Diego Cavalieri (born 1 December 1982) is a Brazilian retired professional

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 last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...

. Cavalieri is of Italian ancestry and holds both Italian and Brazilian passports. He has earned three caps for the Brazil national team between 2012 and 2013 and was part of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup winning team.

Club career

Palmeiras

Born in

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 ...

, Cavalieri started his career at

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 ...

, where he made his debut on 24 June 2002 in a 4–0 away win over Rio Claro. Cavalieri played 33 times in the Brazilian Championship.

Liverpool

On 11 July 2008, he signed a four-year contract with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £3 million. Cavalieri became the third Brazilian player at the club, following the signings of

Fábio Aurélio Fábio Aurélio Rodrigues (born 24 September 1979) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played for Grêmio, São Paulo, Valencia and Liverpool. He played as either a left back or left winger and represented Brazil at under-17 and ...

and Lucas. Upon his arrival, he was handed the number 1 shirt, last worn by Jerzy Dudek. Cavalieri made his competitive debut on 23 September 2008 against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in the third round of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. He made his

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 competi ...

debut on 9 December against PSV and his

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

debut against Preston North End almost a month later. Cavalieri appeared four times during the 2009–10 season, taking his total of appearances to eight for the club, though he never made an appearance in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. On 29 July, Cavalieri played the full 90 minutes in Liverpool's first leg of their

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

third qualifying round tie against Macedonian side Rabotnički. Liverpool won 2–0 thanks to a

David N'Gog David Philippe Henri Ngog (born 1 April 1989), known as David N'Gog, is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Greek Gamma Ethniki club Panionios. N'Gog started his career with French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. He ...

header and a Steven Gerrard penalty.

Cesena

On 18 August 2010, then Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson confirmed Cavalieri would join

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. ...

after the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

tie against

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. Cavalieri had been unable to dislodge

Pepe Reina José Manuel "Pepe" Reina Páez (; born 31 August 1982) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Villarreal. The son of famed Barcelona and Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina, Pepe Reina began his ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

since the Brazilian keeper joined Liverpool from Palmeiras in 2008. The deal was confirmed on 23 August 2010, with Brad Jones taking the vacated number 1 shirt. He left Anfield for an undisclosed fee, having played ten games in two years for Liverpool, none in the Premier League. Cavalieri did not feature in a

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 ...

game during his six-month stint with Cesena, with head coach

Massimo Ficcadenti Massimo Ficcadenti (born 6 November 1967 in Fermo) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Career Playing Ficcadenti started his playing career with Sambenedettese, where he played from 1985 to 1989. He then signed for Messina, pl ...

preferring 41-year-old veteran Francesco Antonioli to him. However, he did play a game in the

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 ...

, with Cesena losing to

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

by 3 goals to 1.

Fluminense

On 29 December 2010, Cavalieri returned to Brazil, signing with

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 ...

. After securing his place in the starting XI during 2011, he was an essential part on Fluminense's title campaign in 2012 First Division, and his displays earned him his debut on

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 exa ...

and the Best Goalkeeper award in that year.

Crystal Palace

On 2 March 2018, Cavalieri was signed by

club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on a short-term contract. He was released by the club in June on expiry of his contract.

Botafogo

On December 2018, Cavalieri signed a contract with

, becoming an immediate reserve for Paraguayan goalkeeper

Gatito Fernández Roberto Júnior "Gatito" Fernández Torres (born 29 March 1988) is a Paraguayan footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Botafogo. He is known as ''Gatito'' ( en, little cat) for being the son of former P ...

. In the 2020–21 season Cavalieri took over the team's starting line-up after the injury to Gatito, Botafogo's main goalkeeper. At the end of the same season Cavalieri was injured and lost his starting position to

Diego Loureiro Diego Terra Loureiro (born 28 July 1998), sometimes known as just Diego Loureiro, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Atlético Goianiense, on loan from Botafogo. Career statistics Club Honours ;Botafogo * Campeonato ...

. In September 2021, Botafogo announced the termination of Diego Cavalieri's contract.

International career

On 13 November 2012, Cavalieri was called up by

Mano Menezes Luiz Antônio Venker de Menezes (born 11 June 1962), known as Mano Menezes, is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Internacional. He managed the Brazil national team from July 2010 until ...

for the Brazil squad that will play Superclásico de las Américas. Playing 90 minutes, Cavalieri, in his debut, won the title.

Club

Honours

Palmeiras * Campeonato Brasileiro Série B: 2003 * Campeonato Paulista:

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; ...

Fluminense * Campeonato Carioca:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

* Campeonato Brasileiro Série A:

Brazil *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

* Superclásico de las Américas:

* FIFA Confederations Cup:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Individual * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year:

References

External links

* *
LFCHistory.net Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavalieri, Diego 1982 births Brazilian footballers Brazil international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian people of Italian descent Association football goalkeepers 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Liverpool F.C. players A.C. Cesena players Fluminense FC players Crystal Palace F.C. players Living people Footballers from São Paulo Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players