The Brazilian Football Federation said in a statement on Thursday that 85 Brazilian former World Cup soccer players will travel to Germany on June 7, two days before the beginning of the 2006 contest.

The players will travel as the guests of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), part of a FIFA initiative to assemble all the players having shown up in the winning teams.

Brazil, with five World Cup victories, will have the biggest delegation. A total of 97 Brazilian players took part in Brazil's winning teams -- in Sweden in 1958, in Chile in 1962, in Mexico in 1970, in the United States in 1994 and in South Korea and Japan in 2002, while only 85 of them are still alive however.

The 85 will stay in Germany until July 10, a day after the World Cup concluded. During their time in Germany, the CBF has invited them to take part in some of the training sessions for the "hexacampeonato", as Brazilians call their bid for a sixth World Cup.

Source: Xinhua