May
14
After talking big at the end of the 2008 Greek Superleauge essentially declaring this his last season playing soccer in Greece (3 seasons he played for Olympiakos and 1 season for AEK,) Brazilian soccer star Rivaldo has agreed to honour his contract and play one more season with AEK. The decision was made after a brief meeting with AEK owner and former player Demis Nikolaidis.
For those looking for context, Rivaldo was disappointed that his former team Olympiakos won the Superleague title having 2 points more than his current club AEK. Rivaldo demanded that the league rules be ignored and the trophy rewarded to his team simply because he is Rivaldo and his word is the word of God. At any rate, at the end of the regular season AEK had to play in a playoff tournament to earn a chance to compete in the Champions League next year. Rivaldo declared that he would not compete in the playoffs declaring himself the true champion. Of course, true to his work, Rivaldo played in the playoffs not beeing able to help his team earn the coveated Champions League ticket. At the same time, Rivaldo had said that he was dissapointed with Greek soccer and that he was leaving the country to go back to Brazil. Of course, he changed his mind again, and now he will retire playing soccer for AEK during the 2008-09 season.
In other words, Greek soccer fans will certainly be entertained for one more year by the Brazilian’s antics on and off the soccer field. Honestly, though, considering his age, it is the off the field shenanigans that will keep everyone entertained more than anything.