RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 24: Former Brazil coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo officially became three years older Tuesday after a court agreed to cancel a fake birth certificate he had used for most of his career.

Luxemburgo, now in charge of Sao Paulo club Corinthians after being sacked by Brazil last year, had his true date of birth confirmed as May 10, 1952 and the spelling of his first name as Vanderlei, his lawyer Michel Assef said.

During his career, including his two years in charge of Brazil, Luxemburgo gave his date of birth as being May 10, 1955, and his first name as Wanderley.

He said he was relieved the matter had been cleared up.

Luxemburgo, whose Brazil dismissal followed poor results and came amid allegations of unethical practices earlier in his career, had admitted to Federal Police last year about the existence of the fake certificate.

The coach said his late father had obtained the certificate when he was a youth team player with Botafogo, enabling him to jump down an age group and giving him the advantage of playing against opponents younger than he was.

Luxemburgo faced criminal charges after using the false certificate to obtain his passport but Assef said the case was thrown out last month by a Rio de Janeiro court.

Luxemburgo took over as Brazil coach in 1998 but was sacked two years later after the Olympic team, which he also coached, was knocked out of the Sydney games by a nine-man Cameroon team.

Earlier, the senior team under his command had suffered embarrassing World Cup defeats by Chile and Paraguay.

Luxemburgo also became embroiled in a scandal after a former business associate claimed he had taken commissions on the transfer of players when he was a club coach. He denied the allegations.

Since being kicked out by Brazil, Luxemburgo has been one of the central figures in a Congressional investigation into alleged corruption.—Reuters