Emerson Moisés Costa (born 12 April 1972), known simply as Emerson, 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 le ...

who played as a

defensive 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 ...

. As well as in his country, he played professionally in Portugal, England, Spain and Scotland. He also received

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 ...

, after he married his Portuguese wife.

Club career

Born in

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 b ...

, Emerson started playing with

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 t ...

, but he soon moved to

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...

in search of first-team football. In 1991 he began his extensive overseas spell, first with

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

in Portugal. After several impressive displays, Emerson secured a move to

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 ...

. Under the management of former

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

coach

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

, he won successive

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, ...

titles, appeared in the

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 ...

and won the 1996 ''Portuguese Player of the Year'' award. By now, Emerson's performances had attracted interest from major European clubs, and eventually he signed with

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 Foo ...

side

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, completing a £4 million move. It is alleged that the deal was done without manager

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

's knowledge, the manager only finding out after it was unwittingly mentioned by chief scout Ray Trainn; Emerson's cousin

Fábio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...

was also acquired, but played just one game in his 14-month spell. However, things turned sour quickly with Emerson's former manager Bobby Robson, now at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, expressing his interest in bringing the player to the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

– this unsettled the midfielder, who by this time had already endured relegation to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

in addition to difficulties in adjusting to life on

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

. He travelled to Brazil for a break at the end of 1997, and once there threatened that he would not return to the club. Eventually the dispute was resolved with a move to

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

in January 1998, for around £4.25 million. Surprisingly, Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb later stated that he had tried to re-sign Emerson after Tenerife were relegated, and the latter remained in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

until 2000 when he moved to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

, after the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance l ...

' 2000 conquest of the

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's ...

title. He often partnered compatriot

Mauro Silva Mauro may refer to: Given name * Mauro (footballer, born 1932), Brazilian footballer * Mauro Silva (footballer, born 1978), Brazilian footballer * Mauro (footballer, born 1984), Portuguese footballer * Bruno Mauro (born 1973), Angolan footballer * ...

in his first year, but played sparingly in

the following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The first season follows former FBI agent Ryan Hardy ( Kevin Bacon) ...

. After further one-year stints with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

and

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, where he became the first ever Brazilian to play for the Scottish, scoring once against

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

in the 2003–04 Champions League, Emerson moved to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, joining

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xan ...

in the summer of 2005. After having stayed there only six months, he was transferred to

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

, in January 2006. On 21 November 2006, he played the whole match in the 1–0 victory against the eventuall champions,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

for the

. On 23 May 2007, Emerson was released by AEK and signed for

2006–07 Cypriot First Division The 2006–07 Cypriot First Division was the 68th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. APOEL won their 19th title. Format Fourteen teams participated in the 2006–07 Cypriot First Division. All teams played against each other twice, ...

champions

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. However, in January of the following year, he returned to Brazil and ended his career playing for lowly

Madureira Esporte Clube Madureira Esporte Clube, usually abbreviated to Madureira, is a Brazilian football team based in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the neighbourhood of Madureira. The team compete in Campeonato Carioca, the top tier of the Rio de Janeiro state fo ...

, at the Rio de Janeiro State League.

In pop culture

Emerson is widely known in Hungary, due an infamous interview with his former teammate

Péter Lipcsei Péter Lipcsei (born 28 March 1972 in Kazincbarcika) is a Hungarian football manager and former professional player, who played as a midfielder. International career Lipcsei made his debut for the Hungary national team in 1991, and gained 58 ...

, who referred to Emerson as "black Emerson".

Honours

;Porto *

: 1994–95, 1995–96

References

External links

*
CBF data
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson 1972 births Living people Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian footballers Association football midfielders FA Cup Final players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Premier League players English Football League players La Liga players Segunda División players Scottish Premier League players Super League Greece players Cypriot First Division players CR Flamengo footballers Coritiba Foot Ball Club players CR Vasco da Gama players Madureira Esporte Clube players C.F. Os Belenenses players FC Porto players Middlesbrough F.C. players CD Tenerife players Deportivo de La Coruña players Atlético Madrid footballers Rangers F.C. players Xanthi F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players APOEL FC players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Cyprus