The Tombense Mystery

Here at GGOA Towers, we've been struck by the fact that both Dudu and Rafael have evidently moved to the Squirrels from a Brazilian team named Tombense. Under normal circumstances, it would be easy enough to Google and find out a level of information about a club, even one whose name - as in this instance - is completely unfamiliar. But with Tombense, there doesn't appear to be anything readily available: not even, it would seem, a Wikipedia page or a club website.

Which, let's face it, these days is very unusual. Luckily, however, we can call upon Cantagalo, a Brit based in Brazil and a fan of the country's football scene, for some help. Here's what he's said about Ardija's recent trading partner:

"I hadn't heard of Tombense. Not surprisingly, because they have a stadium that holds 2000 people and are a team from the town of Tombos (population 12,000) in the interior of Minas Gerais. It's difficult to work out what tier of the Brazilian league they're in. The country has just initiated a regionalised Serie D competition, but Tombense are under that - and being in the second division of the Campeonato Mineiro means they're not in the top 24 teams in Minas Gerais, which is way below the standard of the players they're trading.

"However, they're being used as a vehicle for the registration of players by an investment company called Brazil Soccer, who loan and sell players to Brazilian, European and now - it seems - Japanese clubs. The four players that I've heard of that they've loaned out are Joilson at Grêmio, Fernando and Mariano who are on the fringes of the first team at Flamengo and Fluminense respectively, and Márcio Araújo who's been pretty good for Atlético-Minas Gerais this season.

"I'm not sure that any of these players, or indeed Dudu and Rafael, have ever actually played for them. Another ex-Tombense player is Cícero, who was a Copa Libertadores runner-up with Fluminense last year and is now at Hertha Berlin. According to his Wikipedia page, here, he didn't play a single game for Tombense, which appears to be a sort of warehouse for footballers."

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