Geraldo Washington Regufe Alves (; born 8 November 1980) is a Portuguese 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Portugal

Born in

Póvoa de Varzim Póvoa de Varzim (, ) is a Portuguese city in Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers. In 2001, there were 63,470 ...

, Alves finished his football development at hometown's

Varzim SC Varzim Sport Club () is a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football team based in Póvoa de Varzim, near Porto in the north of the country. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club si ...

. He signed with

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, ...

giants S.L. Benfica in 1999, appearing in five league games over the course of two seasons while being mainly registered with the reserves in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. When first-team opportunities proved few, Alves moved to fellow league club S.C. Beira-Mar in January 2002, where he was irregularly used. After a season with

Gil Vicente F.C. Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

he joined

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal stadi ...

, experiencing his most steady career period: in the 2006–07 campaign, as they achieved a first-ever qualification to 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 ...

, he played 28 matches and added two goals, all in a 2–1 home win over

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

on 7 April 2007.

AEK Athens

On 5 June 2007, Alves signed a three-year deal worth €1.3 million with AEK Athens FC, where younger brother

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

had previously played, loaned by

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 a 20 September UEFA Cup match against

FC Red Bull Salzburg FC Red Bull Salzburg is an Austrian professional football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Austrian Football. Their home ground is the Red Bull Arena. Due to sponsorship restrictions, ...

, he scored his first goal for the side in a 3–0 home win (3–1 on aggregate). A starter in his debut season, Alves lost his spot in 2008–09 to

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

international

Daniel Majstorović Daniel Majstorović ( sr-cyr, Даниел Мајсторовић; born on 5 April 1977) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a centre back. He started his career with IF Brommapojkarna in his native Sweden. After a year with the club, ...

Later career

On 5 July 2010, Alves joined

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministry ...

on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract. He made his

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

debut on the 25th, against

FC Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first tier of the Romanian ...

. Alves netted his first two official goals for Steaua on 5 April 2011, in a 5–0 home defeat of FC Unirea Urziceni in the league, with his team eventually ranking fifth and qualifying to the Europa League. In June 2012, he was released by the club due to his high salary. On 18 August 2012, Alves agreed to stay in Romania, penning a two-year deal with

FC Petrolul Ploiești Asociația Clubul Sportiv Petrolul 52, commonly known as Petrolul Ploiești () or simply as Petrolul, is a Romanian professional football club based in Ploiești, Prahova County, which competes in the Liga I. Founded in 1924 in capital Bucharest ...

. He eventually gained team captaincy. On 3 September 2017, the 36-year-old Alves announced his retirement from professional football.

Personal life

Alves' younger brother,

, was also a footballer and a central defender. He had paternal Brazilian ancestry, his father

Washington Geraldo Dias Alves Washington Geraldo Dias Alves (born 3 September 1949) is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a Defender (association football), central defender. After he ended his playing career, he worked as a Manager (association football), manager ...

having played ten years of his career in Portugal – mainly with Varzim – where his children were born.La dinastía que une Brasil y Portugal (The dynasty that unites Brazil and Portugal)
; FIFA, 2 April 2014 (in Spanish) The youngest sibling,

Júlio Júlio is a Portuguese masculine given name. The equivalent in Spanish is Julio. The diminutive form is Julinho, as in Júlio César Teixeira known as Julinho, a Brazilian footballer. See also *Julio (disambiguation) *Julio (given name) *Julio ( ...

, was also a footballer, in the

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 ...

position. Their uncle, Geraldo Assoviador, also played the sport. Alves married a Romanian woman, with the couple having one daughter.

Honours

Paços Ferreira * Segunda Liga: 2004–05 AEK Athens *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

runner-up: 2008–09 Steaua București *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

runner-up:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Petrolul Ploiești *Cupa României:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

*Supercupa României runner-up:

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 fact ...

Astra Giurgiu *

: 2015–16 *Supercupa României:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

*Cupa României runner-up: 2016–17

References

External links

Official Steaua profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alves, Geraldo 1980 births Living people Footballers from Póvoa de Varzim Portuguese people of Brazilian descent Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers S.C. Beira-Mar players Gil Vicente F.C. players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Liga I players FC Steaua București players FC Petrolul Ploiești players FC Astra Giurgiu players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania