Club president Rivaldo plans comeback to help Brazilian side fight relegation

 

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Don't call it a comeback: Rivaldo's hardly been gone long enough
James Benge23 June 2015

Former Brazil forward Rivaldo could be set for a footballing comeback, just over a year after the 43-year-old first brought his career to an end.

The 1999 World Player of the Year ended a 23-year playing career at Brazilian second tier side Mogi Mirim in 2014 but in his absence the Sao Paulo side have struggled, slipping to the bottom of Serie B with just three points after eight games.

Rivaldo, who is also serving as the club president, announced earlier today that he would start his comeback by making himself available for training before he considered a return to competitive action.

“After much thought and analysing the pros and cons, I have decided to join the Mogi Mirim squad,” he wrote on Facebook.

"I want my decision to help the players out of this bad phase, because I believe that our team should not be fighting against relegation. We as a team should at least be vying for the middle of the table.

Getty

I repeat that I am not coming back to play regularly, but as I am an athlete with a current contract, I want to help the players come out of this complicated situation. I stopped playing professionally 15 months ago, and if my knee is fine, I can even help in some games, but the training will help me decide."

The forward, who won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil, was dogged by knee problems at the back end of a career that took him from Angola to Uzbekistan.

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