This is a Portuguese name; the first family name is Alves and the second is Martins.

Afonso Alves

Personal information
Full name	Afonso Alves Martins Júnior
Date of birth	January 30, 1981 (1981-01-30) (age 29)
Place of birth	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Al-Rayyan Sports Club
Number	10
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2002	Atlético-MG	3	(1)
2002–2003	Örgryte IS	39	(23)
2004–2006	Malmö FF	55	(29)
2006–2008	SC Heerenveen	39	(45)
2008–2009	Middlesbrough	42	(10)
2009–	Al-Sadd	15	(3)
2010–	Al-Rayyan Sports Club(Loan)	6	(9)
National team‡
2007	Brazil	8	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17/3/2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17/3/2010

Afonso Alves Martins Júnior (born 30 January 1981) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Qatar side Al-Rayyan Sports Club. He has also been capped by Brazil. The most successful spell of his career was spent playing for Heerenveen in the Dutch league where his goal-to-game ratio was better than a goal a game. This precipitated a club record move to English club Middlesbrough, the transfer completed on the last day of the transfer window in January 2008.

[edit] Early life

Alves was born on January 30, 1981, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil's third biggest city. He was brought up by his mother, Dona Eliade, and has a brother, Alexsander, and sister, Alexandra. 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 club's 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.

In 2007, he finished as top goalscorer of the Eredivisie with 34 goals (in 31 games), 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]

On 7 February he was welcomed into the club by having a Brazilian Festival at the Riverside with local school Bankfields Primary School playing Samba, conducted by Richard Brown. 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. However, Alves never found himself a regular in the first team, and with a haul of just four league goals the season turned out to be a disappointing one for both him and Middlesbrough, who were relegated to the Championship.

[edit] Al-Sadd

On 4 September 2009 Alves moved to Al-Sadd on a three-year deal for £7 million.^[8]

[edit] International career

On May 17, 2007, Alves received his first call-up for the Brazilian national team for friendlies against England and Turkey.^[9] 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] Honours

Malmö FF

• Allsvenskan Champion 2004

Brazil football team

• Copa America Champion 2007

[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
• [1]

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