Ronaldinho to be rewarded with 16kg pig in prison football tourney

Former Barcelona star Ronaldinho will cart home  a 16kg suckling pig with his teammates if they emerge victorious in a prison football tournament in Paraguay.

Diario Sport cite ABC TV in Paraguay as reporting that Ronaldinho has joined a football team in the jail ahead of a tournament with the pig as the prize.

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Repasemos la semana de Ronaldinho . -Comparte celda con su hermano – Los presos le piden autógrafos – Las visitas a los reos aumentaron por él -Grupos de la cárcel se pelearon por tenerlo en su equipo -Debutó en el torneo de futsal carcelario – Como regla le pusieron que no puede marcar goles -Campeón del torneo en la cárcel – El premio por el torneo es un cerdo de 16 kilos

A post shared by La Catedral Deportiva (LCD) (@catedraldeportiva_) on Mar 13, 2020 at 5:22pm PDT

Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto de Assis are still in Paraguay for having entered the country with forged passports and their appeal for release ahead of trial has been rejected.

As reported by Marca, the former football superstar was arrested last Thursday in the country when he and his brother attempted to enter using falsified Paraguayan passports.

The fake passport shows the former star’s correct name, birthplace, and birthdate, but it falsely prints that he is a naturalised citizen of Paraguay.

A court decision on Saturday then kept the two Brazilians in preventive detention while an investigation into the incident was ongoing ahead of a trial.

His trip to the South American nation was to promote the charity “La Fundación Angelical,” which provides medical assistance to low-income children, while he was was also going to present his book Genio de la vida (Genius of life).

Last summer, as Diario AS outlined, the former forward had 57 properties seized and owes more than €2m to the Brazilian state over unpaid taxes and fines, while his Brazilian and Spanish passports were confiscated.

Local media outlet Folha de Sao Paulo is cited as describing how Ronaldinho was fined €2.2m for illegally building a pier at his lake house in the city of Porto Alegre.

Read Also: Ronaldinho: Paraguay appeals court rejects release request

However, alongside this environmental fine there is a further €1.8m fine in other debts, such as council taxes, which are being pursued by creditors.

The report adds that the former footballer’s debts are accumulating and there is also a new added demand that is being processed by the Office of the National Attorney General of Brazil for €184k.