On November 29th, Flamengo officially announced a partnership with CEU (Centro Esportivo União) at a press conference in the state capital of Ceará. The main objectives of the agreement are to leverage the infrastructure of the northeastern club, which recently moved up a division in the local state championship and improves in every aspect each season, to develop, observe, and recruit young talent for the Mais Querido youth teams. The club will hire a technical observer to lead the club's technical coordination and recruit talent throughout the northeastern region. Additionally, there will be exchanges between professionals from both clubs, with lectures, classes, and knowledge sharing. 

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"The CEU board presented us with the partnership plan to recruit new talent from across the Northeast region. Using the terms of this proposal as a starting point, we established the criteria for the partnership to take place. There will be an exchange between the clubs' professionals. Our expectations are the best possible. The Northeast region, like all regions of Brazil, is rich in talent, but lacks training and infrastructure. We will invest in the Training Center, hire competent professionals, identify athletes, and develop them. By 2018, I'm certain we will reap the benefits of this partnership, which can be transferred to Flamengo's youth teams in Rio de Janeiro," stated Luiz Carlos, recruitment coordinator for Mais Querido.

In addition to Luiz Carlos, Flamengo's Market and Intelligence Manager, Marcos Biasotto, and CEU president Carlos Lima were also present at the press conference to present the partnership. Flamengo's goal is to be more active in all regions of the country, always adopting this same partnership model. According to CEU's management, Flamengo's philosophy and work methodology will be incorporated into the club.

"For us at Centro Esportivo União, it's a great pleasure to partner with a club like Flamengo, a world-renowned team. And the fact that our project was accepted by them is something that makes us very happy and honored," said Carlos Lima, president of the Ceará club.

"Our idea is to establish partnerships where there are good player development and clubs with good infrastructure. CEU is one of these clubs. They presented us with a project with good infrastructure, and they become official partners of Flamengo in the Northeast region. They will use the Flamengo brand only for recruitment. And the athletes there will be preferred by Flamengo. We understand that we can contribute internally with methodology, athlete development, recruitment and contributing to the development of the club, which aims to reach the first division of the Ceará Championship and the divisions of the Brazilian Championship. They can count on us to achieve their goals," concluded Luiz Carlos.