Andrei Frascarelli (born 21 February 1973), sometimes known simply as Andrei, 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. He moved clubs regularly during his 19 year career, which included spells at 14 clubs in four countries. He made 31 appearances in Spain's

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

for Atlético Madrid. Andrei Frascarelli was a youth international for Brazil, and represented his country at the

1991 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship was the eighth staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, an international football competition organized by FIFA for men's youth national teams, and the eighth since it was established in 1977 as the FIFA ...

in Portugal, where they finished as runners-up.

Club career

Andrei was born in

Pederneiras Pederneiras is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 47,111 (2020 est.) in an area of 729 km². The elevation is 475 m above sea level. History Starting from 1842, small villages were established in the area of ...

in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, and started his professional career in 1989 with nearby

XV de Jaú XV or Xv may refer to: Arts and entertainment: * XV (rapper) (born 1985), rapper from Wichita, Kansas, United States * ''XV'' (King's X album), 2008 * ''XV'' (TVXQ album), 2019 * ''XV'' (EP), by the Jonas Brothers (2020) Science and technology: ...

, which was competing in the lower reaches of the Brazilian league system. He was quickly identified as a promising talent, and prior to the 1991 season he was signed by

-based Série A giants

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

. He failed to make much impact at the club, making five appearances in two years. He moved rapidly through a series of Série A clubs, with short stints at

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goi ...

and

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 ...

preceding a more successful stint

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

. He played 28 games and scored four times to help the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

club to a respectable 15th position in the league in

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 ...

. At the end of the season, however, he moved on again, this time moving abroad to join Argentine Primera División club

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the English- ...

. He failed to make an impact in Rosario, and returned to Brazil the following year to join Athletico Paranaense. He spent two seasons with the

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

club, making just ten appearances. He moved to Europe in 1997, joining one of

's most well-respected clubs, Atlético Madrid. Andrei Frascarelli enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career, playing 31 times and scoring four goals as ''Los Rojiblancos'' secured 7th place in

the league ''The League'' is an American sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, Illinois, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football leagu ...

and reached the semi-finals of the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. However, he left the Vicente Calderón at the end of the season, joining Atleti's La Liga rivals

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. He stayed at Betis for two seasons, but failed to make a single league appearance. He also enjoyed a brief return to his homeland during the European off-season in 1999, making 17 appearances for Santos. Andrei Frascarelli returned to Brazil permanently in 2000, joining

Marília Marília () is a Brazilian municipality in the midwestern region of the state of São Paulo. Its distance from the state capital São Paulo is by highway, by railway and in a straight line. It is located at an altitude of 675 meters. The popula ...

, where he spent the next four years. He moved back to Germany in 2004, when he was signed by

LR Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated ...

of the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. After just one year, he returned once more to Brazil, finishing his career with short spells at Rio Claro, in his home state, and

Ceilândia Ceilândia is an administrative region in the Federal District in Brazil. With about 398,374 inhabitants, it is the administrative region of largest population in the Federal District. History Ceilândia was created by the government in the 1970 ...

. He retired in 2008.

International career

Andrei Frascarelli represented Brazil at two major youth tournaments early in his career. He was part of the squad at the

1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship The 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the third edition of the tournament, was held in the Scottish cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Motherwell, Aberdeen, and Dundee between 10 June and 24 June 1989. Players born after 1 August 1972 could participa ...

, held in Scotland. He played in all three of Brazil's group games at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Pittodrie Stadium Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they w ...

. they suffered a 1–0 loss to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in their first match, but recovered by beating Australia 3–1 and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

2–1 to progress as runners-up. They drew their quarter-final 0–0 against

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. M ...

in Motherwell, and Andrei Frascarelli was the only Brazilian player able to convert his penalty as they were eliminated 4–1. He was selected again for the

in Portugal, playing in all six games as Brazil reached the final. Andrei Frascarelli scored Brazil's first goal of the tournament as they beat the Ivory Coast 2–1 at the

Estádio das Antas The Estádio das Antas (officially Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto) was the third (and longest occupied) stadium of the Portuguese football side FC Porto. It was in use from 1952 to 2004, replacing the earlier Campo da Constituição, 1.6km (1 ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. They went on to draw 2–2 with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and beat Sweden 2–0 at the same stadium to progress as group winners. In the knockout stages they saw off Korea 5–1 in Porto and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

3–0 at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimarães to set up a final clash with the hosts. The match, held at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, it ...

in Lisbon, ended 0–0, so the tournament would be decided on penalties. Andrei Frascarelli was on target again, but Brazil ultimately lost 4–2 and had to be content with the silver medal. Despite this successful youth career, Andrei Frascarelli never received a call-up to the senior national team.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frascarelli, Andrei 1973 births Living people Brazilian footballers Association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Argentine Primera División players La Liga players 2. Bundesliga players Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Jaú) players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Goiás Esporte Clube players CR Flamengo footballers Fluminense FC players Rosario Central footballers Club Athletico Paranaense players Atlético Madrid footballers Real Betis players Santos FC players Marília Atlético Clube players Rot Weiss Ahlen players Rio Claro Futebol Clube players Ceilândia Esporte Clube players Brazil under-20 international footballers Brazil youth international footballers Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany