Denilson To Play In V-League

Following on from a crazy story I blogged about a couple of months ago about former World Class footballers moving to small leagues and clubs, here is another.

Former Brazilian international Denilson, once the world's most expensive footballer, has agreed to play for a mid-table Vietnamese side, newspapers reported on Tuesday.
A member of Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning team, Denilson, 31, will join Hai Phong Cement for the second half of the professional V-League season that begins this month, Thanh Nien newspaper said.

It said Denilson had his first practice session with the team on Monday.

African, European and Asian players have become common on Vietnamese football teams but a World Cup winner of Denilson's stature is a rarity for the country.

Neither Thanh Nien nor other newspapers said how much Denilson will be paid, and club officials could not be reached by AFP.

'I don't know anything about Vietnamese football,' Denilson told Thanh Nien, adding that football is the same everywhere.

He said a Brazilian friend introduced him to the country.

'I come to Vietnamese football with my passion,' he said, expressing a hope to play in the communist country for a long time.

Hai Phong Cement (Xi Mang Hai Phong) are currently sixth of 14 teams in the V-League.

Denilson was capped 68 times and became the world's most expensive player when he moved to Spanish side Real Betis from Sao Paulo in 1998 for 21.5 million pounds. He also played in the 1998 World Cup final, which Brazil lost to France.