Living The High Life In Brazil

Lutz Pfannenstiel had his dream come true back in December, when he found out that he had a contract playing football in Brazil and a ticket into the record books. The former Forest reserve keeper had just finished a spell with Vancouver Whitecaps and was all set to spend some quality time with his family back home in Germany, when it all went tits up.

His trip back from Vancouver was delayed because his plane had to make an emergency landing near the North Pole. Just as he was looking forward to spending New Year with the family, he's told to make his way to Rio and begin his latest globetrotting spell with Macae Esportiva. But his arrival at the airport sees him having to pay for his own ticket, after the club's credit card failed. Twice.

His arrival in Rio saw him living in squalid conditions and he never received the money for the tickets. This wasn't turning out to be what playing football in Brazil should have been. Lutz said, 'The tossers never paid my airfare and gave me an apartment which was a disgrace, cockroaches, insects and no aircon. So i ripped the contract up and signed in the South for Atletico.'

His time at Atletico has been better though, although he's out at present with a finger injury. The conditions are much better where he is now and they even paid the outstanding airfare. The deal with Atletico ends on May 1st and Lutz already has offers of yet another club. In the meantime Lutz says. 'From 1 May till 28 May I am assistant coach and keeper coach for the national team of Cuba, I've been hired for the preparation of WC Qualifiers.'

His exploits have seen his media profile raise considerably since becoming the first player to play on all Continents. He's done countless interviews on Brazilian and German TV and has even been asked to take part in the German version of 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.' It doesn't get much better than that. But Lutz isn't too sure about it and says he wants to carry on playing. Wherever he goes, Vital Forest will keep tabs on him and hopefully this globetrotting footballer will continue for a good few years yet. Lutz has his own website. You can check it out Here

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