BBC SPORT | Football | Brazilian doctors lead the way



By Tim Vickery BBC Sport Online

As Pele was being announced as Fulham's special scout in Brazil, there was talk of World Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari fulfilling a similar function for Arsenal.

But it is doubtful whether even big names like these can help much.

Red tape can be a more obstinate opponent than anyone on the football field, bureaucracy making it very difficult for Brazilians to come to the Premiership.

There are two narrow routes in.

First, the player has to be a current international who has appeared in 75% of recent games. Only a highly select band meet this criteria.

In Brazil players go through batteries of tests to find out what they need to fulfil their athletic potential

Paulo Paix�o

Failing that, the player has to have an EC passport.

But that operation has become more difficult since the forged documents scandal, and is beyond the reach of the majority of Brazilians.

So there is no chance of the Premiership filling up with planeloads of players from Rio and Sao Paulo.

However, that does not necessarily mean there is no point in strengthening the ties between English and Brazilian football.

Rather than celebrity liaisons with the likes of Pele, perhaps Premiership clubs could gain more from studying Brazil's culture of sports medicine.

Paulo Paixao - physical trainer of the Brazil team during the World Cup - is adamant that superior preparation gave his country a vital edge in South Korea and Japan.

"We made huge progress starting from the 1970s", he says.

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard may benefit from Brazilian methods

"Value was given to the idea of having a group of specialists working together - doctors, physiologists, physiotherapists, all providing a collective structure.

"Nowadays, in terms of methodology of work, Europe is way behind Brazil. Without carrying out tests you can't draw up a work progamme, and in Europe they hardly seem to do any.

"In Brazil the player is dealt with in a laboratory situation. He goes through batteries of tests to find out what he needs to fulfil his athletic potential.

"Players in Brazil work much harder on physical preparation, and it's something they miss when they go to Europe.

"But the culture of physical preparation we have developed doesn't get the credit it deserves. I don't know why.

"Maybe it's because we're judged in socio-economic terms, looked down upon because we're a South American country".

Although they have fewer games in Europe, the number of players they have out injured is very high

Paulo Paix�o

The World Cup was the perfect advert for Paixao's ideas.

The European club calendar is now more crowded than ever, and in Asia the stars of France, Portugal and England were soon showing the strain.

But in Brazil they think nothing of playing three times a week.

"In a way," continues Paix�o, "this becomes an advantage, because it forces you to draw up you work schedule carefully.

"With so many games your margin for error is reduced drastically.

"Although they have fewer games in Europe, the number of players they have out injured is very high. They don't seem to mind.

"If one player gets injured, they go out and buy another. Brazil's training methods should be taken to Europe.

"I'm absolutely certain that fewer players would miss games through injury".

Now that the days of easy money seem to have come to an end, perhaps the Premiership should be listening to Paulo Paixao.


	Links to more Football stories