Back in Chinese football, midfielder Ivo signs with Yanbian Longding Football Club

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Midfielder Ivo is officially back in Chinese football. After 2022 training and maintaining physical and game condition at the training center of the Teutônia (RS) unit of the Ivo10 Brazil Football Academy, the idol of Asian football returns to start his season number 10 in the East. Negotiations in China lasted just over a month, with an excellent agreement both for the team and for the athlete with a career managed by CSR Sports. Football businessman César Soler led the entire negotiation, not only with the team that hired the shirt number 10, but also analyzing the other proposals, visiting clubs and talking to directors and coaches. In all, he traveled about 10,000 kilometers within Chinese territory.

On the advice of South Korean coach Kim Bong-gil, Ivo agreed to return to Asia to defend Yanbian Longding Football Club, from Yanbian, in the province of Jilin, in northern China. The Brazilian midfielder worked with the coach in 2012 and 2014 during his remarkable spell at Incheon United, in South Korea. Upon learning that the number 10 was returning to China, Bong-gil soon sought out Soler to start conversations and present the team's project.

Yanbian Longding FC was founded in 2017 in the great football investment boom of Chinese football such as Yanbian Hailanjiang. With the changes of some rules in the country, the sponsors left and the team stopped its activities at the end of the 2019 season. After inactivity in 2020, the team returned with a new name in 2021 and, in 2022, with third place in the China League Two, the Chinese third division, the team won access to China League One, a competition that will be played in 2023 along with the Chinese Cup, the FA Cup.

The project presented by Kim Bong-gil to Ivo is similar to the one the athlete received when he was already an idol of Henan Jianye-CHI, in December 2016, of going to Beijing Renhe with the mission of raising the team to the elite football of the country, the China Super League. At the time, even with a three-year contract, the athlete fulfilled the mission in his debut season, in 2017. With the conclusion of the access plan, the path to return to Henan was opened again, a fact that happened and where he remained until December 2021.

With the difficulties in China and all over the world due to the tragic Covid-19 pandemic, Ivo's return from Brazil to Asia in early 2022 - post vacation - was hampered. But the invitation to return as soon as the Chinese government's health authorities changed the rules for the entry of foreigners was "standing". And that's what happened in March 2023, when he traveled back to the country where he is an idol.

As soon as he signed with Yanbian Longding Football Club, Ivo sent a message to friends and family. “Hello my brothers. Thanks for the prayers and the cheering. For the Glory of God, I sign another new contract with the Yanbian FC team in China. God bless us all,” he wrote. The deal took place on Saturday morning (15), at the club's headquarters.

Ivo's contract with Yanbian Longding FC runs until December 2023, with the possibility of renewal. The debut of the Brazilian midfielder in his new team in China should happen in the first round of China League One, on April 22. His retrospect in seven years playing in Chinese football is 154 games and 30 goals.

Olívio Rosa was born in Palmitinho (RS) on October 2, 1986. He is 1.73 m tall and weighs 65 kg. A fast midfielder with a good approach to attack, he went through the youth teams of Juventus de Teutônia-RS and Juventude-RS (2005). In 2006 he debuted as a professional in the Caxias do Sul (RS) team and stayed until 2010. Then he played for Palmeiras-SP (2010), Ponte Preta-SP (2010), Portuguesa-SP (2011), Incheon United-COR (2012) /2014), Criciúma-SC (2013), Henan Jianye-CHI (2015-2016/2018-2021) and Beijing Renhe-CHI (2017-2018). In his curriculum he has the titles of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B 2011 (Portuguese), Campeonato Catarinense 2013 (Criciúma) and runner-up access to China League One (Beijing Renhe).