Rivaldo

Olympic medal record
Men's Football

Rivaldo
	Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira "Ribo".
Personal information
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Olympiacos
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2005

Rivaldo, full name Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira, (born April 19, 1972 in Recife, Pernambuco) is a Brazilian Football (soccer) player. He was part of the winning team of the

, and was honoured as World and European Footballer of the Year in 1999. He is known for his play making capablities

and he is one of the best attaking midfielders of all times.He is also known for his brilliant Bicycle kicks.

Beginnings in Brazil

Rivaldo signed professional terms at the age of 16 in 1989 with Santa Cruz FC. Two years later he moved to the state of São Paulo where he played for Mogi Mirim EC in the second tier of Brazilian football.

In 1993 the tall - 186cm - forward got an engagement in the state capital to play for SC Corinthians in the first division. In the same year he debuted for the Brazilian national football team, scoring the only goal in the friendly match against Mexico.

In the next year he switched local allegiances and moved to SE Palmeiras helping the club defending its league championship. In 1993 and 1994 he was also honoured by the authoritative publication Placar with the Bola de Prata for the best player in his field position.

Transfer to Europe

In 1996 he joined Deportivo La Coruña in the Spanish first division, where he stayed only for one season before moving to the Catalan giants FC Barcelona - the transfer fee was an enormous € 24 million.

Brazil continued to call him up for their national side. With the national team he won the Copa América in 1997 and participated in the

. In the successful defence of the Copa América in 1999 Rivaldo earned himself the distinction as top scorer of the tournament with 5 goals, two thereof in the 3-0 victory over Uruguay in the final.

In 1998 and 1999 he won the Spanish league title with Barcelona, In 1999 Rivaldo also won both, the FIFA and the European Footballer of the Year, honours.

In 2002 he signed a three-year contract with the Italian Serie A club AC Milan, where by the end of the 2002/03 season he won the Italian Cup and the European Champions League, where he did not play in the final.

As his time in Milan proved a mutually disappointing affair, he left the star-studded Milan after a season of very few starts, partly due to injury issues. He briefly returned to Brazil playing for Cruzeiro in Belo Horizonte. In 2004 he returned to Europe joining Greek Alpha Ethniki division club Olympiacos where he won with the team the national championship and cup. Rivaldo scored some memorable goals in his first season at Olympiacos, including a fantastic effort in the cup final with a well placed lob from a difficult position close to corner flag. In the last game of that season, Olympiacos beat Iraklis in an away match in Thessaloniki, with a nice goal by Rivaldo. This win was essential for Olympiacos to take the championship. Rivaldo also scored two memorable free kicks during the season, the first in the local derby against the other Athens giant, Panathinaikos and the second against English club Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League.

owen hill is better then rivaldo by a mile

Unsporting conduct at the 2002 World Cup

The Zenith of his career was the winning of the

in Japan and South Korea. He scored in the first five games for Brazil. Ronaldo had done so for four matches, allowing journalists to question where there was any rivalry between the two athletes. Rivaldo refused, insisting that all he wanted was to be the world champion. His spectacular goal against Belgium in the second round resulted in the Belgian coach calling him a champion. Ronaldinho helped Rivaldo score a crucial goal against England in the 2-1 win at the quarterfinals. Brazil went on to win the match and the tournament.

Some argue that his early performance at the event was tainted by an unsporting misconduct in the group match against Turkey. At a match interruption, Turkish defender Alpay kicked a ball hard towards Rivaldo and hit his thigh. Rivaldo fell over holding his hands to his face indicating that he was hit there. The referee sent Alpay off. After a video review Rivaldo was fined $4,500 (USD) by FIFA for 'simulating'.

Rivaldo has been center of criticism when Brazil did not win matches, especially during the qualifying campaign in 2000. In fact, in a 1-0 win over Colombia, he was booed so heavily by the home crowd that he threatened to retire from playing for his country.

He was also center of numerous tug of wars between European clubs and the Brazilian national team. In one incident in the summer of 2001, Rivaldo had to play an exhibition match against Panama for Brazil, commute to Poland for Barcelona, return to Brazil for a qualifying match against Paraguay for Brazil within ten days.

Between 1993 and 2003 Rivaldo played a total of 72 matches for the Brazilian Seleção (where he scored 34).

Pelé named him in his 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony.

Career overview

Team Honours
Period	Team	Titles
1989-1991	Santa Cruz FC (PE)
1991-1993	Mogim Mirim EC (SP)
1993-1994	SC Corinthians Paulista (SP)
1994-1996	SE Palmeiras (SP)	1994 - Championship
1996-1997	CR Deportivo La Coruña
1997-2002	FC Barcelona	1998 - Championship 1999 - Championship
2002-2003	AC Milan	2003 - European Champions League 2003 - Cup
2003-2004	Cruzeiro EC Belo Horizonte (MG)
2004-*	Olympiakos CFP Pireaus	2005 - Championship 2005 - Cup 2006 - Championship 2006 - Cup
1993-2003	Brazil	1997 - Copa América 1999 - Copa América 2002 - World Cup
Notes:	PE = Pernambuco, SP = São Paulo, MG = Minas Gerais
Personal Distinctions
1999	World Footballer of the Year
1999	European Footballer of the Year
1993	Brazilian Bola de Prata
1994	Brazilian Bola de Prata
1999	Top Scorer Copa América

External links

Preceded by Zinedine Zidane	European Footballer of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Luis Figo
Preceded by Zinedine Zidane	FIFA World Player of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Zinedine Zidane