Afonso Alves
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Afonso Alves Martins Júnior | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Middlesbrough | ||
| Number | 12 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of October 16, 2007 | |||
Afonso Alves Martins Júnior. (born January 30 1981) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as striker for Middlesbrough. He has also been capped by Brazil.
Club career
Early career
Afonso Alves started his career with Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro. In 2002 he left Atlético for Swedish side Örgryte in Gothenburg, and two years later moved to Malmö, where he won the Swedish Champions title that year. He stayed for the 2005 season, scoring 14 in 24 games, becoming top-scorer in the club second year running when Malmö finished fifth.
Heerenveen
He started the 2006 season with a few goals in the spring before moving to SC Heerenveen, where he followed in the footsteps of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Marcus Allbäck, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Georgios Samaras. With a price-tag of 4.5 million euros he is Heerenveen's most expensive signing in the club's history.
Alves finished second in the Swedish goalscorers list two years in a row. In 2007, he finished as top goalscorer of the Eredivisie with 34 goals, which is a club record. Afonso Alves is the third Brazilian to become topscorer in the Dutch first division, joining former PSV Eindhoven strikers Romário and Ronaldo, and the second Brazilian who scored over 30 goals in the same competition, with Ronaldo netting 30 in the season 1994–1995. Other than finishing first in the scorers table, he was runner-up in the race for the European Golden Boot, a single point behind AS Roma midfielder Francesco Totti.
On October 7 2007, in only his second appearance of the season, Alves scored seven goals in his side's 9–0 victory over Eredivisie rivals Heracles Almelo[1], setting a new record in Europe for most goals scored in a single match.
Middlesbrough
He finally ended a tense January transfer window and months of speculation when he moved to English Premier League side Middlesbrough on January 31 2008 at approximately 23:32(GMT) for an undisclosed club record fee[2], thought to be around £12.7m on a four-and-a-half year deal. On Tuesday, February 5, he was granted a work visa and arrived into Teesside to join up with his new team on the following day. He was given a warm samba welcome at Riverside Stadium by over 2000 supporters on February 7.
He made his debut on February 9, 2008 against Fulham as a second half substitute for Lee Dong-Gook. His first Middlesbrough start came on February 27 in an FA Cup home tie against Sheffield United, when he was substituted in the 73rd minute. Middlesbrough eventually won the game 1–0.[3]
His first two goals for Middlesbrough came at Riverside Stadium on April 6, 2008 against Manchester United in a tense 2-2 draw. He went on to net his first hat trick in a Middlesbrough shirt on the last day of the season at home to Man City as his side won 8-1.
International career
On May 17, 2007 Alves received his first call-up for the Brazilian national side for friendlies against England and Turkey.[4] On June 1, in the game against England, Alves was brought on to replace Kaká after 71 minutes of play. He was also part of the Brazilian squad which won the Copa America 2007 in Venezuela. Alves scored his first international goal on September 12, 2007 against Mexico in a 3–1 win.
Career Stats
| Club | Season | Eredivisie | KNVB Cup | Europe | - | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| SC Heerenveen | 2007-08 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 9 | 11 |
| SC Heerenveen | 2006-07 | 31 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | - | - | 38 | 37 |
| Club | Season | Allsvenskan | Swedish Cup | Europe | - | Total | |||||
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Malmö FF | 2006 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 7 | 3 |
| Malmö FF | 2005 | 24 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | - | - | 33 | 17 |
| Malmö FF | 2004 | 24 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 27 | 12 |
| Örgryte IS | 2003 | 21 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | 26 | 15 |
| Örgryte IS | 2002 | 18 | 13 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 18 | 13 |
| Total | 132 | 97 | 9 | 3 | 17 | 8 | - | - | 159 | 108 | |
| a Updated June 1, 2007 | |||||||||||
References
- ^ "Alves sets Eredivisie goal record". Teamtalk.com. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
- ^ "Boro smash transfer record for Alves". mfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ McNulty, Phil (27 February 2008). "Middlesbrough 1-0 Sheff Utd (aet)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "The 'lazy' Brazilian who says he'll catch England napping". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
- ^ "Afonso Alves". ESPN. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
External links
- Afonso Alves at Soccerbase
- Afonso Alves Official website
- ESM Golden shoe standings.
- Afonso Alves: Slavery And Racism In Holland?
