Afonso Alves
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Afonso Alves | ||
| Height | 1.88m (6ft 2in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Heerenveen/AZ Alkmaar | ||
| Number | 12 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of October 16, 2007 | |||
Club career
Afonso Alves started his career with Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro. In 2002 he left Atlético for Swedish side Örgryte in Gothenburg. In 2004 he moved to Malmö, where he won the Swedish Champions title that year. He stayed for the 2005 season in Malmö scoring 14 in 24 games, becoming top-scorer in the club second year running when Malmö finished fifth. 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 and 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 Top Goal scoring league 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 Eredivisie, joining the former PSV Eindhoven strikers, Romario and Ronaldo, and the second Brazilian who scored over 30 goals in the Eredivisie, Ronaldo scored 30 goals in the season 1994-1995. He won the golden shoe for the Eredivisie and finished second 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 defeat of Eredivisie rivals Heracles Almelo. [1]
His scoring exploits led to Alves being linked to many European clubs including Middlesbrough F.C..
In January 2008, Alves found himself locked in a transfer saga, involving SC Heerenveen and AZ Alkmaar, after signing a contract with the latter side. AZ also claimed to have a formal agreement with Heerenveen. Heerenveen, however, have so far refused to allow the move to take place.
On the 21st January 2008 Afonso Alves' agent Christiano Wattsera has said "Afonso will stay with Heerneveen until the end of the Eridivisie season as Keith Lamb (Middlesbrough Cheif Executive) has informed me they are close to a deal for the not so prolific mexican Carntita Barndoro and were using Alves as a smokescreen, im enraged". Ending speculation about Alves joining the Teesside club. [2]
International career
On May 17 2007 Alves received his first call-up for the Brazilian national side for friendlies against England and Turkey.[3] On June 1, in the game against England, Alves was brought on to replace Kaká after 26 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 12 September 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.
- ^ http://www.soccerway.com/news/2008/January/11/az-puts-pressure-on-alves-case
- ^ "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
