Mauricio Pereira Braz de Oliveira (born 9 December 1989), known better as Mauricinho, is a Brazilian

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...

player who plays as a

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 ...

. He won the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup representing

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 ...

and claimed the Silver Ball (second best player) award at the competition; he has also appeared at two other World Cups (

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 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

). In addition, he was named the best player in the world at the 2017

Beach Soccer Stars Beach Soccer Stars is an annual award ceremony in beach soccer organised by the sport's developmental body, Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW). The first edition was held on 7 November 2014 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The ceremony has continued t ...

awards.

Biography

Mauricinho began playing beach soccer competitively in 2010;MAURICINHO PEREIRA BRAZ DE OLIVEIRA
(in Russian). BSC Kristall. Retrieved 16 October 2020. he was spotted by Brazilian beach soccer legend, Júnior Negão, playing with friends on

Copacabana Beach Copacabana () is a ''bairro'' (neighbourhood) located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is most prominently known for its 4 km (2.5 miles) balneario beach, which is one of the most famous in the wor ...

and was subsequently invited to play for

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

.Beach Soccer: Melhor jogador do mundo, Mauricinho é a arma do Vasco para conseguir o bi da Libertadores
(in Portuguese). NetVasco. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2020. He was first called up to the Brazilian national team in 2012. Mauricinho began to thrive under the leadership of coach Gilberto Costa, post-2015. This rise peaked in 2017 when he was voted by fellow players and coaches as the best player in the world; this followed being declared the second best player of that year's World Cup in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

in which he scored a brace in Brazil's win 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 ...

over

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. He was also the top scorer in

Beach Soccer Worldwide Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of association football's derivative sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is kno ...

competitions that year, with 54 goals. He made his 100th appearance for Brazil in an 8–2 win against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

at the 2019 World Cup. As well as continuing to play for Vasco da Gama and winning the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

with the club, outside of Brazil, as is typical of top beach soccer players, Mauricinho has played for numerous clubs in Europe. In 2017, he joined top Portuguese side,

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, and immediately won the

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 ...

(EWC). In 2018, he switched to Russian rivals

Kristall The Kristall (russian: Кристалл, , Crystal) (77KST, TsM-T, 11F77T) module was the fourth module and the third major addition to ''Mir''. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K (TKS) module, and was originally na ...

. Reaching the 2018 EWC final against his former Iberian club, he missed the crucial attempt in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

, handing Braga the victory. He redeemed himself in the 2020 edition when, in a repeat of the 2018 final, Mauricinho scored to help Kristall become European champions.Kristall reclaim the European throne!
Beach Soccer Worldwide. 13 September 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.

Statistics

;County ;Club

Honours

The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours Mauricinho has achieved:

Country

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the ''Beach Soccer World Champions ...

**Winner (1):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

World Beach Games The ANOC World Beach Games, known simply as the ''World Beach Games'', is an international multi-sport event organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). The games are held biennially in odd-numbered years, with a focus on ...

**Winner (1):

* Intercontinental Cup **Winner (2):

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 ...

* CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup **Winner (3):

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

**Winner (1):

* Mundialito **Winner (2):

South American Beach Games The South American Beach Games ( es, Juegos Suramericanos de Playa; pt, Jogos Sul-Americanos de Praia) is a biennial multi-sport event in beach sports between athletes representing nations from South America. It is organised by ODESUR (the South ...

**Winner (1): 2019 *

South American Beach Soccer League The CONMEBOL South American Beach Soccer League, named natively in Spanish as the ''CONMEBOL Liga Sudamericana de Fútbol Playa'', is a continental league competition for South American men's national beach soccer teams. The competition is orga ...

**Winner (2):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Club

**Winner (3):

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

**Runner-up (1):

*Euro Winners Challenge **Winner (1): 2018 *

**Winner (2):

Individual

(1): **Silver Ball: 2017 *

(2): **World's best player: 2017 **World dream team: 2017 * Mundialito (1): **Top scorer: 2017 *

(4): **Best player: 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 *

(1): **Best player: 2016

References

External links

Mauricinho
profile at Brazilian Beach Soccer Confederation (in Portuguese)
Mauricio Pereira Braz de Oliveira
profile at

Mauricinho
profile at ZeroZero.pt (in Portuguese)
Mauricinho
profile at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mauricinho 1989 births Living people Brazilian beach soccer players People from Rio de Janeiro (city)