Family over glory for Hong Kong footballer who captained Neymar, Alisson and Casemiro

Gerson Vieira has made peace with never reaching the heights of superstar former Brazilian teammates who once called the Tai Po midfielder “president”. Neymar, Casemiro, Philippe Coutinho and Alisson Becker were all in the Brazil team Vieira captained at the 2009 Under-17 World Cup. While that quartet played for the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and Liverpool, Vieira followed a lower road that included stops in Uruguay, India, Japan, Tanzania and now Hong Kong.

Vieira said he had been held back by his first club Gremio, who would neither give him a first-team opportunity, nor sell him. By contrast, his young international colleagues were being given chances elsewhere, or, in the case of Coutinho, signing for Inter Milan in 2008. “I lost the perfect time to be in the first team,” Vieira said.



“In Brazil, we have a queue, when it’s your turn, you have to take it, or there’s another waiting right behind you.” When Gremio rejected repeated offers from French club Angers, in 2013, Vieira began to “think more about family than glory”..