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Pedro Lourenço, founder of Supermercados BH, which grossed R$ 25.72 billion in 2025 and ranks 4th in the ABRAS Ranking, acquired Cruzeiro’s SAF from Ronaldo and invested R$ 169 million in Gerson, in addition to hiring Artur Jorge as coach to transform the Brazilian club into a rival for Flamengo and Palmeiras.
The owner of one of Brazil’s largest supermarket chains bought a Brazilian club and is spending hundreds of millions to transform it into a powerhouse capable of rivaling Flamengo and Palmeiras. Pedro Lourenço, founder of Supermercados BH, closed a deal with Ronaldo to acquire Cruzeiro’s SAF and, in a short time, injected resources that reflect the wealth level of an entrepreneur whose chain grossed R$ 25.72 billion in 2025, a value approximately 41 times greater than the operational revenue of the Brazilian club itself, which ended the year with R$ 599.17 million. The disproportion between Supermercados BH’s revenue and Cruzeiro’s income is precisely what allows Lourenço to invest at a level that few Brazilian football executives can match.
The most emblematic signing illustrates the scale of investment in the Brazilian club. Gerson, a midfielder who played for Flamengo, was brought to Cruzeiro for 27 million euros, equivalent to approximately R$ 169 million at the time’s exchange rate, a transfer that demonstrated to the market that the project led by Lourenço was not an empty promise. “Gerson is a guy who plays in several positions. We closed the group, a strong group that we have, and we will continue with this group,” declared the owner of the Brazilian club, signaling that investment in reinforcements would not be limited to a single impactful signing.
Why Pedro Lourenço is able to compete with Flamengo and Palmeiras
The financial base supporting Cruzeiro’s project as a competitive Brazilian club is Supermercados BH. The chain founded by Lourenço holds the fourth position in the ABRAS Ranking 2026 with a revenue of R$ 25.72 billion, a level that places the entrepreneur among the country’s largest retailers and provides investment capacity that, in football, translates into signing power that rivals like Flamengo and Palmeiras took decades of professional management to build. Cruzeiro, under Lourenço’s administration as SAF, shortens this process by directly linking the Brazilian club’s financial capacity to the solidity of a conglomerate that is growing above the supermarket sector average.
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The numerical comparison is revealing. Supermercados BH’s revenue is about 41 times higher than Cruzeiro’s operational revenue, a proportion that means Lourenço can absorb investments in the Brazilian club as a minimal fraction of the chain’s revenue without compromising the operation that sustains the entire project. Flamengo and Palmeiras are predominantly financed by their own revenues such as ticket sales, broadcasting rights, and sponsorships, a model that imposes a natural ceiling on investment. Lourenço’s Cruzeiro operates with a different logic: the ceiling is defined by the owner’s willingness to transfer resources from a retail empire to a sports project.
The coach Pedro Lourenço chose to make the Brazilian club fight at the top
The hiring of Artur Jorge as Cruzeiro’s coach is a central piece of Lourenço’s plan for the Brazilian club. The Portuguese coach, who won the 2025 Libertadores with Botafogo, arrived at Cruzeiro after the payment of a R$ 15 million termination fee and quickly received a contract renewal until 2030, a long-term commitment that demonstrates the intention to build a sustainable project instead of betting on immediate results. “Pedrinho,” as Lourenço is called in the sports world, explained that the decision to secure the coach for five years is based on the difficulty of finding professionals of this level available in the market.
“It’s difficult to find a professional of Artur’s caliber. For us, it’s a huge privilege to have him here. And, let’s be clear, to keep him a little longer, because today everyone is after great professionals,” highlighted Lourenço in an interview with Cruzeiro TV. The contract until 2030 shields the Brazilian club against harassment from competitors who might try to poach the Libertadores-winning coach after one or two seasons of good results, a common practice in Brazilian football that interrupts projects before they reach maturity. Artur Jorge will have the time and resources to build a squad in his image, a condition that high-level coaches rarely receive in Brazil.
The squad the Brazilian club assembled to face the country’s biggest teams
In addition to Gerson and Artur Jorge, Cruzeiro brought together big names that form a competitive group to compete in the Libertadores and Brasileirão. Kaio Jorge is another reinforcement that Lourenço brought to the Brazilian club, and the set of signings forms a squad whose depth and quality approach what Flamengo and Palmeiras offer, a gap that until Lourenço’s arrival seemed insurmountable for a Brazilian club that had faced relegation and financial crisis in previous years. Cruzeiro’s reconstruction is, in itself, a recovery story that Lourenço’s investment accelerated at an unprecedented pace.
Cruzeiro’s current performance in the 2026 Libertadores is proof that the project is yielding results. The Brazilian club secured a spot in the continental tournament and now competes against the best teams in South America, a scenario that two years ago seemed unlikely for a team that had to fight its way out of Série B. For Lourenço, the Libertadores is a showcase that justifies every real invested: the return in visibility, sponsorship, and brand valuation for the Brazilian club far exceeds what Cruzeiro would generate competing only domestically.
What the Cruzeiro model reveals about the future of Brazilian clubs
Lourenço’s purchase of Cruzeiro represents a trend that is redefining national football: billionaire entrepreneurs acquiring SAFs and injecting resources that change the balance of power among Brazilian clubs. Botafogo with John Textor, Bahia with the City Group, and now Cruzeiro with Pedro Lourenço demonstrate that the club-company model with an investor owner can produce sporting results in a shorter timeframe than traditional associative management allows. The question is whether this model is sustainable in the long term or if it depends exclusively on the owner’s willingness to continue injecting money.
For Flamengo and Palmeiras, the rise of Cruzeiro as a financially powerful Brazilian club is a warning. The dominance they exercised over the last national and continental titles now faces competition from a rival that does not depend on its own revenues to invest and can accelerate the hiring cycle without waiting for organic revenue growth. Brazilian football is becoming an arena where the owner’s pocket size weighs as much as tradition and fan base, and Pedro Lourenço’s Cruzeiro is the most recent example that R$ 25 billion in supermarket revenue can buy competitiveness that decades of history alone do not guarantee.
And you, do you think the billionaire owner model is good for Brazilian football or do you prefer clubs managed by associations? Can Cruzeiro go head-to-head with Flamengo and Palmeiras? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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