Careca

Careca

Personal information
Full name	Antônio de Oliveira Filho
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	retired
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1982	Guarani	63	(38)
1983–1987	São Paulo	67	(54)
1987–1993	Napoli	161	(73)
1994–1996	Kashiwa Reysol	60	(31)
1997	Santos	9	(2)
1998-1999	Campinas	?	(?)
1999	São José (RS) (loan)	?	(?)
2005	Garforth Town	1	(0)
International career
1982–1993	Brazil	60	(29)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Antônio de Oliveira Filho (born October 5, 1960), better known as Careca (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈɾɛkɐ]), is a former football player. During his career Careca played for several clubs, he is most famous for his time with Italian side Napoli and also his contributions to the Brazilian national football team.

Club career

Careca began his footballing career in his home state of São Paulo with local side Guarani in 1978. With his finishing ability and devastating pace quickly established himself as one of his country's best young strikers. With Guarani, he won the Brazilian Championship during his first season and the Brazilian Second Division in 1981.

By 1983 he had been signed by São Paulo, he continued to gather notoriety because of his impressive goals to games ratio and by 1986, Careca led São Paulo to the Brazilian Championship, beating his former club Guarani in the final. He was awarded Bola de Ouro the same year, which is the Brazilian equivalent of Footballer of the Year.

Move to Napoli

In the summer of 1987 Careca moved to Italian Serie A champions Napoli, where he was part of the "Ma-Gi-Ca" forward lineup with Bruno Giordano and Diego Maradona. Careca's first season at Napoli was an unsuccessful one, despite his 13 goals: the team were knocked out in the first round of the European Cup by Real Madrid. and they lost the title in the final games of the season.

However, his second season was far more successful. The team won the UEFA Cup, with Careca scoring a goal in each leg of the final, one a memorable lobbed goal, and finished second in Serie A. In 1990 Careca finally won the Scudetto with Napoli, in what would prove to be effectively Maradona's final season with the club. Careca would spend a further three years with Napoli, establishing a partnership with Gianfranco Zola, during which Napoli failed to win any silverware.

Later stages of playing career

In 1993 Careca left Italy to play for new Japanese J. League team Kashiwa Reysol. Careca spent four years with the team, during which time he helped them to promotion to the J1 league in 1994. He returned to Brazil in 1997 with Santos, he spent a year with the club before joining the lower-league team São José (RS), where he finished his career in 1999.

Careca retired having played 60 games for Brazil, and scored 29 goals.

Garforth Town owner and manager, Simon Clifford, persuaded Careca to play the majority of a friendly game against Guiseley in the summer of 2005.

International career

Careca first broke into the national side of Brazil during 1982, but was forced to miss the 1982 World Cup in Spain due to an injury. His place in the squad for that tournament was taken by Roberto Dinamite.

It was during the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico, that Careca really established himself in world football. He ended the tournament, during which Brazil were memorably eliminated by France at the quarter-final stage, with five goals, placing him second in the Golden Boot rankings behind England’s Gary Lineker. In 1990, Careca was part of the Brazilian team that was defeated by Argentina in the second round. His last cap was earned in August 1993.

Club statistics

Template:Football player club statistics 1 Template:Football player club statistics 2 |- |1978||rowspan="5"|Guarani||rowspan="3"|Série A||28||13||||||||||||||28||13 |- |1979||1||0||||||||||||||1||0 |- |1980||17||7||||||||||||||17||7 |- |1981||Série B||14||8||||||||||||||14||8 |- |1982||Série A||17||18||||||||||||||17||18 |- |1983||rowspan="5"|São Paulo||rowspan="5"|Série A||20||17||||||||||||||20||17 |- |1984||0||0||||||||||||||0||0 |- |1985||17||12||||||||||||||17||12 |- |1986||31||25||||||||||||||31||25 |- |1987||0||0||||||||||||||0||0 Template:Football player club statistics 2 |- |1987/88||rowspan="6"|Napoli||rowspan="6"|Serie A||26||13||||||||||||||26||13 |- |1988/89||30||19||||||||||||||30||19 |- |1989/90||22||10||||||||||||||22||10 |- |1990/91||29||9||||||||||||||29||9 |- |1991/92||33||15||||||||||||||33||15 |- |1992/93||24||7||||||||||||||24||7 Template:Football player club statistics 2 |- |1993||rowspan="4"|Kashiwa Reysol||rowspan="2"|Football League||0||0||1||1||6||4||colspan="2"|-||7||5 |- |1994||25||19||0||0||1||1||colspan="2"|-||26||20 |- |1995||rowspan="2"|J. League 1||30||10||0||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||30||10 |- |1996||5||2||0||0||6||3||colspan="2"|-||11||5 Template:Football player club statistics 3145||100||||||||||||||145||100 Template:Football player club statistics 4164||73||||||||||||||164||73 Template:Football player club statistics 460||31||1||1||13||8||colspan="2"|-||74||40 Template:Football player club statistics 5369||204||1||1||13||8||||||383||213 |}

National team statistics

Template:Football player national team statistics |- |1982||4||0 |- |1983||11||5 |- |1984||0||0 |- |1985||7||3 |- |1986||11||8 |- |1987||4||2 |- |1988||0||0 |- |1989||6||6 |- |1990||7||3 |- |1991||1||0 |- |1992||2||0 |- |1993||7||2 |- !Total||60||29 |}

Honours

Club

• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 1978, 1986
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série B: 1981
• Campeonato Paulista: 1985, 1987
• UEFA Cup: 1989
• Serie A: 1990
• Supercoppa Italiana: 1991

Individual

• Bola de Prata: 1982, 1985
• Bola de Ouro: 1986
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Top Scorer: 1986
• Campeonato Paulista Top Scorer: 1985

External links

• Careca – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Careca at National-Football-Teams.com