The Laranja Mecânica Arapongas Sports Club enters a select group of clubs in Brazil by conquering the Certificate of Training Club (CCF). Regulated in January 2012 by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), the CCF is a mechanism provided for in the Pelé law that encourages national sports confederations, in the case of football the CBF, to grant a certification recognizing clubs and affiliated sports entities as training clubs if they meet all requirements.

In Paraná, besides Laranja Mecânica Arapongas, only Coritiba, Athletico Paranaense, Londrina, Azuriz, and PSTC hold the CCF, and in Brazil, only 52 organizations out of 850 have such a certificate.
To obtain the certificate, clubs must present a series of evidence that they provide adequate conditions for player development, such as:

– providing athletes with a training program in the youth categories, as well as the additional educational and medical requirements mandated by law;

– ensuring educational, medical, psychological, and dental assistance, as well as food and transportation;

– maintaining accommodations and sports facilities in adequate conditions;

– keeping a body of specialized and qualified professionals for the training of young athletes;

– adapting the training period (not exceeding four hours) to the school calendar hours; and

– proving participation annually in official competitions in at least two categories.

In return, the certificate offers a series of benefits and rights to the clubs:

Celebration of the first employment contract

The training club will have the right to enter into the first professional contract with its athlete, starting from 16 (sixteen) years of age, with a duration that cannot be less than 3 (three) months or more than 3 (three) years.

The training club may receive compensation up to 200 (two hundred) times the verified expenses incurred in training the athlete, in cases where the athlete chooses not to sign the first professional contract or if they join another team.

Preference in renewing the first employment contract

The training club holding the first special sports employment contract with the athlete will have the right of preference for the first renewal of this contract, which cannot exceed 3 (three) years, except for matching offers from a third party (Art. 99, §7 of the General Sports Law).

Possibility of signing a training contract

The training club may enter into a training contract with an athlete between 14 (fourteen) and under 20 (twenty) years of age, providing for payment of training scholarships freely agreed upon between the parties. The training club will have the right to claim compensation if the athlete joins another club during the validity of the training contract.

The Certificate of Training Club is an essential tool for football clubs that invest heavily in youth categories. Without it, investments become riskier, as the institution loses the right to seek compensation for training if the athlete, without a professional link, transfers to another team in Brazil without the agreement of the training club.