Bolivian club sign country’s President

A first division Bolivian professional soccer club has signed President Evo Morales to play midfield at a salary of $213 per month and expects the leftist leader to make his debut in August, the head of the team said.

The 54-year-old soccer fanatic will wear number 10 for the Sport Boys team, which is based in the southeastern province of Santa Cruz and rose to become a division one team last year.

“He loves soccer and he plays well,” Sport Boys president Mario Cronenbold said.

Morales monthly paycheck will be in line with the impoverished South American country’s minimum wage. 

Cronenbold brushed off questions about Morales fitness to play professional soccer.

“As I told the president, jokingly, we are not putting the President of Uruguay on the field,” Cronenbold said, referring to Uruguay’s 78-year-old Jose Mujica.

“We are contracting a person who is in very good shape and who lives soccer.”

Morales has been president of Bolivia since 2006, and is favoured by the opinion polls to win re-election for a second time this year.