Cristiano Alves Pereira (born 9 October 1980), better known as Cris, is a former

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 le ...

who played as a defender. Born and raised in Brazil, he was naturalized by Togo, whose

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

he represented internationally.

Biography

Cris was born in

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

, a city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Cris was given a trial by Italian Club Brescia FC in 2005, but failed to impress to earn him a contract. He played for

Hong Kong First Division League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation o ...

team

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

as a loan player before after joining the team in the middle of the 2006–07 season.

International career

Cris and other Brazilian-born played for the Togo national team on June–July 2003 in a 2004 African Cup of Nations Qualifying matches against

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

. He also played for Togo against the Ghanaian club

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

in a friendly match on June 29, 2003 in

Stade de Kégué Stade de Kégué is a multi-use stadium in Lomé, Togo. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 40,000 people and opened in 2000. It was designed by Chinese architect Yang Zhou. The stadium was the main host of the 20 ...

Lomé Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

.International Matches 2003 – Other
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Career statistics in Hong Kong

''As of May 14, 2008''

References

External links

*
Player Information on SouthChinaFC.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cris 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Santa Catarina (state) People from Joinville Association football defenders Togolese footballers Togo international footballers Brazilian footballers Joinville Esporte Clube players Grêmio Esportivo Juventus players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players FC Rouen players Hong Kong First Division League players South China AA players Goiânia Esporte Clube players Brusque Futebol Clube players Juventus Atlético Clube players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Naturalized citizens of Togo Hong Kong League XI representative players 21st-century Togolese people Brazilian emigrants to Togo Togolese people of Brazilian descent