Flavio Donizete, a former Brazilian club, Sao Paulo defender, has opened up about his battle with cocaine addiction, revealing that he resorted to selling his prized football medal to fund his drug habit.
Donizete, who emerged from Sao Paolo’s youth system, played a minor role in the team’s 2005 triumph in the Paulista State Championship and the Copa Libertadores, culminating in a victory over Liverpool in the Club World Cup.
The center-back, despite having no playing time, earned a gold medal as part of the victorious squad. He confessed that he sold the medal in order to finance his crippling addiction to cocaine, which ultimately led to the downfall of his once-promising career.
“I sold it to buy drugs. I sold it for 7,000 reais (around £2,875/$3,500),” he admitted to Globoesporte.
“When I sold it the money came and I blew almost all of it on cocaine. The first delivery was 1,000 reais of cocaine. I used it in two days. The more money I had, the more drugs I wanted.
“After I was acquainted with cocaine, I lost everything else. Because at the start I was a moderate user. Until cocaine became more important in my life, I started to lose everything I had. Any money saved I used to buy drugs. I wouldn’t let myself be without drugs. Morning, afternoon and evening I had to take cocaine.
“Any money in my account, my possessions, I started losing them. I lost everything, except my wife, daughters and family, who are still with me even today.”
Following the 2005 campaign, Donizete went through several loan spells, representing teams such as Portuguesa, America, and Nacional in Sao Paulo before being released at the end of his contract in 2009.
The defender took a 6-year break before returning to professional football with a brief stint at Taboao da Serra.
Donizete, now 36, has overcome his drug addiction and is employed as a gardener in Americana, Brazil. He still harbors aspirations of reviving his professional career.
“[My friends] would say to me, ‘snort!’. I would snort and at that moment the effects of drinking would wear off,” he recalled.
“Every day I went out I would say, ‘today I can drink as late as I want because when I use cocaine the effect wears off. Let’s go find some’.
“I was never at home, it was just parties and drinking. There were times I wouldn’t go a single day without taking cocaine.
“I started to get fat through the drink, I picked up a knee injury and I couldn’t run. All that as well as the coke. So I said, ‘that’s it’. I gave up football for good.”
“My biggest regret is having tried cocaine. It destroyed me.”