São Paulo may not have Crespo in charge 5 days before the return due to pending issues with Zubeldía; understand

Five days before the return of the Brazilian Championship, São Paulo still does not know whether coach Hernán Crespo will be on the pitch for the match against Flamengo , at Maracanã, in a match of the 13th round. This is because the club still has bureaucratic issues to be resolved with former coach Luis Zubeldía .

São Paulo has not yet agreed on the terms of the contract termination for Zubeldía's departure. Therefore, the Argentine's termination has not yet been published in the CBF's Daily Information Bulletin (BID) . The board, however, is confident that it will resolve the issue by the end of the week and Crespo will be regularized for the match in Rio.

The National Regulation for Registration and Transfer of Athletes provides that a new coach can only be registered by a given team after termination with another coach.

Zubeldía's departure from São Paulo was made official on June 16. Despite having qualified for the round of 16 of the Libertadores with the second best campaign in the group stage, behind only rival Palmeiras , the tricolor team went into the Club World Cup break in a worrying situation in the Brasileirão. The team is in 14th place with 12 points, just one above the relegation zone.

São Paulo's board of directors acted quickly and announced Crespo just two days after the coaching position became vacant. The 49-year-old Argentine had been without a club since leaving Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates in November.

This is Crespo's second stint at São Paulo. He coached the team for nine months in 2021. The coach played 53 matches, with 24 wins, 19 draws and 10 losses, which corresponds to a 57.23% success rate. Despite being fired due to poor performances in the Brazilian Championship that year, the coach was responsible for ending the nine-year title drought by winning the State Championship that year and, for this reason, he was always remembered fondly by the board and some fans.

Crespo has been training São Paulo for almost two weeks in preparation for the rest of the season. In his presentation on June 24, the Argentine acknowledged that the Brasileirão must be treated with "urgency" and predicted a "very tough" month for the team, with a sequence that will still include Bragantino and the derby with Corinthians .

"At São Paulo there is not much to think about. You have to be ready to play. We all have to show that we are up to the task of São Paulo, that we deserve to be in that place. It is a difficult time, as always. We have to understand that we can make mistakes, but good things can also happen because we have the material to work well. We have players who allow us to dream," he said.