Afonso Alves

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Afonso Alves
Personal information
Full name	Afonso Alves Martins Júnior
Date of birth	January 30, 1981 (1981-01-30) (age 28)
Place of birth	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Middlesbrough
Number	12
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2002 2002–2003 2004–2006 2006–2008 2008–	Atlético-MG Örgryte IS Malmö FF SC Heerenveen Middlesbrough	03 0(1) 39 (23) 55 (29) 39 (45) 42 (10)
National team2
2007	Brazil	08 0(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:29, 12 May 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of October 16, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Afonso Alves Martins Júnior (born 30 January 1981) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Middlesbrough. He has also been capped by Brazil.

[edit] Early life

Alves was born on January 30, 1981, in Brazil's third biggest city, Belo Horizonte. He was brought up by his mother, Dona Eliade, and has a brother, Alexsander, and sister, Alexandra. He is also a relative of fellow Brazilian Dani Alves, who is a full-back for Barcelona. His father died when he was nine-years-old.^[1]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Afonso Alves started his career with Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro. In 2002 he left Atlético Mineiro for Swedish side Örgryte in Göteborg, and two years later moved to Malmö, where he won the Swedish League that year. He stayed for the 2005 season, scoring 14 in 24 games, becoming the clubs top-scorer for the second year running when Malmö finished fifth.

[edit] Heerenveen

Afonso with Heerenveen

He started the 2006 season with a few goals in the spring before moving to 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, he is Heerenveen's most expensive signing in the club's history.

Alves finished second in the Dutch 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 strikers Romário and Ronaldo, and the second Brazilian who scored over 30 goals in the same competition, with Ronaldo netting 30 in the 1994–95 season. Other than finishing first in the scorers table, he was runner-up in the race for the European Golden Boot, a single point behind Roma forward 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,^[2] setting a new Eredivisie record for most goals scored in a single match.

[edit] Middlesbrough

Alves with Middlesbrough

He finally ended a tense January transfer window and months of speculation when he moved to Premier League side Middlesbrough on 31 January 2008, just before the end of the transfer window for an undisclosed club record fee thought to be around £12.7m, signing a four and a half year contract.^[3]

He made his debut on 9 February, against Fulham as a second half substitute for Lee Dong-Gook. His first Middlesbrough start came on 27 February in an FA Cup home tie against Sheffield United, when he was substituted in the 73 minute. Middlesbrough eventually won the game 1–0.^[4]

His first two goals for Middlesbrough came at the Riverside Stadium on 6 April against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw.^[5] He finished his first season in England with a hat-trick in an 8–1 home victory against Manchester City.^[6] His first goal of the 2008–09 season came on 30 August, where he scored a 25-yard free-kick which flew into the top corner of the Stoke City net ^[7]. He then scored goals against Blackburn Rovers and a penalty against Manchester City, two against Barrow and one against local rivals Sunderland with a goal from 18 yards out.

[edit] International career

On May 17, 2007, Alves received his first call-up for the Brazilian national team for friendlies against England and Turkey.^[8] On June 1, in the game against England, Alves was brought on to replace Kaká after 71 minutes of play and very nearly scored after a Wes Brown slip. 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.

[edit] Personal life

Alves left Brazil as a 21-year-old in 2002 to move to Sweden. He has a son, Felipe Henrique, who is a footballer at Atletico Mineiro's Tupinambas Academy, and lives with Alves' former girlfriend in Brazil.^[1]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Afonso Alves

• Afonso Alves career stats at Soccerbase
• Official website (English)(Portuguese)
• ESM Golden shoe standings.
• Afonso Alves: Slavery And Racism In Holland?
• Middlesbrough profile

v • d • e Brazil squad – Copa América 2007 Winners (8th Title) 1 Helton • 2 Maicon • 3 Alex • 4 Juan • 5 Mineiro • 6 Gilberto • 7 Elano • 8 Gilberto Silva • 9 Vágner Love • 10 Diego • 11 Robinho • 12 Doni • 13 Daniel Alves • 14 Alex Silva • 15 Naldo • 16 Kléber • 17 Josué • 18 Fernando • 19 Júlio Baptista • 20 Anderson • 21 Afonso Alves • 22 Fred • Coach: Dunga