Nike forced Ronaldo to play: Edmundo

Speculation about Ronaldo’s appearance and performance has raged since the final whistle on July 12 in Saint-Denis, France, where the French ran over Brazil 3-0 to win the World Cup title.

US sportswear maker Nike, which paid more than $ 200 million to the CBF in 1996 as part of a 10-year sponsorship deal, became an obvious target of the speculation.

During the week preceeding the start of the World Cup, some players groused at having to appear at a Nike promotional event in Paris, saying they were ordered by Nike to break off practice to attend.

But a Nike official said the eventwas scheduled months before the team’s arrival and that it did not order training to be cut short.

Nike again was forced to deny the new rumours, with an official quoted in yesterday’s reports as saying it would be madness to interfere in such a situation.

Of the 22 players on Brazil’s World Cup roster, 11 were under personal contracts to Nike. Chief among them was Ronaldo, who has a lifetime contract with the company.

Edmundo said details of Nike’s contract were worked out personally by confederation president Ricardo Teixeira.

“Nike is strong,” Edmundo was quoted as saying. “It negotiated directly with the president. That means, the president took a percentage.”

Teixeira declined to comment on the accusation. The associated press tried to phone Ronaldo and Edmundo but was told neither was available for comment.