and was handed a two game suspension.
Portuguesa have been docked four points and see’s them slip under Fluminese in the league table, after the 2012 champions found themselves in the relegation zone, finishing in 17th place.
The tribunal was beamed out live on many sport channels in Brazil, with fans of both clubs protesting outside the tribunal building and could be heard chanting.
“This is absurd. If it was the other way around, would they relegate Fluminense?” Portuguesa President Manuel da Lupa said, reports the New Zealand Herald. “It’s terrible for something like this to happen in the country hosting the World Cup just a few months from now. We finished the league in 12th place but in the end will have to play in the second division. This is immoral.”
Fluminese wanted justice after the event, and this is what the clubs lawyer had to say: “The rules have to be followed, it’s simple,” Fluminense lawyer Mario Bittencourt said. “The decision can’t be made with emotion, only with reason.”
Fluminese won their last round of the Brazilian Championship but it was to no avail.
