Juliana Ribeiro Cabral (born 3 October 1981), commonly known as Juliana Cabral or simply Juliana, 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 defender for 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 ...

. At club level she represented several leading teams in Brazil and Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC of the Swedish

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 ...

. After making her senior international debut as a 15-year-old, Juliana played for Brazil in the

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 shootin ...

and

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 ...

editions of the

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 ...

, and the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

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 ...

Olympics 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 ...

. At the 2004 tournament in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

she captained Brazil's

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

-winning team.

Club career

As a child Juliana played

street football The terms street football and street soccer (American and Canadian English) encompass a number of informal varieties of association football. These informal pick up games do not necessarily follow the requirements of a formal game of footbal ...

with her brother, sometimes telling their disapproving mother that she was only taking part as the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. At 10 or 11 years old she joined a team of footballing models run by the Flash Book

modeling agency A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency. The top agencies work with bi ...

, which already contained

Milene Domingues Milene Domingues Aganzo (born 18 June 1979), also known as Ronaldinha, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Born in São Paulo, Domingues played in a promotional futsal team of models run by the Flash Book modeli ...

. She progressed to playing for

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 an ...

at 14 years old, then joined

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state leag ...

where she won state and national titles. She was disappointed when São Paulo FC closed their women's section in 2000: In February 2004 ambitious

club Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC signed Juliana to a professional contract, part of a high-profile triple signing alongside Daniela and

Hope Solo Hope Amelia Stevens (; born July 30, 1981) is an American former soccer goalkeeper. She was a goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team from 2000 to 2016, and is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Aft ...

. She made four league appearances in Sweden. She returned to Saad EC in October 2006, following a spell in the United States which had been disrupted by a foot injury. Juliana also represented Palestra,

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

, Vasco, São Bernardo and Jaguariúna at club level. While playing for the latter in a training match against boys in April 2007 she suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

, which curtailed transfer negotiations she had been undertaking with English and Spanish clubs. In 2008 Juliana captained Corinthians and was unhappy when the club subsequently disbanded their women's section in March 2009. The disappointment brought about her playing retirement from football.

International career

In 1996 Juliana debuted for the senior

as a 15 year old. She played in a 5–0 friendly win over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Estádio Parque São Jorge The Estádio Alfredo Schürig, most commonly known as Estádio Parque São Jorge, or Fazendinha, is a football stadium inaugurated on July 22, 1928 in São Paulo, Brazil. It can hold up to 13,969 people. The stadium is owned by Sport Club Co ...

in December 1996. Her first competitive

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

came in a 12–1 win over

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

at the 1998 South American Women's Football Championship on 5 March 1998. At 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 ...

Juliana was among eight players of Brazil's 20-player squad who were contracted to São Paulo FC. She became a regular starting player as Brazil came third. She was also 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. Juliana retained her place at 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 ...

, in a much-changed Brazil squad. She was the captain and ever-present as Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-final by

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 ...

. She was still the national team captain for the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She played in the 2–1

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

final defeat by 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 ...

, as Brazil collected silver medals. A serious knee injury sustained in April 2007 caused Juliana to miss the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

, and ultimately 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 ...

Style of play

Juliana characterised herself as a ball-playing but tough zagueira (), like

Mauro Galvão Mauro Geraldo Galvão (born 19 December 1961) is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a sweeper, having won the title of Brazilian Champion four times, playing for Internacional (1979), Grêmio Portoalegrense (1996) and Vasco da ...

Carlos Gamarra Carlos Alberto Gamarra Pavón () (born 17 February 1971) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He captained the Paraguay national team at international level and was for a long time the most capped player ...

. She had started out as a

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 ...

, before being retrained as a defender by her Saad, São Paulo FC and Brazil

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 ...

Zé Duarte.

Personal life

Juliana is an activist athlete. After the 2004 Athens Olympics she organised a letter from the silver medal-winning team to the

Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation ( pt, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country ...

(CBF), calling on them to improve the situation of

women's football in Brazil Women's football is not as popular in Brazil as men's football, although it has increased in popularity since the 2000s. History Due to strong and continuing social stigma, Brazilian society only minimally supports women's football. There is a ...

. Alongside her outdoor football career she also played

futebol de salão Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the ...

for Associação Sabesp. At the 2007 Pan American Games, injured Juliana instead worked as a

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for

BandSports BandSports is a Brazilian cable television network that has its programming based on all sports, launched in 2002 by Grupo Bandeirantes de Comunicação. Sports Programming Athletics * Diamond League * European Athletics Championship Bask ...

. She was happy to work alongside Silvio Luiz. She continued to work as a commentator and

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

for several media outlets including

RedeTV! RedeTV! () is a Brazilian television network owned by Amilcare Dallevo and Marcelo de Carvalho. It is the newest television network, among the five major networks in Brazil, being a relaunch of Rede Manchete in 1999. RedeTV! has modern producti ...

Rádio Globo Rádio Globo is a Brazilian contemporary hit radio network, owned by Sistema Globo de Rádio (Grupo Globo's radio division). It was launched on 2 December 1944. Its journalists anchors are Roberto Canázio and Rosana Jatobá. The company empl ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Having returned to fitness, Juliana was disappointed to be left out of Brazil's squad for the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. She felt the decision was a reaction to opinions she had voiced during her commentaries.

References

External links

Juliana Cabral
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Juliana 1981 births Living people Brazilian women's footballers 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Brazil Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Brazil women's international footballers Brazilian expatriate women's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Footballers from São Paulo Women's association football defenders São Paulo FC (women) players CR Vasco da Gama (women) players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista (women) players Saad Esporte Clube (women) players