The Brazilian goalie who ordered the grizzly murder of his mistress has been signed by a new club aged 38.
Actress and model Eliza Samudio, 25, was kidnapped, beaten up, and later asphyxiated by a gang that included a former policeman in June 2010.
Her body was then chopped up and fed to dogs.
Bruno Fernandes - who had had an extramarital affair with Eliza resulting in a child, followed by a paternity and child support lawsuit - later confessed to organising the plot.
He was given 22 years and three months in jail in March 2013 after a court found him guilty of ordering Eliza's murder, hiding her body, and kidnapping their baby son.
His closed prison sentence was converted to a semi-open prison sentence in July 2019.
In a semi-open prison regime, prisoners are allowed to work outside the prison during the day, but they must return to the prison each night.
However, inadequate facilities at Varginha Prison meant that officials had allowed him to sleep at his home, where he was ordered to stay between 8pm to 6am every night.
And in January this year, the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice granted parole to Bruno, who is widely known in Brazil by his first name.
The only condition of his release is that he present himself at the Penitentiary Administration Secretariat of Rio de Janeiro every three months.
Now, a team in Sao Paulo has snapped up the former Atletico Mineiro, Corinthians, and Flamengo man.
Orion Futebol Clube announced the signing on social media on 22nd March by posting a picture of the former lag grinning widely and raising a clenched fist.
The club, which will compete in the Super Copa Pioneer this year, wrote: "Backup for the position, welcome!"
The announcement has divided netizens.
Daniela Bellini commented: "The rehabilitation for this type of offence committed by him should not be in football, where children look up to and see players as heroes.
"It is absurd and disrespectful to women.
But another netizen wrote: "The social justice warriors need to make up their minds, whether they support rehabilitation or not, because he has already served his sentence, and according to the law, he does not owe anything else.
"He will be accountable to God, until then, so he needs to work, right?"
Orion is the seventh team to have signed Bruno since 2017, when he was granted habeas corpus before being ordered to return to jail three months later.
Bruno's last team was Atletico Carioca in Sao Goncalo, Rio de Janeiro State.
