Soccer club where 10 youths died under scrutiny

Under mounting criticism Saturday, Brazilian soccer club Flamengo defended its management of the training ground where a fire killed 10 of its academy players — all between 14 and 16 years old — at a dormitory that had been registered with the city as a parking lot.

Rio de Janeiro’s city hall said in a statement that Flamengo was fined 31 times because of infractions at the Ninho do Urubu training ground, which had to be closed in October 2017. The club did not pay 21 of those fines.

The current permit issued for the grounds is valid until March 8.

Earlier, city hall also said the sleeping quarters where Flamengo’s players died was irregularly licensed as a parking lot.

“The lodging area hit by the fire is not included in the last project approved by our licensing,” it said. “There are no registers of new licensing requests for that area as a sleeping quarter.”