João Victor Saraiva (born 22 January 1977), better known as Madjer, is a Portuguese retired beach soccer player. He played in the

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

position, and has won numerous awards at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups for his goalscoring abilities. He took the nickname Madjer because his idol is the former Algerian player

Rabah Madjer Rabah Mustapha Madjer ( ar, رابح مصطفى ماجر; born 15 December 1958) is an Algerian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He reached stardom as a Porto player during the 1980s, being widely regarded as one of th ...

. He has often been hailed as the best-ever beach soccer player. He became the first player to score 1000 international beach soccer career goals in an 8–1 win against

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 ...

in September 2016. In 2019, he was considered, by the prestigious magazine

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusiv ...

, to be the best beach soccer player of all time.

International career

Madjer has an extraordinary agility and dribbling talent in contrast to his height (194 cm). Besides, he is very capable in acrobatic finishes such as volleys, over-head kicks and

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

s. His skills provide a vital contribution for his team while competing in EBSL, Mundialito, and above all the Beach Soccer World Championship. At the 2005, 2006, and 2008 World Cups Madjer won the golden boot for most goals scored in the tournament, and, he also was the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of EBSL last season in 1999, 2006, 2008 and 2009. He retired from the sport after winning the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in a victory over Italy.

Statistics

Honours

Club

;Cavalieri del Mare Beach Soccer *Scudetto: 2005 ;

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

* Circuito Nacional de Futebol de Praia: 2010, 2016 ;

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three o ...

*Russian National Beach Soccer Championship: 2011; *

Euro Winners Cup The Euro Winners Cup (EWC) is an annual, continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) fro ...

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 ...

;Alanya *Turkish National Beach Soccer Championship: 2011 ; Al-Ahli Club *UAE National Beach Soccer Championship: 2012, 2013, 2014 *UAE President's Cup: 2014 *UAE Supercup: 2014 ; Beşiktaş J.K. *Turkish National Beach Soccer Championship: 2013

Country

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (3): 2001,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, 2019 *

Euro Beach Soccer League The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer contested between European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in ...

(6): 2002, 2007,

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; ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 2019 *

Euro Beach Soccer Cup The Euro Beach Soccer Cup (EBSC), originally known as the ''European Pro Beach Soccer Championships'' until 2004, was a biennial (previously annual) beach soccer competition contested between European men's national teams, organised by Beach Socce ...

(6): 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 *

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic Games, Olympic tradition contested by sportsperson, athletes from European nations and several European Olympic Committees#Notes, transcontinental countries. The Games were ...

(Gold Medal): 2019 *

BSWW Mundialito The BSWW Mundialito, often simply known as Mundialito, is an annual international beach soccer tournament that takes place between few select countries, which are invited to play at the tournament organized by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW). First ...

(4): 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012 * Copa Latina (1): 2000

Individual

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Ball (2):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Silver Ball (2): 2007,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bronze Ball (1):

* Beach Soccer World Championships Top Scorer (2):

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, 2004 * FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Shoe (3):

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Silver Shoe (3):

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 ...

* Beach Soccer MVP (3): 2003, 2005, 2006 * Beach Soccer Best Player of the Year (2): 2015, 2016 * Beach Soccer Goal of the Year (1): 2015 * Beach Soccer Team of the Year (2): 2015, 2016 * Euro Beach Soccer League MVP (5): 1999, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 * Euro Beach Soccer League Top Scorer (6): 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 * Euro Beach Soccer League Fair Play Award (1): 2005 * Euro Beach Soccer League Portuguese Event Top Scorer (1): 2007 * Euro Beach Soccer League French Event Top Scorer (1): 2007 * Euro Beach Soccer League Spanish Event Top Scorer (1): 2004 * Euro Beach Soccer Cup Top Scorer (4): 2004, 2009, 2010, 2012 * FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) Top Scorer (1): 2011 * Mundialito MVP (6): 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 * Mundialito Top Scorer (5): 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 * Copa Latina MVP (2): 1999, 2000 *Capocannoniere Serie A (2): 2008, 2009 *Capocannoniere Coppa Italia (1): 2008 *Russian National Beach Soccer Championship MVP (1): 2011 *Turkish National Beach Soccer Championship MVP (2): 2012, 2013 *UAE National Beach Soccer Championship Top Scorer (1): 2012 *

Mundialito de Clubes The Mundialito de Clubes ( en, link=yes, Club World Cup) is an international club beach soccer competition contested between top men's clubs from around the world. The tournament is loosely similar to the FIFA Club World Cup in association footbal ...

Top Scorer (1):

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 gather ...

References

External links

BiographyMadjer BlogueMilano Beach Soccer
{{Navboxes , title=Awards , bg=gold , fg=navy , list1= {{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Ball {{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Shoe {{Beach Soccer Stars Best Player 1977 births Living people Association football forwards Portuguese footballers Portuguese beach soccer players European Games bronze medalists for Portugal Beach soccer players at the 2015 European Games European Games medalists in beach soccer Beach soccer players at the 2019 European Games European Games gold medalists for Portugal