Daniela Alves Lima (born 12 January 1984), commonly known as Daniela, is a former

Brazilian football Football is the most popular sport in Brazil and a prominent part of the country’s national identity. The Brazil national football team has won the FIFA World Cup five times, the most of any team, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil an ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played for professional clubs in Brazil, Sweden and the United States. As a member of the

Brazil women's national football team The Brazil women's national football team ( Portuguese: ''Seleção Brasileira Feminina de futebol'') represents Brazil in international women's football and is run by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It has participated in eight ed ...

she participated in two

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

s and three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Daniela was a

box-to-box A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who was renowned for her powerful long range shots.

Club career

Daniela had already played for four seasons at the women's section of São Paulo club Portuguesa,Portuguesa's female section were sometimes known as Lusa Sant'Anna due to an agreement with a local college of that name. when she was signed by San Diego Spirit of

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first Women's association football, women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000 in sports, 2000, the league began its first se ...

(WUSA). Having turned 19 the month before her February 2003

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

, Daniela became WUSA's youngest player. She started 14 of her 17 regular season appearances in 2003 and posted three assists. When WUSA collapsed at the end of that season, Daniela moved to Europe and signed for Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC of Sweden's

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

. She made three league appearances and scored one goal in a 2004 season beset by injury. For 2005 Daniela moved back to the United States and played four games for Hampton Roads Piranhas in the

pro–am Pro–am (or pro/am, pro am, ProAm; a contraction of professional–amateur) refers to a sporting event where both professional career athletes and amateurs compete. It could also refer to a collaboration between professionals and amateu ...

W-League. She finished the 2005 season playing in the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). T ...

(WPSL) with Bay State Select, scoring seven goals in 10 appearances. She remained with Bay State for 2006 and was named to the all-league team in both 2005 and 2006, before returning to Brazil with

Saad Esporte Clube Saad Esporte Clube – since 2009 commonly MS/Saad – is a Brazilian association football club founded 1961 in São Caetano do Sul on the outskirts of São Paulo. In the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century, the club established a ...

. At the inaugural

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 ...

edition of the

Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

, Daniela was named player of the tournament and was top goalscorer with 14 goals as Saad won the trophy. Sweden's

Linköpings FC Linköpings Fotboll Club is an association football club from Linköping, Sweden. The club was established in 2003 when Kenty DFF women's football club decided to merge with the premier division ice hockey club Linköpings HC under the new name L ...

contracted Daniela and her Brazil teammate Cristiane for the 2008 Damallsvenskan season. After signing, Daniela stressed that she had improved as a player since her unhappy experience at Göteborg in 2004. She played in all 22 of Linköpings' league matches, scoring six goals, as the team finished runners-up behind

Umeå IK Umeå IK () is a professional association football club based in the city of Umeå, in northern Sweden, and currently playing Damallsvenskan, the first tier of women's football in Sweden. They were one of the most successful football clubs in ...

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

(WPS), a new professional league formed in the United States, entered Daniela into its inaugural International Draft. She was selected as the

Saint Louis Athletica Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte S ...

's first pick and joined the team for its 2009 season. In Athletica's fourth game against the

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Uni ...

, Daniela scored the club's first two goals of the season in a fractious and controversial 3–3 draw. During the match, a challenge by Abby Wambach, described as "vicious" and "reckless", left Daniela with a broken

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and torn knee ligaments. Wambach received a

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

for the tackle but was later given a one-match suspension by the league's disciplinary panel. Saint Louis Athletica's doctor said that the injury would rule Daniela out "indefinitely". She made a comeback with Hampton Road Piranhas in the 2010 W-League, but featured for 18 minutes of one match. The injury brought about Daniela's early retirement from football. She returned to São Paulo and became the proprietor of a

butcher shop A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

International career

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 ...

wanted to include Daniela in their squad for the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

but at the age of 15 years she was not eligible to participate. Instead she made her debut in the next game, a friendly defeat 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 territorie ...

. An inexperienced Brazil lost 6–0 to the world champions at

Mile High Stadium Mile High Stadium (originally Bears Stadium until 1968) was an outdoor multi-purpose stadium located in Denver, Colorado from 1948 to 2001. The stadium was built in 1948 to accommodate the Denver Bears baseball team, which was a member of the ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

on 26 September 1999. At 16 years old Daniela was a member of the Brazil team that participated in the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

and finished in fourth place. At the pre-tournament

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

Daniela fought with teammate Mônica. The confrontation was attributed to

premenstrual syndrome Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) refers to emotional and physical symptoms that regularly occur in the one to two weeks before the start of each menstrual period. Symptoms resolve around the time menstrual bleeding begins. Different women experienc ...

. Daniela captained Brazil's under-19 team at the

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...

, scoring three goals as the team reached the semi-final. Ahead of the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September 20 to October 12, 2003, at s ...

, she was named in Brazil's squad and praised by the

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

: "She is very good. Everyone is interested in her." At the tournament she performed well and struck a celebrated goal as Brazil upset Olympic champions

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

4–1.

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

defeated Brazil 2–1 in the quarter-final. Daniela and Brazil collected silver medals at the

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 ...

and

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; ...

editions of the Olympic Games. At the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

in China, Brazil produced a striking 4–0 semi-final win over the United States but were beaten 2–0 by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 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 cont ...

. Daniela and teammates Marta, Cristiane and Rosana were

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d "the fantastic four".

Notes

References

External links

*
Profile
at

Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniela Alves Lima 1984 births Living people Brazilian women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Footballers from São Paulo Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Olympic footballers of Brazil Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in football Saint Louis Athletica players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Brazilian expatriates in Sweden Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Women's United Soccer Association players San Diego Spirit players Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Brazil women's international footballers Brazilian expatriate women's footballers BK Häcken FF players Damallsvenskan players Linköpings FC players Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games medalists in football Saad Esporte Clube (women) players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Bay State Select players Women's Premier Soccer League players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Hampton Roads Piranhas players Women's Professional Soccer players