By Ricardo Setyon
Ocotber 27 – A pornstar called Stick Kid. The only ever Brazilian astronaut. A series of sexy women that adopted artisitic nicknames of fruits (Pear Maria, little strawberry), all linked to their body formats. A Hollywood-based plastic surgeon, born in Brazil. A blind comedian. Three Big Brother reality TV Show winners. Five or six local country singers. A Volleyball World Champion and a famous boxer. And 12 ex-football players and coaches. They all have two things in common: they are famous and they all failed to get enough votes to be winners in the recent elections in Brazil.
Among those who weren’t elected are, Roberto Dinamite, the greatest scorer ever for Vasco da Gama, of Rio de Janeiro, and the president of the club today. With his goals for Vasco da Gama, and for the national team in 1978, Dinamite have been on the political scenario for years. But the relegation of Vasco da Gama in 2013, was a disaster for him.
Marcelinho Carioca, one of the idols of Corinthians, the most popular team in Sao Paulo, also did not make it. Having been elected in the last vote, this time the star is out.
Washington, a striker for Fluminense and Sao Paulo, and a star in Japan, became famous for his goals for the National Team. He was even more famous for the fact that he scored 411 goals in the Brazilian National League, putting alongsde the likes of Pelé, Zico, Romário and Roberto Dinamite, as the only players to score more than 400 goals in the league.
After two terms in givernment, Washington did not make it back.
Stories such as the ones of Dinamite, Marcelinho and Washington, are emotional, strong, interesting, and…quite common.
Trying to maintain status after having been a football idol is not uncommon in any football culture. But in Brazil, being a politician comes with some attractive privileges.
One of the privileges is an exemption from a law in Brazil that is actually working: the law that obliges husbands to pay alimony to their wives.
In Brazil husbands that are accused of non-payment of alimonygo straight to jail.
With politicians, it works in a different way. Due to the so called “Privileged Forum” that politicians are entitled to, the very same law, simply does not work.
That does not mean that every sportsman trying to get elected, wants to runaway from prison. But, being a politician in Brazil, has this advantage, plus fame and all expenses included.
Every election in this huge country attract footballers, coaches and managers, who compete with other famous people for elected position.
Take the case of Andres Sanchez. Once an unknown activist in Corinthians, he went all the way to become president of the team. Under his management, Corinthians reached its pinnacle as a club: winning the FIFA Club World Championship, after conquering the Libertadores Cup of South America. In Japan, in 2012, they beat Chelsea 1- 0.
Sanchez became more important then the players themselves. Already strong within the National Football Federation, Sanchez had several positions at the CBF.
And the cherry on the cake, was that under Sanchez, after 100 years, Corinthians finally fulfilled their biggest dream: to have their own arena.
He left the presidency to take care of the build of the new Arena. After multiple scandals and some extremely tense moments, the Itaquera Arena in Sao Paulo, belonging solely to Corinthians, was the stage for the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
After a series of scandals and police investigations into irregularities around finances of the new stadium, Sanchez could not return to Corinthians, neither he was accepted at the CBF. So with no football job available, politics seemed a good path to take.
With almost 170.000 votes, Sanchez will become a member of the National Parliament of Brazil.
With his name cleared just days after the election, Sanchez remains a mystery, as to how he and whatever his politics are can be a benefit to the country.
Maybe the most representative side of that strange link between footballers and politics in Brazil, is Romario and Bebeto.
The duo, who were responsible for most of the goals that brought the fourth World Cup title to Brazil in 1994, are now fully committed to politics.
Bebeto was the first to understand that politics could be a safe way to survive the Brazilian reality in the best of ways.
Under attack on various fronts, with court demands for lack of payments on apartments, by the end of 2010, he managed to get elected to the Rio de Janeiro State Parliament.
All accusations, investigations and inquiries, were dropped, and no accusations are linked to him today.
His fame and success keep him alive, and this time, Bebeto reached 61.000 votes, and will remain as a member of the Rio de Janeiro State Parliament, for a new term of four years.
Romario, on the other hand, had a very troubled and tense end to his playing career. He tried to coach, with not such a great success.
One of the four best striker in football ever (according to IFFHS), the star of Brazil, PSV and Barcelona insists he scored more than 1,000 goals.
But the third best striker of the Brazil National Team (behind only Pelé and Ronaldo), Romario was married 3 times. He has six children with four different women, including the three wives.
All his ventures were successful for short periods (such as Cafe do Gol, a resto-bar in Rio), but then all went bust. In 2009, he even spent a night in jail, following the accusation of not paying alimony to one of this wives.
As a sport tv pundit, Romario had a short career.
So in 2009 he joined a political party, and surprisingly, being completely inexperienced in politics, Romario was elected to the national parliament of Brazil. He is so famous in Brazil, that he was elected with the 6th biggest number of votes in the whole country!
He was very active on two fronts, firstly he generated public and media attention by proposing a better set of laws for the benefit of intellectually and physically disabled children (he has a daughter with downs syndrome).
Secondly he has been outspoken on football and sport corruption as a whole.
No other politician has talked so much and so accurately about the wrongdoings around the World Cup expenses and projects that were never to become concrete, but were promised to the people.
He relentlessly attacked FIFA and the Local Organising Committee. He became the voice of the millions of Brazilians that were against the country staging the FIFA event. Romario became more popular than he had been on the pitch. A lone voice in the parliament, but extremely popular in the streets.
His ambition grew and after just one term as a member of the Country’s Parliament, Romario changed his status, and became a candidate for the highest office in the country: The Senate House of Brazil. Where only one person represents each state of the Republic.
The result was overwhelming: Romario was chosen as the man that will represent Rio de Janeiro State in the Senate.
A record 4.6 million votes secured his position. Of former footballers, only Pelé and Zico have reached a higher status. Pelé was minister of Sports, while Zico was the National Secretary of Sports. The main difference, is that unlike Romario, both Pelé and Zico, reached their positions, without having a single vote from the Brazilian people!
Other former players have made it into the political life of the country. Brazil now will have Danrlei, a goalkeeper for Gremio Porto Alegre in the 90s, representing his state, Rio Grande do Sul, at the National Parliament. With more than 40,000 votes, Danrlei had national coach Felipe Scolari as his most important sponsor and public supporter.
In the same area of Southern Brazil, a very famous goalscorer, Jardel, was elected getting more then 40,000 votes.
Jardel, was a top star at Porto, in Portugal. He was also an idol at Galatasaray and for Sporting Lisbon. He was the top scorer for Gremio, when they won the Libertadores Cup in 1995. He twice won the Golden Boot in Europe, while being the top scorer in Europe for three years in a row!
He played in clubs in Italy, Spain, England, Argentina, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Australia and even Saudi Arabia.
Injuries, weight problems, and marital scandals, brought Jardel to depression and he even confessed to having used Class A drugs.
But now, a whole new career in politics has opened for the man that scored an amazing 266 goals in 274 matches.
The list of Brazil’s elected sportsmen and women includes an ex-referee, an ex- Minister of Sports (sacked after heading all works for the World Cup…) and two local idols: Goalkeeper Joao Leite, of Minas Gerais State, and Bobô, an icon from Bahia.
Even two club presidents, from CRB and Sampaio Correia, were elected in the northeast area of the country.
Among those that will not have a political career, are 13 ex-footballers. The most famous is Paulo Rink, ex-star of Bayer Leverkusen, FC Nurnberg and a German national team player for three years.
Alongside Rink, is Raul Plassman, considered one of the best goalkeepers in Brazil’s history, and a very respected TV pundit. He was a star for Flamengo and Cruzeiro. He also did not elect himself.
Other sportsmen and women, that tried to enter political life included three professional volleyball players and coaches, one boxer, one MMA fighter, two Serie A football club presidents, one professional basketball coach, one football coach and even a masseur of a third division team in Brazil, who became famous, for invading the pitch and preventing the opposition team from scoring a goal by kicking the ball away. He was banned from all professional games but tried to find in politics an escape from poverty.
Just days before the final and decisive elections for president of Brazil, the candidate Aécio Neves, who is putting up a strong challenge to Dilma Rousseff, has Ronaldo (pictured with Neves) frequently appearing at his side, and tweeting his support for the candidate.
It is not clear if Ronaldo will have a position in government, if Aécio Neves gets elected…
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734877018labto1734877018ofdlr1734877018owedi1734877018sni@n1734877018oytes1734877018.odra1734877018cir1734877018