Official: Ronaldinho leaves Premier Futsal

Goa, July 19: Bad news for Indian fans as legendary Brazilian footballer and the Goa franchise's marquee player Ronaldinho will have to leave Premier Futsal ahead of the Goa leg of the tournament beginning July 19.

A few days back, the Brazilian star o was informed that he has been chosen as the ambassador of the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil and thus he had requested the organisers' permission to leave the tournament midway to honour the position he was offered.

Ronaldinho is the top scorer in the tournament currently with 5 goals in 2 matches. All the 5 goals were netted against Bengaluru 5s on Sunday (July 17), as Goa 5s defeated Bengaluru 5s 7-2.

Ronaldinho's message read: "I would like to thank all the people involved with Premier Futsal. It has been a pleasure to be with you all. I thank you all for all the love and support I'm leaving with. Best of Luck"

The official statement from Premier Futsal read:

"The Goa franchise legend Ronaldinho has expressed his regret at having to leave Premier Futsal ahead of the Goa leg of the tournament beginning July 19.

A few days back, Ronaldinho was informed that he has been chosen as the ambassador of the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil and requested the organisers' permission to leave the tournament midway to honour the position he was offered.

The Premier Futsal management is committed to have a long-term association with Ronaldinho and took his request into consideration, before allowing him permission to leave.

While the league is disappointed at having Goa's legend miss out on playing in front of his home fans, they are pleased to announce the signing of another Selecao legend and the captain of arguably one of the most successful Brazilian national teams, Cafu, as a replacement to lead the Goa franchise.

Owing to Cafu's delayed arrival, and to allow the Goan futsal fans to see their new captain in action, the league will be rescheduling a few games."

Cafu, the 46-year-old world cup winning captain of Brazil in 2002, retired from professional football in 2008. He had spend 13 years of his career in Italy at Palmeiras, AS Roma and AC Milan, the latter being his last club.

He had served his nation for 16 years and played 142 international games.

OneIndia News