Cláudio Taffarel
 |
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel (born 8 May 1966 in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul) is a Brazilian former football goalkeeper. He is of German and Italian descent, and played for Brazil in their victory at the 1994 World Cup.
He conceded only one goal in the first round and two in the knock-out phases (excluding two penalty kicks in the final). In addition to USA 1994, Taffarel helped lead Brazil to second place in the 1998 World Cup in France. In the semi-finals against Netherlands, he played a central role in the 4-2 penalty kick victory, saving the last two attempts. Upon his retirement in 2003, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira offered to arrange a farewell match. Taffarel refused, stating that he was not interested in such fanfare. He did return to play alongside Romário in late 2004 against Mexico to commemorate the 1994 World Cup victory in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
At club level, Taffarel played for Internacional (1984-90), Parma (1990-93 and 2001-02), Reggiana (1993-94), Atlético Mineiro (1994-97), and Galatasaray (1998-2001). For the Brazilian national team, Taffarel is the most capped goalkeeper in their history, with 101 appearances. Other than the 1994 triumph, he also played in the 1990 and 1998 World Cup tournaments. Taffarel was also Brazil's keeper at their Copa America success in 1989 and 1997.
He had a key role in Galatasaray's UEFA Cup triumph over Arsenal in 2000, and was named the man of the match in the final. He also helped Galatasaray defeat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the UEFA Super Cup in 2000 and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2001, performing at the top of his game in victories against clubs such as AC Milan and Real Madrid. While with Parma he won the Coppa Italia.
Taffarel is a born-again Christian who, along with Brazilian football teammates Jorginho and Bismarck Barreto Faria, was featured sharing his faith in a special version of the Jesus film produced and distributed during the 1998 World Cup.
Taffarel signed in April 2004 with his old club Galatasaray as assistant of head coach and also old teammate Gheorghe Hagi. After a short time he returned to Brazil.
Taffarel and his former Atlético Mineiro team-mate Paulo Roberto started up a player agency, with the focus mainly on promising youngsters.[1]
Honours
- Olympic Games 1988 : Silver Medal
- Copa América 1989: Winner
- FIFA World Cup 1994: Winner
- FIFA World Cup 1998: Runner-up
- Coppa Italia: 1992, 2002
- UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1993
- UEFA Cup: 2000
- UEFA Super Cup: 2000
- UEFA Champions League: 2001 Quarter Finalist
- Turkish Super League: 1999, 2000
- Turkish Cup: 1999, 2000
- Minas Gerais State Championship: 1995
- CONMEBOL Cup: 1997
References
- ^ "Fledgling careers in safe hands". FIFA.com. 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
External links
- Cláudio Taffarel – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Articles needing cleanup from January 2008
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from January 2008
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from January 2008
- 1966 births
- People from Rio Grande do Sul
- Living people
- Brazilian footballers
- Brazil international footballers
- Sport Club Internacional players
- Clube Atlético Mineiro players
- Galatasaray S.K. footballers
- Parma F.C. players
- A.C. Reggiana 1919 players
- Serie A footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Italy
- Olympic footballers of Brazil
- Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for Brazil
- 1990 FIFA World Cup players
- 1994 FIFA World Cup players
- 1998 FIFA World Cup players
- Football (soccer) goalkeepers
- FIFA World Cup-winning players
- Brazilians of German descent
- Brazilians of Italian descent
- FIFA Century Club
- Brazilian expatriate footballers
- Brazilian expatriates in Turkey
- Expatriate footballers in Turkey
- Turkish Super League footballers