Vanderlei Fernandes Silva (born 14 July 1975), known as Derlei, is a Brazilian 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
striker.
He spent most of his 16-year professional career in Portugal (one full decade), having represented all three
most important clubs in the country and amassing
Primeira Liga
The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...
totals of 187 matches and 70 goals.
With
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 ...
, Derlei won eight major titles including two leagues,
one Champions League and
one 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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
.
Club career
Born in
São Bernardo do Campo
São Bernardo do Campo () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo.
It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 844,483 (2020 est.) in an area of .
History
The city was founded b ...
,
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 GaWC a ...
, Derlei began playing in the
lower levels of Brazilian football, but joined Portugal's
U.D. Leiria
União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...
in 1999, going on to appear in 92 competitive games for the club. In
his last season, as they overachieved for a final seventh place in the
Primeira Liga
The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...
led by young manager
José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...
, he scored 21 goals.
Derlei signed with
FC Porto
Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...
in the summer of 2002, playing an important part in a successful squad that was also managed by Mourinho. He was one of the top scorers in a side that conquered 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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
and
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
in consecutive seasons – he netted twice in the
2003 UEFA Cup final
The 2003 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 2003 between Celtic of Scotland and Porto of Portugal. Porto won the match 3–2 in extra time thanks to a goal from Derlei. This was also the first game to use the silver goal rule, although it did no ...
against
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
(adding another brace in the
4–1 semi-final win over
S.S. Lazio)– being nicknamed ''"Ninja"'' while playing for the northern side;
the following campaign, as he was leading the domestic goalscoring chart, he suffered a severe knee injury which rendered him unavailable for several months. Derlei was able to come back in time for the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Deportivo La Caruna, where he scored a penalty kick in the second half of the second leg match at the Riazor in Spain which saw FC Porto through to the final 1-0 on aggregate. Derlei would be the starting striker as FC Porto went on to defeat Monaco 3-0 to win the 2003-2004 UEFA Champions League.
In January 2005, after disciplinary problems related to his lateness in arriving from the winter break, Derlei was sold to
FC Dynamo Moscow
FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footb ...
for €7 million, being granted
Portuguese citizenship
Portuguese nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of Portugal. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the Nationality Act, which came into force on 3 October 1981.
Portugal is a member state of th ...
shortly after. After two years in
Russian football
Association football is the most popular sport in Russia, since beating ice hockey by a huge margin. Men's football is overseen by the Russian Football Union, having the Russian Premier League as the first tier of the Russian football league s ...
where he was always one of the top five scorers, he moved to
S.L. Benfica
Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...
on loan in January 2007. He played his first league match for the latter on 2 February, coming on as a second-half
substitute in a 0–0 home draw with
Boavista FC
Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...
.
Derlei left for
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
rivals
Sporting CP
Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...
in late June 2007, signing a one-year deal with the option for another after being freed from his two-year contract with Dynamo Moscow – he was, therefore, one of the few players to have represented the
Big Three of Portugal. He spent most of
2007–08 on the sidelines, with another serious knee injury.
Derlei made a comeback to competition when, on 16 April 2008, he entered the field for
Leandro Romagnoli
Leandro Atilio Romagnoli (born 17 March 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder.
His thin build, short stature and playing style were reminiscent of compatriot Osvaldo Ardiles. What the ...
in the 61st minute during
the semi-final of the
Taça de Portugal
The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...
against Benfica, scoring only 18 minutes later to make it 3–2 to Sporting, in a match which eventually ended with a 5–3 win as the team went on to win the tournament against another former acquaintance of the player, Porto.
In
his second season, Derlei fought with
Hélder Postiga
Hélder Manuel Marques Postiga (; born 2 August 1982) is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a striker.
After beginning at Porto, where he won eight items of silverware along the way, he amassed Primeira Liga totals o ...
for a chance to play alongside
Liédson
Liédson da Silva Muniz (born 17 December 1977), known simply as Liédson, is a former footballer who played as a striker.
Nicknamed ''Levezinho'' ("Slender one") due to his light frame (63 kg), , and scored some goals including an important one in a 1–0 home victory over
FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...
in the
Champions League, which sealed Sporting's group stage qualification on 4 November 2008. At the end of the campaign, he declined the club's offer for a contract extension on the grounds the compensation was insufficient, thus being made a
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
.
On 27 August 2009, 34-year-old Derlei joined
Vitória on a one-year deal. He made his competitive debut on 13 September in a match against
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...
leaders
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 ...
; having taken the pitch in the second half, he scored the
3–2 winner;
Derlei transferred to modest
Madureira shortly after, returning to a team he had represented more than one decade prior.
Club statistics
Honours
América-RN
*
Campeonato Potiguar
The Campeonato Potiguar is the football league of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Format
First Division
First stage: standard round-robin, in which all teams play each other once.
Second stage: home-and-away playoffs between the to ...
: 1996
Porto
*
Primeira Liga
The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...
:
2002–03,
2003–04
*
Taça de Portugal
The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...
:
2002–03
*
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...
:
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
,
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
*
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
:
2003–04
*
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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
:
2002–03
*
Intercontinental Cup:
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
Sporting
*
Taça de Portugal
The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...
:
2007–08
*
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...
:
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
*
Taça da Liga
The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...
runner-up:
2007–08,
2008–09
Individual
*
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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
Top Scorer: 2002–03
*
SJPF Player of the Month
The SJPF Player of the Month (often called Portuguese League Player of the Month) is an association football award that recognizes the best Primeira Liga, Portuguese League player each month of the season and is conceived by the SJPF (syndicate of ...
: October 2004
References
External links
*
*
PortuGOAL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derlei
1975 births
Living people
People from São Bernardo do Campo
Brazilian people of Portuguese descent
Brazilian footballers
Association football forwards
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players
Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players
América Futebol Clube (RN) players
Guarani FC players
Madureira Esporte Clube players
Esporte Clube Vitória players
Primeira Liga players
U.D. Leiria players
FC Porto players
UEFA Cup winning players
S.L. Benfica footballers
Sporting CP footballers
Russian Premier League players
FC Dynamo Moscow players
UEFA Champions League winning players
Brazilian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Portugal
Expatriate footballers in Russia
Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal
Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia
Footballers from São Paulo (state)