- Former Manchester United midfielder could face jail time in Brazil
- The decision was made last week following his “failure to pay child support.”
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Former Manchester United midfielder Anderson has been sentenced to a term in prison for failing to pay child support.
The 36-year-old has been told he will have to serve time in a jail in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre unless he hands over the £45,000 he owes.
The decision was made last week by a family court judge in the retired footballer’s hometown, but was only made public overnight.
The prison where former Brazil international Anderson, who won four Premier League titles with Manchester United after joining the club from Porto in July 2007, is being held has been identified locally as the Irmao Miguel Dario prison.
The former footballer, who also played for Fiorentina in Italy and Internacional in his home country before hanging up his boots aged just 31, is said to have been told he must serve 30 days behind bars unless he settles his child support debt.
Former Manchester United midfielder Anderson has been sentenced to prison for allegedly failing to pay child support.
The location of former Brazil international Anderson, who won the Premier League four times with Manchester United, has been identified locally as the Irmao Miguel Dario prison.
He has been offered the option of serving his sentence in a “semi-open” regime under which he could work or study outside prison during the day but return to sleep at night, according to a respected Brazilian news website. GZh.
Anderson was at the centre of controversy in his home country four years ago after being accused of laundering £4.7m through cryptocurrency.
Anderson, whose full name is Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira, was said to be a father of four in 2015 and nine children earlier this year when he recalled his time at Manchester United in an interview with a Brazilian newspaper.
He revealed that he and his former Portuguese teammate Nani were “adopted” by Cristiano Ronaldo for almost a year as they slept at his house, saying their beds were stretchers.
He said: ‘I am very grateful to him. He adopted me. We lived in Ronaldo’s house for almost a year. We left because we wanted to leave.
‘We would have stayed there for him. We didn’t spend anything. The guy took us to training, fed us, cooked for us. There was a swimming pool inside and outside the house, a jacuzzi and a tennis court.’
Neither Anderson, who has been capped eight times by his country, nor his lawyer have commented.