RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian lineswoman Ana Paula Oliveira has no regrets about posing nude for Playboy magazine even though she has not been selected to officiate at a professional game since.
However, the 29-year-old, who has taken to refereeing amateur games, was still hoping to be given the chance to the return to the touchline at top-flight matches.
"I want to make it clear that I have no regrets, on the contrary I have a strong personality," she told Brazilian television before taking charge of a game in the small town of Maracai, around 450 km west of Sao Paulo.
"Everywhere I go, I get a lot of support from the public and people tell me that if I persist, I will get another chance.
"This is not the same as being at a top game but it helps."
Television pictures showed a crowd of several thousand people -- more than some Brazilian first division games -- turned out to watch, many apparently more interested in Oliveira than the match itself.
Oliveira, who has not officially been suspended since the magazine was published in July, last month made a tearful public appeal to the Brazilian Football Confederation's refereeing commission to allow her to officiate again.
"I will do the impossible to come back," said Oliveira, who earlier this year was given a three-match ban for her performance in a Botafogo-Figueirense Copa Brasil tie.
