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Friday Ticker: Ronaldo returning to Corinthians, SAF charged again and more

Ronaldo (Getty Images)

Brazilian legend Ronaldo may yet play again on the club level.

According to reports out of Brazil, Ronaldo is set to return to Corinthians after retiring earlier this year. It appears that his return may be nothing more than to make appearances in the club's upcoming friendlies against Inter Milan and Barcelona — two of his former teams.

The report also states that he'll sign a contract through 2012, but Corinthians' chairman indicated he might only play a couple of games with the club. He's already slated to participate in Brazil's friendly against Romania on June 7, which is being promoted as his farewell match.

Here are a few more stories from around the soccer world:

FERGUSON CHARGED BY FA

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been charged by the English Football Association for improper conduct after commenting on referee Howard Webb prior to the Red Devils' victory over Chelsea last week.

Ferguson didn't say anything derogatory about Webb — in fact, his comments were flattering toward the referee who worked last year's UEFA Champions League and World Cup final — but the FA stipulates that managers cannot speak about referees prior to matches in which they will be involved.

It's the second time he's been charged by the FA this year, with both times revolving around the club's matches with Chelsea. He was banned from the dugout for five games and fined £30,000 for speaking out against referee Martin Atkinson after the 2-1 Chelsea victory in March.

BLATTER'S LATEST REMARKS

FIFA president Sepp Blatter doesn't seem to think that FIFA and world football will be able to exist without him.

Blatter stated that FIFA "will disappear into a black hole" if he is not elected to another term during the upcoming elections and instead loses out to Mohamed Bin Hammam.

"The FIFA presidential election is not about candidate A or candidate B, it is about whether there will be any candidates at all in future. The ballot on 1st June could lead to a seismic shift with irreversible damage," Blatter said. "Quite simply, the survival of FIFA is at stake. It is a question of whether the game's established world governing body will continue to exist after this date or whether it will disappear into a black hole."

WORAWI OUT AS THAI FA PRESIDENT

Worawi Makudi, a member of FIFA's Executive Committee who was implicated in bribe scandal's by Lord David Triesman, is out as president of the Football Association of Thailand.

Worawi reportedly postponed the FAT elections illegally, and enough time has elapsed between the end of his term and when the next election should have been that his position and those of his executive board are all void.

It's unclear if he'll have the chance to regain his presidency and how the ouster affects his status on FIFA's Executive Committee.

Worawi was reportedly a supporter of Bin Hammam in the June election.

MUNTARI RETURNING TO INTER

Sunderland has turned down the chance to sign Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari to a permament deal, and he will return to parent club Inter Milan.

Muntari failed to make an impact with the Black Cats after joining the club on loan in January.

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What do you think of Ronaldo playing again? Think it'll be more than just temporary? What are your thoughts of the FA's charge? What do you think of Blatter's latest statements? What do you make of Worawi's situation? Where would be a good fit for Muntari?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. What’s a little more cash for your Sao Paulo tranny slush fund!

    And it is clear to me that Sepp Blatter is a white collar criminal of the highest order…

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  2. As a Union fan, I pray he doesn’t come here. His form has been missing for too long for me to want to add him to our problems with Ruiz.

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  3. that is good. personally, i think the fact that Lukaku is already discussing that he would like to come to MLS (LA or NY) later in his career. he attributes discussions with Kljestan as the catalyst for this desire…haha

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  4. I almost want Blatter to stay in power, because I feel that would increase the US’s chances of hosting the 2022 WC if Qatar seriously F’s things up, as I hope they will. Almost.

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  5. Cheers for that!

    Doubt Chivas takes him, but Philly would be an interesting shout…

    Don’t think he can expect DP money at this stage of his career and with such a terrible injury record.

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  6. Absolutely. But his injuries wrecked his physique but he would of been a top 3 player of all time had he remained fit.

    Still remember his hat trick at Old Trafford where the fans gave him a standing ovation out of respect for such a brilliant performance.

    I know a few MLS teams must be eying a quick hit in media coverage with a cheeky 1 year offer…

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  7. Wow. That’s some serious scare tactics/fear mongering from Blatter. Maybe I could take it seriously if Bin Hammam was an actual reformer, but he’s not so…

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  8. it baffles me that Blatter still thinks he is God’s gift to the world. hopefully an “unfortunate accident” never happens to him and saves football once and for all

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  9. I recall hearing that Ronaldo had hypothyroidism, which made it extremely difficult to get into soccer shape, but Ronaldo was rarely interested in getting into that shape in the first place. Absolutely brilliant footballer in his prime, but he was never willing to do the stuff off the pitch that would keep him healthy and on the pitch.

    It’s Corinthians’ money, so they can do whatever they like with it, but it seems like a waste of $$$ to me.

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