When Bidvest Wits found their way back to the South African topflight in 2006 after a season in the lower divisions the Clever Boys recruited a pair of Brazilian footballers as part of the club's reinforcements for their premiership return.
Danilo Julio, one of the duo originated from the famous Brazilian club Vasco da Gama and made the switch to South Africa after battling to establish himself as a first-team player.
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Julio was 20 at the time and merely seeking a way out of Vasco – a club faced with a myriad of financial challenges at the time.
After spending three weeks at Serbian club FK Partizan Belgrade, Julio suddenly heard of interest from Wits in South Africa.
It was a club he had never heard anything of just like South Africa was a country he had absolutely no knowledge of besides being due to host the 2010 World Cup in four years time.
The Brazilian made 25 appearances and scored three goals in the two years at Wits.
"The experience in South Africa was amazing because I made friends and grew as a man in an organised club while most importantly getting to learn English," Danilo tells KickOff from Rio de Janeiro.
Unlike many Brazilians, Julio's command of English is currently so impressive that there is little, if any, hint that his first language is Portuguese.
"I didn't speak a word of English when I got there, but started learning the language at an English school which is why I was also planning to obtain a degree had I stayed longer, because the club was offering scholarships to study.
"I always knew that a football career was short and that was why my priority was to build a house for my poor mom who raised me on her own instead of buying an expensive car.
"With my drive to study, I first had to learn English which is why I was then enrolled in a course at an English International School where I studied with Almiro Lobo.
"The plus was that the club paid for the lessons, so it wasn't even much easier for me.
"We used to train only in the morning and in the afternoon, I went to English lessons from 13:00 to 17:00, which is why I speak English as well as I do now.
"All the jobs that I got when I stopped playing football here in Brazil have been because I speak English the way I do now.
"My first job after I stopped playing football in 2010 due to injuries was as an English tutor here in Brazil.
"It was not a job I chose but the job chose me because of my ability to speak and write English.
"The only other thing that I knew besides playing football was speaking and writing English which I have now made a career from.
"I opened an English school which struggled through the pandemic but I'm now teaching online full-time with the benefit of working from home.
"I have taught many people who have then traveled abroad, and I help guys working for international companies who need English for meetings especially when negotiating or doing presentations.
"For a while, I also worked on translating documents.
"With English, I learned it like a kid in an environment where the language is spoken.
"Such was my love for the country and the culture that I even fell in love with isiZulu which was spoken by most of my teammates.
"One of my plans was also to learn isiZulu but first I had to start with English.
"When I heard the isiZulu dialect for the first time, I started learning a few things and my understanding is beyond merely greeting.
"I mean I know what hamba [go], gijima [run], ngiyakuthanda [I love you], uhlala kuphi [where do you live], uNkulunkulu akubusise [God bless you], udlile [did you eat], woza [come], thatha [take], thula [keep quiet]…I had fun.
"I left South Africa 15 years ago after having stayed there for two years but I can safely say I can still recognize isiZulu when it is spoken because I still know quite several words.
"When two people speak isiZulu in front of me I can have a lower-end measure of understanding what they are on about.
"The simple things I can understand especially when spoken slowly and wouldn't need a year to improve it to a level of also responding with confidence.
"If I had stayed there longer, I would have learned isiZulu.
"One thing about me is that when I arrived in South Africa, I tried to learn about the history of South Africa which included apartheid and Nelson Mandela.
"I read books, went to the museums, and mingled with the people on the ground who spoke the local language.
"It was an important stage of my life which is why I remain this grateful about my time in SA up to now," says Danilo.
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