Why does Deco play international soccer for Portugal and not Brazil?

Answer 1

Dinero, Brazilian clubs are not generally as wealthy.

First of all, the above answer is just terrible so forget about it, the question was about international football and NOT club football. The answer however begins at the club level, Deco was signed by a Portuguese side to play for them because they scouted him playing in Brazil, when he played in Portugal he chose to become a Portuguese citizen by naturalization therefore making him eligible to play for the portuguese national team. Brazils national team is very hard to breach for a player which gave Deco much reason to try his luck with a capable portuguese side that was willing to take him..both countries speak portuguese, chances are his relatives are all from Portugal...he probably had no reason to not choose Portugal as his international team. He moved to Europe for the money, but he could've remained a Brazilian citizen, he chose to play for Portugal.