Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima, FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 2002, may come to Vietnam in late November with his Brazilian club, Corinthians.

Ronaldo in Corinthians jersey.

The idea about a match between a Brazilian football club and the Vietnamese national squad was discussed at a meeting between the Brazilian Ambassador to Vietnam João Mendonca Lima Neto and senior officials of the Vietnam Football Federation on June 18.

In this meeting, VFF Chairman Nguyen Trong Hy also asked the Brazilian Embassy and the Brazilian Ministry of Sports to convey the VFF’s invitation to the King of Football, Pele.

The Brazilian Ambassador told the media after the meeting that VFF’s proposal was very feasible because the Vietnamese and Brazilian Ministries of Sports signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement during the Brazilian president’s visit to Vietnam last July.

A few days ago, the Brazilian Sports Ministry informed VFF that the Corinthians Club was willing to come to Vietnam to play a friendly match against the Vietnamese national squad. The visit was talked about as an activity to celebrate the 20^th year of Vietnam-Brazil diplomatic relationships.

The VFF will set up a board to prepare for the match.

Corithians is the top football club in Brazil, and was established in 1910. They won the championship of Sao Paulo state two months ago and recently they took the Brazilian Cup. The team has many world stars and the most famous star is Ronaldo, a member of the FIFA World Cup championship Brazil in 1994 and 2002. Ronaldo — FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 2002 — returned to Brazil this year after 14 seasons in European football with PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Milan.

VFF’s Chairman Nguyen Trong Hy said that according to the Brazilian Embassy, striker Ronaldo was eager about the trip to Vietnam.

Hy said the friendly match would take place in late November, perhaps at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

PV