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Tiraspol-based FC Sheriff, the winner of this year's regional Cup, now has four Brazilian players on professional contracts

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Some of the world's best football (soccer) players come from Brazil, and Transdniester wants some of them. After the arrival of a total of eight African players, now the Brazilian invasion has started.

On Sunday, two new Brazilian players participated in their first-ever match in Pridnestrovie, humiliating the team Iskra-Stali Rybnitsa 3 to 0 at Rybnitsa's "Gorodskoi" stadium, in the northern part of the country.

The players - Jose Natson and Alberto Thiago, both 22 - got their first taste of European football in Sunday's game, having just flown in from their native Brazil. They both signed five year professional contracts with FC Sheriff for undisclosed sums and will be living in Tiraspol, PMR, for the duration of the contracts.

Alberto Thiago comes to Tiraspol from Cabo Friense, in Rio de Janeiro, and plays Forward. Jose Natson comes from São Paulo Futebol Clube in Morumbi, São Paulo. He is a Defender. São Paulo FC is one of the most successful clubs in the history of Brazilian footbal, having won several titles of national and international grade including three World Championships.

On the team, the two new stars join fellow Brazilian players Leandro Farias and Fernando Pereira Walles. The success of these two Brazilians prompted FC Sheriff management to visit the South American country and sign deals with more Brazilians.

Professional players from 10 countries

Pridnestrovie, also known as Transdniester or Transnistria, currently holds the regional championship in soccer, with local team FC Sheriff Tiraspol taking first place for the sixth straight year in a row.

FC Sheriff Tiraspol was founded in 1997. It is a truly international team, sporting professional players from ten countries and three different continents: Europe, Africa and South America. With the two new Brazilians, the team now has four Brazilian soccer players, as well as eight African contract players from three different countries, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso. The rest of the players are either local or come from nearby countries such as Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Romania and Belarus. All the players live fulltime with their girlfriends and families in the FC Sheriff training compound in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie.

With the ability to make a name for itself in the world of football, Pridnestrovie now hopes to also score a few goals in the world of diplomacy. Following a successful independence referendum in September, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs will soon seek international recognition for the small country; just twice the size of Luxembourg. As Tiraspol's top football team has already shown, international integration is easy to achieve when everyone share the same goal. As the coach says: Make sure that all players are working together to win, and then language barriers or ethnic differences won't present any obstacles.

See also:
» German FIFA referee for Tiraspol's stadium [1]

On the web:
» FC Sheriff official website [2]