Brazilian soccer player Alex dos Santos Gonçalves, who had been held in Indonesia since October due to discrepancies with the leaders of the Persikabo club, obtained authorization to leave the Asian country and return to the country, announced on Tuesday the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.
“The soccer player Alex has just passed through immigration at the Jacarta airport,” the head of state announced in a message on his social networks, who from the beginning of the crisis asked Brazilian diplomats in Indonesia to offer support to the player and has been following his case.
Bolsonaro added that the former attacker of the Brazilian clubs Gremio and Internacional boarded a flight to Dubai this Tuesday, where he will make a stopover before continuing to Sao Paulo, where he is expected on Wednesday.
“Our embassy in Indonesia accompanied him from the beginning of the negotiations and now also during the boarding and take-off of his flight,” added the president. “Welcome home,” he concluded.
The 31-year-old footballer born in the state of Bahia but who emerged professionally in the Guild in 2007 was prevented from leaving Indonesia, whose passport was withheld from the authorities, after having reported Persikabo to FIFA for violations of contractual clauses.
Last October, after denouncing the Indonesian club to FIFA for the non-payment of their salaries and revealing their decision on social media, the Persikabo leaders sued him for defamation and the authorities withheld his passport.
The retention of the document prevented him from renewing his work visa in Indonesia and signing for Persita Tangerang, who offered him a contract, as well as leaving Indonesia.
Their situation only began to be solved at the beginning of December with the intervention of Brazilian diplomatic representatives in Indonesia at the request of Bolsonaro.
