Jô

Jô

Personal information
Full name	João Alves de Assis Silva
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Manchester City
Number	14
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:00, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Olympic medal record
Representing Brazil
Men's Football
	2008 Beijing	Team Competition

João Alves de Assis Silva (born March 20, 1987 in São Paulo) and commonly referred to as Jô is a Brazilian football striker, playing for Manchester City.

Club career

Corinthians

Jô played for Brazilian side Corinthians during the years of 2003–2005. He made 85 appearances scoring 13 goals. But he was later transferred to Russian club CSKA Moscow in 2005.

CSKA Moscow

Jô scored 14 goals in his first 18 appearances for CSKA Moscow. In the 2008 edition of the UEFA Champions League, Jo scored two goals in the matches against Inter Milan, one being in the dramatic 4-2 loss at the San Siro. Altogether Jô appeared in over 70 games for CSKA Moscow and in 5 Champions League games

Manchester City

Jô joined English Premier League club Manchester City on July 2, 2008 for a then club-record fee, which has not been officially disclosed, but believed to be in the region of £18,000,000 - £20,000,000. He was given the number 14 shirt by manager Mark Hughes.

Upon signing for the club he said, "After I spoke to the manager I was very pleased. I was told Manchester City is a club going forward at the moment. "We can go places, that is our objective. We thought about it and I decided to come to Manchester City for that reason." City also had to fight off interest from other clubs including Spanish Primera Liga side Valencia, as the 21-year-old confirmed: "I decided to come to Manchester City because it is one of the clubs who showed more interest in me, although I had other offers as well."

Jô made his debut in the first qualifying round of the 2008-09 UEFA Cup against EB/Streymur, a team from the Faroe Islands. City won the game 2 - 0 with goals from Martin Petrov and Dietmar Hamann. He also played in the 2nd leg Qualifying match against FC Midtjylland on 28 August, seeing his side qualify for Europe.

International career

Jô received his first call-up to the Brazil national football team in May 2007, and was in the squad to play against England last year, but did not play. He then made his international debut in a friendly against Turkey, in June 2007.

Jô was named in the Brazilian squad for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He scored a goal in the 0-3 win over Singapore, a Pre-olympic friendly. After snatching a handful of mostly-substitute appearances in the Olympics, he then was able to score two goals in the Bronze medal playoff in his country's 3-0 victory over Belgium.

Sporting titles and awards

Corinthians

• São Paulo State Championship: 2003
• Brazilian Série A: 2005

CSKA Moscow

• Russian Super Cup: 2006, 2007
• Russian Premier League: 2006
• Russian Cup: 2006, 2008