RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Former Brazil international goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni has insisted he is focused on remaining head coach of Fortaleza amid reports linking him with the vacant Corinthians managerial post.
Corinthians have been searching for a new manager since sacking Tiago Nunes last Friday following the club's poor start to the Brazilian Serie A season.
Ceni's name has been touted by Corinthians supporters on social media and by Brazil's mainstream press, prompting a response from the 47-year-old on Sunday.
"I think it's natural that if a coach is doing a good job, people will speak up to give their opinion," Ceni told reporters after Fortaleza's 1-1 draw at Gremio.
"The media has mentioned it but nobody has approached me. It [the speculation] makes me happy because I think it's an acknowledgment of a good job, but there is nothing more in it than that. I'm focused on my work with Fortaleza. We hope that by the end of the championship we can extract the best of the team and stay in the first division of Brazilian football."
One of the smaller and historically less successful teams in Brazil's top flight, Fortaleza have punched above their weight under Ceni's stewardship.
In 2018, Ceni's first year as manager, Fortaleza won the Brazilian second division title for the first time. He left the club midway through last season to take charge of Cruzeiro, whom he left less than two months later after reportedly falling out with senior players.
He returned to Fortaleza almost immediately, leading the side to ninth in the 20-team Serie A standings in 2019. They are 10th in the current table, only eight points behind leaders Internacional, more than a quarter of the way through the season.
Seven-time Serie A champions Corinthians, meanwhile, are 15th with just two wins from nine matches so far.
Ceni ended his playing career of over 20 years in 2015 after 1,237 matches for Sao Paulo. He was capped 16 times for Brazil's national team and was a part of the Selecao squad that won the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
A specialist free-kick and penalty taker, Ceni is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-scoring professional goalkeeper of all time with 131 goals. Enditem
