Aldair Nascimento dos Santos (; born 30 November 1965), known simply as Aldair, is a Brazilian retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender, and who was part of the Brazil national team that won the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

. Considered as one of Brazil's greatest defenders ever, he spent most of his professional career at Italian club

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, where he later also served as captain, winning the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

title with the club in 2001. He is one of the members to have been inducted into the A.S. Roma Hall of Fame.

Club career

Aldair started playing at

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

where he won the State Championship Campeonato Carioca in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

. He moved to Europe in 1989, playing with Benfica, winning the Portuguese Supercup, and reaching the European Cup Final during his only season with the team. Aldair subsequently moved to

in 1990 and played with this club during 13 seasons, until 2003. He played a total of 436 matches with the ''Giallorossi'', scoring 20 goals in total. During this period he won the Serie A in 2001, one Supercoppa Italiana, and one

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

(also reaching the UEFA Cup Final in the same year). Aldair was recognised in 2000 as one of the best players in the world by being selected in the FIFA XI; still, he remained loyal to Roma in spite of the club not having won any major international honours during his time there. Due to his long career with Roma, Aldair is currently the most-capped foreign player in the Italian club's history and the club decided to retire his number 6 jersey when he left the team in 2003. However, this retirement was not permanent, as in 2013 the shirt number 6 has been conceded to

Kevin Strootman Kevin Johannes Willem Strootman (born 13 February 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Italian club Genoa, on loan from French club Marseille. Club career Sparta Rotterdam Born in Ridderkerk, Strootman began h ...

, with Aldair's approval. In 1998, he was chosen to be the captain of the ''Giallorossi'' but preferred to grant the

armband An armband is a piece of material worn around the arm. They may be worn for pure ornamentation, or to mark the wearer as belonging to group, or as insignia having a certain rank, status, office or role, or being in a particular state or condit ...

to the then 22-years old

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional footballer who played solely for Roma and the Italy national team. He is often referred to as ''Er Bimbo de Oro'' (The Golden Boy), ''L'Ottavo Re di Roma'' (The Eig ...

. For his contribution to the club, Aldair was included into the A.S. Roma Hall of Fame in 2012, and thus recognized as one of the best footballers in the club's history. He was nicknamed "

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

" by Roma fans. After Roma, Aldair then briefly joined Genoa CFC. In July 2005, Aldair announced plans of playing for Rio Branco, and played two games for the club in the estadual championship, helping his team to win the title. Former teammate and good friend Massimo Agostini convinced him to play in

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

for S.S. Murata in order to boost their Champions League campaign. After Murata's dreadful 7–1 aggregate defeat to Cypriots

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

in the first round of qualifying for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, Agostini decided to call upon Aldair to join him on the Italian Peninsula. Aldair took part in the Champions League qualifying stage in July 2007.

International career

Aldair was part of the Brazilian squad that took part at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In 1994, he reached the pinnacle of his career when he played for the Brazilian squad that won the

. Originally not included in the squad announced on 10 May 1994, he was called up as replacement when

Carlos Mozer José Carlos Nepomuceno Mozer (born 19 September 1960) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a central defender, and is a manager. In his career, he was mainly associated with Benfica in Portugal, which he represented in ...

had to withdraw due to illness. He also played for Brazil in the 1998 World Cup, as Brazil went on to reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

once again, only to be defeated by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He took part in three Copa América's with Brazil, winning the title in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, whilst earning a runners-up medal in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. Aldair won a bronze medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, and was part of the Brazilian team that won the

1997 FIFA Confederations Cup The 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup was the first Confederations Cup to be organised by FIFA. The tournament had previously been played in 1992 and 1995 as the King Fahd Cup. This edition of the tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia, as with the pre ...

. In addition to these tournaments, Aldair also took part in two friendly tournaments with Brazil, winning the 1995

Umbro Cup The Umbro Cup was a friendly international football competition, which took place in June 1995 in England. The trophy was sponsored by the sports brand Umbro, the manufacturers of England's kit. Host nation England, Sweden, Japan and world ch ...

, and finishing in second place in the

1997 Tournoi de France The 1997 Tournoi de France (; French, 'Tournament of France'), often referred to as Le Tournoi, was an international football tournament held in France in early June 1997 as a warm-up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The four national teams participati ...

. In total, he appeared 81 times for Brazil between 1989 and 2000, scoring three goals.

Style of play

An elegant and tactically versatile defender, Aldair was capable of playing both as a sweeper and

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

, due to his vision, technical ability and passing range. His confidence on the ball and, in particular, his adeptness at

long ball In association football, a long ball is an attempt to move the ball a long distance down the field via one long aerial kick from either a goalkeeper or a defender directly to an attacking player, with the ball generally bypassing the midfield. R ...

s enabled him to advance into midfield and create chances for teammates. Although he was not particularly quick, he was a strong defender who excelled in the air. He also excelled at anticipating opponents with well-timed challenges due to his ability to read the game. In addition to his defensive and technical skills, Aldair was also known for his leadership and sportsmanship throughout his career.

Career statistics

Club career

International

Honours

Club

;Flamengo * Campeonato Carioca: 1986 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A:

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

;Benfica * Portuguese Supercup:

;Roma *

: 2000–01 *

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

* Supercoppa Italiana: 2001 ;Murata *

Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio (English translation: Sammarinese Football Championship) is an amateur league competition for football clubs located at the only level of the Sammarinese football league system (no relegation system exists) and ...

: 2007–08

International

;Brazil *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

; Runner-up

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

* Copa América:

; Runner-up

* Summer Olympic Games: Bronze medal 1996 * FIFA Confederations Cup:

Individual

FIFA XI FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

: 2000 *

Golden Foot The Golden Foot award is an international football award, given to players who stand out for their athletic achievements (both as individuals and team players) and for their personality. The award is only given to active players of at least 28 yea ...

: 2008, as football legend * A.S. Roma Hall of Fame: 2012

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aldair 1965 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazil international footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in San Marino CR Flamengo footballers 1989 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players FIFA World Cup-winning players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players Association football defenders Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics A.S. Roma players S.L. Benfica footballers Genoa C.F.C. players Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Olympic footballers of Brazil Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players Serie B players Primeira Liga players S.S. Murata players Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in San Marino Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy People from Ilhéus Sportspeople from Bahia

Club career

International career

Style of play

Career statistics

Club career

International

Honours

Club

International

Individual

See also

References

External links