The testimony of the footballer ruined by drugs “” I spent all my money and the family was hungry at home. For cocaine I sold what I wanted in my career! “

Former winner of Cope Libertadores two decades ago, Donize told his ordeal he went through: drug addiction, with which he fought for seven years. “When I was craving cocaine, I was drroging 20 times a day to kill my ego! ”, Confessed the former defender in an interview for globoesport.

“The more you consume, the more you become trapped. I sold what I wanted so much to get,” Donize said, who touched the peak of the career too early.

“The more cocaine I took, the even louder!”

At just 21 years old, Flavio was looking at the reserve bank such as Paulo, with Rogério Ceni, Cicinho and Amoroso, defeated Liverpool (1-0) in Japan and thus became a world champion, less than half a year after taking Copa Libertadores.

Flavio Donize (the first left on the second row) in the team with which Sao Paulo wins the Libertadores and the World Club Cup / Photo: Personal Archive

Brazilian nightmare came from a play: “I started going out with friends in the evening and drinking. After I got drunk, I saw a group of people who used drugs and I tried.” This was the beginning of a vicious and anguish circle that gave life over the head.

“I was addicted to cocaine for almost two years. Every time I used it, I sink even more,” he remembers. He came to remain without money and the need to maintain his addiction to make desperate decisions. He sold everything he had, including the world champion medal he had won in 2005!

I sold it without realizing it. Of course I regretted later. It was a thing gained with a lot of sweat and I sold for crumbs to satisfy this desire. After the effect disappeared, I thought “What the hell, what did I do? How could I do that? ». It's revolting!
Flavio Donizeformer Brazilian defender

Flávio Donizete ended his career in 2019, at Portuguese: “I could have come on if it were not drugs. I would not have been a football phenomenon, but I had a lot of opportunities that I let escape.”

Cafu made the replica of the champion medal sold!

The black period of his life remained somewhere in the back, but the chimeras of the past follow him. Cafu gave him a replica of the world champion medal he had sold for his console, and the family became a priority and for her continues to fight:

“I do not need to cry always and remember my past. I know that sometimes it is painful, sad, because I would like to be in a different situation. But God has shaped us so that I can say (this testimony) to other people, to do the right way and to keep the right way in life.”

The body demanded the drug. When I was drinking a glass, I was automatically the desire to consume drugs. I had this experience. After drinking a glass of beer, the first thing I did was to take drugs worth 50 real
Flavio Donizeformer Brazilian defender

“The chives were behind me in the toilet, the trash and everywhere!”

In the interview for globoesports, Donize told how his wife struggled to save him: “We were not taking money to me. If I was alone and I had 10 real in the wallet, I knew I would go to buy drugs. If I found 30 real in her wallet I would take them all. One day, the Cibes realized and told me «From now on you go out only with empty pockets!

Flavio Donize and his wife Cibele / Photo: Personal Archive

The Cibes stood after the mind for 24 hours a day. If I went to the toilet, if I went out to throw the garbage, it was always behind me. Without this support, my fall would be irreversible. “

It was seven years in which Flavio Donizes abused cocaine, the former Brazilian defender living for months because of addiction: “I remember a withdrawal.

There are several places where people consume drugs as if drinking water. I took me and gave me a feeling … He numb my tongue, I dried my neck. I came home and said to my wife: «I don't feel well. I feel the need to drug me ».

“I was getting fat, I couldn't run, but I was still drroging”

She stopped me. He put on medicines in the juice and I fainted, I didn't wake up for anything. I was getting up at night, I was restless and I took the juice that makes you sleep for three days. I was waking up at 3 pm, I ate and she asked me if I had a drug craving again. I was shaking my head. And we took it from the end. For a week I slept. “

The need is desperate, agonizing. The drugs came to anesthetize me. Cocaine was like a medicine for headache. It gives you that desire, madness, pleasure at the moment. A little later, it becomes sadness, then joy again. You have good times, then you crash to depression
Flavio Donize, former Brazilian defender

The drugs destroyed his future as footballer and Flavio Na could return to the level he was at. Never. Refused offers for fear of not being subjected to anti -doping control. “I started to get fat because of the drink, my knees started to hurt and I couldn't run. All this with cocaine. Then I said” I will give up forever. ”

“My girls were eating at home only boiled rice and beans, because I was giving the last money for cocaine!”

That's the way it happened. Before falling prey to drugs, Donizes led a comfortable life. He was traveling with his family, organizing expensive parties for his daughters and allowed himself to buy his wife any gift. But the standard has decreased and life has changed suddenly in evil.

Flavio Donizete's family / photo: Personal Archive

“I didn't go out in the city because the money had been over. I couldn't use the card anymore, to buy the drink I wanted, import whiskey. I started going to the bars near the house, because it was more drinking and I paid less. Then I was no longer effort to move. I was taking a beer crate and five more bottles of Coca-Cola and staying at home.

From alcohol he soon came to cocaine: “I would have done anything to buy drugs. If I received 15 real and I had nothing to eat, I would not think about taking the money at home. The first thing was cocaine. Sometimes my girls did not eat. From 20 real, I took eggs of 5 and I spent 15 real cocaine.

“He is drugged and a bastard, but he is mine! God will free him”

In order to live, Donizes hired a mason and painter or found work on the site. “I had the feeling of guilt because I was often unemployed. People showed me on the street, telling me they were a vagabond, a bastard and the family started to stay away from me.” The only person who remained loyal is the bells. It's been almost 20 years since he was fighting together.

“She is my guardian angel and I love her very much. I can do many other things for her, but I will never be able to reward her for what she has done for me. If the Cibes would abandon me, I would take drugs from the first corner of the street. If she was not with me, I would have been a dead man.”

The Cibes recognized the nightmare, but he did not regret that he remained with him: “I often heard people saying «How much are you going to stay with this? He is a bastard, a cheater, a drug addict, a vagabond. He's a bastard, but it's my bastard! He's a drugged, but it's mine! I knew that God would free him. And here I was left with Flavio today. I can't explain this, but it's a lot of love in the back! “.