Their World Cup Runneth Over With Merchandise

Brazil’s soccer team brought home more than the World Cup championship this week.

They also lugged back video cameras, shoes, leather bags, luggage and various appliances collected during a shopping spree that forced some Orange County stores to restock their shelves.

The purchases have created a scandal in Brazil, where the country’s tax chief resigned Thursday in a dispute over the team’s failure to pay nearly $1 million in customs duties on excess luggage brought from the United States.

Brazilian officials said the team brought back 17 tons of luggage, including microwave ovens, washing machines and refrigerators.

It was unclear how much of the merchandise was bought in Orange County. But the players, coaches and their wives purchased so much merchandise during their stay at the Fullerton Marriott that some of it had to be stored in the hotel’s ballroom, hotel officials said.

Large boxes from various stores were moved from the ballroom onto vans and buses bound for Los Angeles International Airport, when the team left for Brazil on Monday, said Nancy Morgan, director of marketing for the Fullerton Marriott. Other items were sent directly from the stores to the airport, Morgan said.

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Some of the shopping occurred in and around South Coast Plaza.

Pascal Chiecchino, a salesman at the mall’s Robinsons-May department store, said he was surprised to see 15 to 20 members of the team enter the store Monday morning, just a day after their World Cup victory against Italy.

“It was very unusual,” Chiecchino said. “Monday is usually a slow day.”

The team members purchased $2,000 worth of luggage--about 30 suitcases and bags, Chiecchino said. They were especially interested in Samsonite luggage and extra-large “Pullman cases” on wheels, he said.

“They were very happy. They seemed like very nice people,” Chiecchino said. “I’m Italian, so we discussed the game.”

Team members were also spotted at various sporting goods stores in the mall including Fila, where players searched for World Cup clothing, said clerk Jeff Hosilyk.

A sales clerk confirmed that the team purchased items from the Warner Brothers Studio store, but she said it was against company policy to reveal what was sold.

In Brazil, the furor over the merchandise brought back by team members threatened to spoil the euphoria that had greeted Brazil’s fourth World Cup title.

Federal Revenue Secretary Osiris Lopes Filho told reporters he was quitting over “differences” with President Itamar Franco. He was to hand in his resignation letter Thursday.

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Lopes said the “last straw” had been the president’s decision to overrule his order that 17 tons of luggage brought back from the United States by the Brazilian soccer delegation should be subject to normal Brazilian customs inspection and duties.

Brazilian newspapers ran front-page stories Thursday on how the players and soccer federation officials had refused late Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro to allow customs officials to inspect their luggage, which was carried in five trucks to their hotel.

Brazilian customs laws require the payment of duties on any purchases made abroad over the value of $500 per person.

The controversy threatened to disrupt an already delayed victory parade through Rio’s streets until an order came through from the Presidential Palace in Brasilia, via Economy Minister Rubens Ricupero, to release the uninspected luggage.

In the heat of the moment, soccer federation officials and players, including star striker Romario, even threatened to boycott the Rio parade and hand back medals they were awarded by President Franco, Brazilian newspapers said.

“The truck is not leaving the airport without my luggage. We’re not smugglers. We represented Brazil in front of 2 billion people in the world. If they don’t release my luggage, I’m giving back my medal,” O Globo quoted Romario as saying.

Times wire services contributed to this report.