“It’s a city that breathes football because of Rivaldo”, these are the words of Anderson Varejão, a former basketball player, about Mogi Mirim, a city in the interior of São Paulo, which has a team that bears the name of the city.
Interestingly, the city that received the sixth court renovated by the Cavs is also the city of the football club that revealed and projected Rivaldo onto the national scene.
There, Varejão spoke about the former player, owner of two World Cups — but in another city: Barcelona, Spain. Both played for teams from the Catalan city, each in their own sport, taking Brazil’s name to the rest of the world, which caused admiration to grow.
“Creak. I’m a big fan of his [do Rivaldo] as a player and person. I followed him a lot. When I arrived in Barcelona, Rivaldo was still playing for Barcelona and was always highly praised in the city”, he said.
The revelation took place at the “Zerão” court, originally called Complexo Esportivo José Geraldo Franco Ortiz located in the city in the interior of São Paulo, which was reopened by Varejão.
Barcelona
Anderson Varejão played for Barcelona from 2002 to 2004, in two seasons. Wearing the basketball team’s shirt, he was Euroleague champion in 2003.
Rivaldo, in football, is an idol of the Catalan club. He arrived at the team in 1997 and enjoyed the peak of his career, being voted the best player in the world in 2000. He played 252 matches and scored 137 goals in five seasons.
