BELO HORIZONTE, Dec 28 (SW) - After playing 14 years in Europe, Giovane Elber has returned to his native Brazil and agreed to a contract with top-flight side Cruzeiro, effective on 2 January.

The 33-year-old Elber had his contract terminated by mutual consent earlier this month after he was fined €10,000 for accusing his coach of lying over why Elber was left out of the Gladbach team.

Elber had only been with the club since January of 2005 when he signed from Lyon and had played most of his career in Germany.

Originally signed by AC Milan in 1991, Elber played three season on loan at Swiss side Grasshoppers before signing for Stuttgart where he scored 41 goals in 92 games over three seasons.

In 1997, he began his career at Bayern Munich and won four German championships plus the 2001 European title and scored over 90 goals in his seven-plus seasons there before leaving for Lyon in the middle of the 2003/04 season.

Elber is the all-time leading scorer in Bundesliga history for a player born outside of Germany with 133 total.