Rome, June 13 :

Brazil captain Cafu received a surprise on the eve of his team’s World Cup opener against Croatia on Monday when a magistrate demanded he be jailed for nine months for acquiring a European Union passport under false pretences.

A local judicial department source said that it stemmed from false documents presented concerning his wife and her Italian ancestors which got the 35-year-old AC Milan star invaluable status as a naturalised Italian and therefore not counted among the non European players at a club.

His club president at the time, Franco Sensi of AS Roma, could also face 10 months in prison for his role in the affair which took place during the 1998-99 season.

The prosecutor Angelantonio Racanelli has called for Cafu’s wife Regina Feliciano to receive nine months jail, the player’s agent Cristoforo Colombo 15 months and AS Roma’s former Argentinian striker Gustavo Bartelt nine months, as he too holds double nationality. Bartelt has already been suspended for a year, in November 2001, by the Italian football federation (FIGC) over the same scandal.

The investigation into the affair has been ongoing for several years and the first magistrate who investigated it recommended that none of the accused should be prosecuted, but it was overturned on appeal. The present trial should be over in a week said the justice department.