Retiring To Increasingly Strange Lands

The practice of veteran stars seeing out their careers in lesser leagues isn’t exactly new, nor is it rare. The Middle East has been using oil-soaked checks to lure eager foreigners for years. And yet, this weekend might just take the cake for odd locations and trail-blazing new football landscapes. Rivaldo, no stranger to strange lands, is off to Angola, while India is launching a short-season league with enough star power that they could compile could be a charity friendly. Which would then send out the Zidane/Figo bat signal.

Rivaldo is going to Angola for, obviously, the language. Which is why Franck Ribery will one day sign for Seychelles FC.

But best of all, fans in Angola are ’skeptical’. Skeptical. You’d have to believe Rivaldo’s cremated ashes could still make the bench in Angola’s domestic league.

Meanwhile, Indian star power.

India is hoping to boost the popularity of football by launching a new league that will feature veteran players like Robert Pires and Fabio Cannavaro. A six-team league modeled in part by cricket’s successful Indian Premier League is set to begin next month, and will also feature players like former Liverpool forward Robbie Fowler and Argentina’s Hernan Crespo alongside local talent.

The league is organized by Celebrity Management Group, which has signed a 30-year agreement with the Kolkata-based Indian Football Association to organize the event.

The inaugural tournament will be played in the eastern state of West Bengal from Feb. 25 to April 8. Organizers hope the competition will attract fans who currently follow European clubs because of the lack of good domestic teams.

Like in the IPL, the league will hold an auction where the teams can bid for players, with each franchise allowed a budget of $2.5 million in the first year, Goswami said.

Each team will be allowed to have up to four foreign players and a foreign coach. Other players who have signed up include former Spain striker Fernando Morientes, Portugal’s Maniche and Argentine defender Juan Pablo Sorin.

I’m going to guess that budget is for the auction alone – wages will be an entirely different story.

Nice to see someone give Maniche another chance, though.

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Category: Africa, Asia