Suspended, Alef Manga asks for a second chance at Coritiba

Suspended from football after involvement in a match-fixing scheme, the striker Alef Mangafrom Coritiba, revealed regret, in an interview given to ge.com.

The 29-year-old player trains in Curitiba while awaiting the end of his one-year ban, which ends in August next year. He was accused of receiving R$45,000 from bettors in exchange for a yellow card against América-MG, in Brasileirão 2022.

The athlete has a contract with Coxa until December 2024. The athlete’s lawyer is trying to reach an agreement with the Public Ministry to bring forward his return to the field after 50% of the suspension has been completed, in March.

“I’m here, I’m back, at a club that I love, which is Coritiba. I want to return as soon as possible and help my teammates and professor Guto Ferreira, who is an amazing guy and has been giving me all the support”, he revealed.

“I want to give joy to the fans there at Alto da Glória, which is my home”, he reinforced. After being exposed in the manipulation scandal, Manga played on loan for Pafos, in Cyprus, before the suspension gained global status by FIFA.

He played six games and didn’t score a goal and said he had to face a lot of criticism. “It was a very delicate situation. I was in Paphos and watched Coritiba’s games. If it had been someone else in my place, I don’t think I would have been able to handle it”, he said.

“There was a lot of criticism, messages with insults, people threatening me from all sides”, he continued. Manga also apologized to Coxa, the fans and his teammates.

“I sleep and wake up thinking why I did it. If I had to go back, I would. It really affected me. It was one of the worst things in football that I did that”, he concluded.