A less accomplished Brazilian, but one who might stand out in the memories of many Irish football supporters, is Luis Oliveira. He, you might recall, was the man who scored the opening goal for his adopted country Belgium against the Republic of Ireland the night Mick McCarthy's side lost 2-1, thus making their exit from the 1998 World Cup.

This week, Oliveira has been the subject of controversy back in South America where the newspaper Folha de sao Paulo has claimed that he falsified some of the documents he used during his application for Belgian citizenship.

Central to the allegation are the player's school records from back in Sao Luis which suggest that he is currently 34 rather than 30, as he claims.

He is not the first Brazilian to find himself at the centre of this type of allegations and in the same report, Jose Clayton - who played for Tunisia in France '98 - is similarly accused. Oliveira, however, insists that the mistake is the school's.

If the Cagliari star is found to be guilty, we here at Planet Football will be instigating a major campaign to have the whole of France '98 replayed.