RIO DE JANEIRO — One-time Brazil midfielder Ederson says he has testicular cancer and won’t be able to play for his Flamengo club for months.
The disease was detected last Saturday and he will undertake surgery next Monday, the 31-year-old footballer said in a news conference on Tuesday.
Ederson has played for Nice and Lyon in France, and for Lazio in Italy. He represented Brazil once in 2010, and joined Flamengo in 2015.
Flamengo doctor Marcio Tannure said there was a 99 per cent chance of total recovery for Ederson, who was contracted to the club to Dec. 31.
Tannure said the disease was discovered after Ederson failed doping tests after three matches of the Brazilian championship in May. The substance beta-HCG, which stimulates the production of testosterone, was discovered by medics in his urine samples.
Flamengo chairman Eduardo Bandeira de Mello said Ederson will have the club’s full support regardless of the end of his contract. He expects the midfielder to play for the Rio de Janeiro giant again.
"When we had the first news of the anti-doping we kept our full confidence in him, he is an example of an athlete," de Mello said. The cancer was detected after blood and image exams.
An emotional Ederson said he was still processing the discovery.
"I am upset, but also confident about the next days. It will be another battle and I have won a few in my life," he said. "I am sure that I will win this one, too, to play football as soon as possible."
Tannure said only after surgery will it be clear how serious the tumour is.
"There is a chance he will go through chemotherapy, but that depends on the biopsy. But the prospects for recovery are indeed good."
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