Brazil President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva told Sunday's sporting press that "Brazil is no longer the land of football" responding to news that 21 of the 23-strong Brazil World Cup soccer squad play overseas.

"Brazil is only the country that produces the elite players. The world's footballing nations at present are Italy and Spain: those which can afford to buy the planet's greatest players," Lula said in an exclusive interview with daily paper O Globo.

In one of the longest interviews in his four years of administration, Lula discussed the fact that Brazilians had to watch European matches on television if they want to see Brazil's biggest stars.

"There are so many Brazilians on the pitch there that you have the impression that it's a local championship," he added. He said that footballers are going overseas at every younger ages, because soccer offers them such a short career.

Speaking about the current Brazil national team he said: "It is a team in which we cannot find a single flaw. There is no one better playing football than those players."

However, he warned the team not to be too arrogant, saying they needed "humility to treat their adversaries with respect and objectivity to play knowing that the point of the game is to reach the rival's goal and score goals."

Lula, who is a big soccer fan, and a follower of Sao Paulo team Corinthians, praised Brazil's best known star Edson Arantes do Nascimiento, who played under the name Pele.

Praising him at the expense of Brazil's traditional rivals, Argentina, he said: "Let's say that (Argentina's) Diego Maradona was a diamond. Pele was a diamond, emerald, and ruby; all the precious stones combined."

While Ronaldo de Assis, known as Ronaldinho, who plays for Spanish league team Barcelona, "is maybe more of an artist that Pele... Pela was the most complete player," Lula said.

On the much discussed topic of Real Madrid player Ronaldo Nazario's being overweight, Lula said that the television made him look fatter, and said that having seen Real fans whistling at him, Lula had sent him a card speaking to him "like a father does a child."