Afonso Alves

Football player infobox
playername = Afonso Alves


fullname = Afonso Alves Martins Junior
height = height|ft=6|in=1
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1981|1|30|mf=y
cityofbirth = Belo Horizonte
countryofbirth = Brazil
currentclub = Middlesbrough
clubnumber = 12
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years= 2001–2002
2002–2003
2004–2006
2006–2008
2008–
clubs = Atlético-MG
Örgryte IS
Malmö FF
SC Heerenveen
Middlesbrough
caps(goals) = 08 0(1)
40 (23)
55 (29)
39 (45)
15 0(7)
nationalyears = 2007–
nationalteam = Brazil
nationalcaps(goals) = 08 0(1)
pcupdate = 19:28, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = October 16, 2007

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

Club career

Early career

Afonso Alves started his career with Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro. In 2002 he left Atlético Mineiro for Swedish side Örgryte IS in Gothenburg, and two years later moved to Malmö FF, 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.

Heerenveen

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, 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 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 Eindhoven strikers Romário and Ronaldo, and the second Brazilian who scored over 30 goals in the same competition, with Ronaldo netting 30 in the season 1994–1995. Other than finishing first in the scorers table, he was runner-up 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 victory over Eredivisie rivals Heracles Almelo [cite web | title=Report: Heerenveen vs SC Heracles Almelo | publisher=soccernet.com | url=http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=229746&cc=5901&league=NED.1 | accessdate=2008-08-31 ] , setting a new Eredivisie record for most goals scored in a single match.

Middlesbrough

He finally ended a tense January transfer window and months of speculation when he moved to Premier League side Middlesbrough F.C. on January 31 2008 right 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. [cite web|title=Boro smash transfer record for Alves|publisher=mfc.co.uk|url=http://www.mfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,1~1230553,00.html|accessdate=2008-01-31]

He made his debut on February 9, 2008 against Fulham as a second half substitute for Lee Dong-Gook. His first Middlesbrough start came on February 27 in an FA Cup home tie against Sheffield United, when he was substituted in the 73 minute. Middlesbrough eventually won the game 1–0. [cite news
url=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7260417.stm
title=Middlesbrough 1-0 Sheff Utd (aet)
date=27 February 2008
accessdate=2008-02-27
publisher=BBC Sport
first=Phil
last=McNulty]

His first two goals for Middlesbrough came at Riverside Stadium on April 6 2008 against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7320230.stm
title=Middlesbrough 2-2 Man Utd
date=2008-04-06
accessdate=2008-05-11
publisher=BBC Sport
first=David
last=Ornstein] . He finished his first season in England with a hat-trick in an 8–1 home victory against Manchester City. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7381794.stm
title=Middlesbrough 8-1 Man City
date=2008-05-11
accessdate=2008-05-11
publisher=BBC Sport
first=Chris
last=Bevan] His first goal of the 2008/2009 season came on 30th August 2008, where he scored a magnificent 25-yard free-kick which flew into the top corner of the Stoke City net. Match of the Day saw fit to nominate this goal for Goal of the Month.

International career

On May 17, 2007 Alves received his first call-up for the Brazilian national side for friendlies against England and Turkey. [cite web | title=The 'lazy' Brazilian who says he'll catch England napping | publisher=Daily Mirror | url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=458867&in_page_id=1779 | accessdate=2007-06-01 ] On June 1, in the game against England, Alves was brought on to replace Kaká after 71 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 September 12, 2007 against Mexico in a 3–1 win.

Career Stats

References

External links

*soccerbase|46545
* [http://www.alvesofficial.com/ Afonso Alves Official website]
* [http://www.eusm.eu/item/goldenshoe.htm ESM Golden shoe standings.]
* [http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=407789 Afonso Alves: Slavery And Racism In Holland?]