Rivaldo
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | April 19, 1972 | |
| Place of birth | Recife, Brazil | |
| Height | {{{height}}} | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | AEK | |
| Position | Forward | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| 1992 1993 1994-1996 1996-1997 1997-2002 2002-2003 2003 2004-2007 2007 - |
Mogi Mirim EC Corinthians Palmeiras Dep. La Coruña FC Barcelona AC Milan Cruzeiro EC Olympiakos CFP<br |
27(9) 41(17) 104(53) 41(21) 157(86) 22(5) 11(2) 23(12) |
|
* Professional club caps and goals counted for the | ||
Rivaldo, full name Vitor Borba Ferreira, (born April 19, 1972 in Recife) is a Brazilian football player, a World Champion for Brazil at the 2002 World Cup.
Rivaldo signed professional terms at the age of 16 in 1989 with Santa Cruz after impressing local scouts in a junior tournament. He joined Brazilian first division club Mogi-Mirim in 1991.
Rivaldo signed for Corinthians in 1993 and made his international debut in December 1993, scoring the only goal in 1-0 victory over Mexico in a friendly international.
Rivaldo signed for Palmeiras in 1994 and won the Brazilian league championship on the same year. He won the São Paulo state championship with Palmeiras in 1996. He moved to Spain in 1996 and joined Deportivo La Coruña. Rivaldo then transferred to Barcelona in August 1997. He played for Brazil in the 1998 World Cup.
Winning a second Spanish league title with Barcelona in 1999, Rivaldo won both FIFA and World Soccer magazine's World Player of the Year awards. He was voted European Footballer of the Year by France Football magazine.
In June 2002, Barça decided to release Rivaldo from his contract a year before it was due to expire and he signed a three-year contract with the Italian Serie A club A.C. Milan. He left the star-studded Milan after a season of very few starts. After a brief stint back in Brazil with Cruzeiro (11 games played, 2 goals scored), he signed with Greek power Olympiakos for the 2004-05 season and won the Greek championship and the Greek cup (23 games played, 12 goals scored). Rivaldo scored some memorable goals in his first season at Olympiakos, including a fantastic effort in the cup final with a well placed lob from a difficult position close to corner flag. In the last game of that season, Olympiakos won vs Iraklis in an away match in Thessaloniki, with a nice goal by Rivaldo. This win was essential for Olympiakos to take the championship. Rivaldo also scored 2 memorable free kicks during the season, the first was in the local derby vs the other Athens giant, Panathinaikos and the second against English club Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League.
Rivaldo repeated the "double" with Olympiakos in 2006. He has expressed the wish to make the 2007 season the last of his illustrious career.
He has played over 60 games for the Brazilian national team and played in the winning side of the 2002 World Cup. However, he would receive a large fine from FIFA because of his actions in a group stage match of that event against Turkey. During an encounter with Turkey defender Hakan Ünsal, Hakan kicked a ball in Rivaldo's general direction while the referee was looking away. Rivaldo held his hands to his face as if he had been hit there by the ball, and the referee was successfully deceived into sending Hakan Ünsal off. Television replays proved that Rivaldo was not hit by the ball in the face, but in the body.
Pelé named him in his 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceramony.
On May 12, 2007, Rivaldo quit Olympiakos, a day before ceremonies by Olympiakos to celebrate winning a championship during their final match at home against last-place Ionikos Piraeus. Rivaldo said that for the last 15 days he had made efforts to meet personally with Olympiakos boss Socrates Kokkalis to discuss a new contract, but without a response. "I have not seen such conduct during my entire career," complained Rivaldo.
On the 29th of May 2007, he reportedly agreed to a 2-year contract with AEK, preferring to stay in Greece rather than look for a more lucrative contract elsewhere. Greek press reports said Rivaldo will be getting 1.3 million euros a year for playing with AEK plus bonuses if the Greek team does well in the Champions League or wins the domestic league crown. Rivaldo had been receiving 1.9 million euros annually at Olympiakos, it was reported.