Rivaldo

Rivaldo, full name Vitor Borba Ferreira, (born April 19, 1972 in Recife) is a Brazilian football player, a World Champion for Brazil at the .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rivaldo signed professional terms at the age of 16 in 1989 with Santa Cruz after impressing local scouts in a junior tournament. He joined Brazilian first division club Mogi-Mirim in 1991.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rivaldo signed for Corinthians in 1993 and made his international debut in December 1993, scoring the only goal in 1-0 victory over Mexico in a friendly international.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rivaldo signed for Palmeiras in 1994 and won the Brazilian league championship on the same year. He won the S?o Paulo state championship with Palmeiras in 1996. He moved to Spain in 1996 and joined Deportivo La Coru?a. Rivaldo then transferred to Barcelona in August 1997. He played for Brazil in the .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Winning a second Spanish league title with Barcelona in 1999, Rivaldo won both FIFA and World Soccer magazine's World Player of the Year awards. He was voted European Footballer of the Year by France Football magazine.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In June 2002, Bar?a decided to release Rivaldo from his contract a year before it was due to expire and he signed a three-year contract with the Italian Serie A club A.C. Milan. He left the star-studded Milan after a season of very few starts. After a brief stint back in Brazil with Cruzeiro (11 games played, 2 goals scored), he signed with Greek power Olympiakos for the 2004-05 season and won the Greek championship and the Greek cup (23 games played, 12 goals scored). Rivaldo scored some memorable goals in his first season at Olympiakos, including a fantastic effort in the cup final with a well placed lob from a difficult position close to corner flag. Rivaldo also scored 2 memorable free kicks during the season, the first was in the local derby vs the other Athens giant, Panathinaikos and the second against English club Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He has played over 60 games for the Brazilian national team and played in the winning side of the 2002 World Cup. However, he would receive a large fine from FIFA because of his actions in a group stage match of that event against Turkey. During an encounter with Turkey defender Alpay ?zalan, Alpay kicked a ball in his general direction while the referee was looking away. Rivaldo held his hands to his face as if he had been hit there by the ball, and the referee was successfully deceived into sending Alpay off. Television replays proved that Rivaldo was not hit by the ball in the face, but in the body.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pel? named him in his 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceramony.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1972: 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday....

Recife: Meaning "reef" in Portuguese; Recife, population 1.3 million, 3.5 million in the metropolitan area, is the second largest city in the Northeastern Region of Brazil and the largest metropolitan area. It is the 5th largest metropolitan area in Brazil. It is the capital of the Pernambuco state and the ...

Brazil: The Federative Republic of Brazil (Rep?blica Federativa do Brasil in Portuguese) is the largest and most populous country in Latin America, and the fifth largest in the world. Spanning a vast area between central South America and the Atlantic Ocean, it borders Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia,...