Nilmar Honorato da Silva

Infobox Football biography
playername = Nilmar


fullname = Nilmar Honorato da Silva
height = height|m=1.80
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1984|7|14
cityofbirth = Bandeirantes, Paraná
countryofbirth = Brazil
clubnumber =
position = Striker
year = 2007
currentclub = Internacional
youthyears = 1999–2001
youthclubs = Internacional
years = 2002–2004
2004–2005
2005–2007
2007–
clubs = Internacional
Lyon
→ Corinthians (loan)
Internacional
caps(goals) = 62 (24)
32 0(2)
55 (39)
32 0(15)
nationalyears = 2003–
nationalteam = Brazil
nationalcaps(goals) = 06 0(1)
pcupdate = 00:00, 05 November 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 16:41, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Nilmar Honorato da Silva or simply Nilmar (born 14 July 1984 in Bandeirantes, Paraná) is a Brazilian footballer, currently playing for Internacional.

Background

After coming from the Internacional youth teams, Nilmar was signed for just over £5 million by Lyon initially as cover for the now ex-Lyon player Giovane Élber. He signed with a clause in his contract that stated that he "could" be loaned back to Internacional once Elber was fit.

However, he was very impressive, scoring two debut goals as a substitute against Rennes. He did not score any more goals in Ligue 1 that season, and with the impending signing of Fred, Lyon were forced to loan him (this time to Corinthians) to stay within the limit of non-EU players.

Lyon already had four established forwards anyway: Fred, Sylvain Wiltord, Milan Baros, and Sidney Govou. Since he was very impressive at Corinthians, the South American club eventually bought him outright for a fee that could rise to £6.8 million.

At Corinthians the young striker hit the target on his debut against São Paulo Futebol Clube with almost his first touch of the ball and he continued to impress fans and critics alike throughout his first season. His skill, speed and mazy dribbles helped win him a place in the Brazilian League all-star team for the 2005 season.

On August 17, 2007, the Justiça do Trabalho (literally, court of employment) cancelled Nilmar's contract because Sport Club Corinthians Paulista owed the player two million euros. Nilmar could then sign for any club for free, while Sport Club Corinthians Paulista must still pay the eight million euros they owed to Olympique Lyonnais for Nilmar's original transfer in 2005. (FIFA could threaten to relegate the Brazilian club and block future transfers if the debt was not paid). Due to Nilmar being clubless at the time of the production of the EA Sports game FIFA 08, he is not in the game despite being in FIFA 07, the previous installment of the series.

In the following month, Nilmar returned to Internacional, despite the interest of major clubs on Europe and Brazil. He made his new debut for the Porto Alegre team on 04 November 2007, when Inter beat Vasco da Gama 2-1.

In January, Internacional won the Dubai Cup and Nilmar scored an impressive half-bicycle winner against Internazionale. Despite new injuries, he currently scored 7 goals in the Brasileirão and is one of the squad's most important players.

National team

Nilmar has been capped five times for the Brazil national football team. Nilmar's debut was against Mexico in the Gold Cup on July 13 2003. His first and only goal came against Haiti on August 18 2004. More recently, Nilmar was called up to the national team for the first time by coach Dunga in order to replace the injured Rafael Sobis for World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Bolivia. Nilmar debuted on what was a disappointing performance for Brazil as he came on late in the game to replace Ronaldinho in their 0:0 draw with a ten-man Bolivia.

Honors and awards

*Campeonato Gaúcho, winner: 2003, 2004, 2008
*FIFA World Youth Championship, winner: 2003
*Campeonato Paulista, top goalscorer: 2006
*Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, winner: 2005
*French Super Cup, winner: 2005
*French Championship, winner: 2005
*Dubai Cup, winner: 2008

Personal honours

*São Paulo state league's top scorer: 2006

External links

*pt icon [http://200.159.15.35/registro/registro.aspx?s=149237 CBF]
*pt icon [http://www.zerozero.pt/uk/jogador.php?id=5470 zerozero.pt]
*en icon [http://www.channel4.com/sport/french_football/focus/nilmar.html French Focus]
*pt icon [http://globoesporte.globo.com/ESP/JogadorFutebol/0,,AAL3936-4274,00.html globoesporte]
*fr icon [http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheJoueur21363.html l'equipe]