Calling All Brazilians To Uzbekistan

Go ahead, name one club in the Uzbek League beside the one just below your line of sight. Can you? Doubt it. And if you can and don’t live within the country’s borders, it’s time for a hobby.

FC Bunyodkor, that club which made a big theatrical production out of Samuel Eto’o (and half of Barca, for that matter) this summer and coughed up a reported $14m for 2 years of an elderly Rivaldo, have swooped for another legendary Brazilian, this time broadening their horizons to the coaching position, nabbing the man they call Zico. Though I’m sure the Uzbeki club would rather have had the duo in their playing primes, it’s a bountiful consolation to say the least for a league which next to nobody cares about.

Rivaldo’s understandable, especially when rereading those figures (can only imagine Rivaldo’s reaction when he was told “Hey, you hit the tapioca pudding stage of your career about 6 years ago, but we’d still like to pay you like a superstar in his prime. That alright?”), but Zico seems like a head scratcher. In coaching terms he’s relatively young (55) and Fenerbahce was his first real big club job, one which was an unequivocal success. Won the title in 2007 and advanced past the CL group stages for the first time in Fenerbahce’s history, only losing to roman Abramovich’s wallet in the quarters. That’s pretty substantial to say the least.

So logic would dictate that Zico, who simply let his contract in Turkey run out, would be lining up a big time job somewhere in Western Europe. Newcastle was mentioned, but nothing ever came of it. Now it’s nearly October and he’s looking at a 2007-08 season on the sidelines. I can think of worse ways to spend this year than teaming up with Rivaldo for a new foreign adventure while Forbes sends a team of journalists to cover your every paycheck. Perhaps a shrewd move in the end by the elder legend, though I’d be shocked were he to spend more than one, at most two, years before a true club of note on the continent comes calling.

But more than the Brazilian legends, there’s something very impressive about all this. We’re writing about an Uzbekistan football club. For the second time in roughly a month. And not because they offered 12 miles of pipeline for another team’s star player, or that a disgruntled player dropped trow and defecated on the center circle in a midgame protest, but because they’re actually bringing in some football people worth talking about. They wanted to make a PR splash while presumably dominating the nation’s football? Mission accomplished.

And it doesn’t seem like Bunyodkor is done, either, as they clearly have the money to get things done and done with a bit of flair. So who’s the next Brazilian legend to jet off for an extended Uzbekistan holiday?

I hear Ronaldo’s still looking for a job…

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Category: Asia