José Roberto da Silva Júnior (born 6 July 1974), commonly known as Zé Roberto, is a Brazilian former 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 ...

who played as a left wing-back or 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 ...

. Currently, he is a technical advisor to Palmeiras, acting directly with the players and the coaching staff.

Club career

Early career

Zé Roberto started in the youth ranks of Palestra de São Bernardo but it was while playing for Portuguesa, as a left-back, that he became known throughout Brazil after finishing as runner-up in

1996 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 1996 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 40th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, was played between August 8 and December 15, 1996. It had 24 teams and divided into two stages. In the first one, every team played against each o ...

. He then joined

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in January 1997 for a brief spell, where he helped them win the 1996–97 Spanish league championship. He was also part of the Madrid's

1997–98 UEFA Champions League The 1997–98 UEFA Champions League was the 43rd season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club association football, football tournament, and the sixth since its re-branding from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The ...

winning squad, scoring his only goal for the club in the opening group match against

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

, before moving back to Brazil to play for

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 ...

midway through the season. In an interview in 2012, Zé Roberto spoke of his decision to leave Madrid because of his ambition to play for Brazil at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

in France and had limited opportunities to prove his talents in Spain. The first half of 1998 Zé played for Flamengo under manager

Paulo Autuori Paulo Autuori de Mello (born 25 August 1956), known as Paulo Autuori, is a Brazilian football executive and manager who is the current manager of Atlético Nacional. Early life A football fan since early childhood and a futsal player, Paulo Au ...

alongside

Romário Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...

, Palinha,

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

(who would later play for Leverkusen and

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

), and his former Portuguesa teammate Rodrigo Fabri for the

Rio de Janeiro State Championship The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Br ...

, finishing disappointingly as runners-up. After this he was signed by German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

Bayer Leverkusen

He joined

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

in the summer of 1998. It was at Leverkusen that he really made a name for himself, quickly becoming a popular figure at the club. During his four-year stay, Bayer enjoyed their most successful period, finishing as runners-up in the German

on three occasions. On 4 December 2001, he opened the scoring with a curling free kick against

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 ...

in the 64th minute, as Bayer comprehensively beat the Spanish side 3–0 in the second group stage of the Champions League. Following Bayer's victory over

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on 9 April 2002, Zé Roberto announced that he would be joining former teammate

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He is among the top goal scorers in the history of the German national team. Ballack wore the number 13 shirt for every team he has played for, except 1. FC ...

at Bayern Munich. Despite the transfer distractions, Zé Roberto helped Bayer reach 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 ...

of the Champions League on 15 May 2002, losing 2–1 to former club Real Madrid in Glasgow. In four years at the club, Zé Roberto appeared in 113 league matches scoring 16 goals.

Bayern Munich and Santos

In May 2002, he joined

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

for a reported fee of €12 million, signing a three-year deal, linking up with emerging German talent

Sebastian Deisler Sebastian Toni Deisler (; born 5 January 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a right midfielder and attacking midfielder. A Borussia Mönchengladbach youth product, he played one season with the club during which it ...

and former Leverkusen teammate

. With Bayern he claimed the domestic league and cup double three times between 2002 and 2006. He found his starting spot threatened under new coach

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

and left the club in 2006. Following the announcement that he would not return to Bayern Munich, he publicly criticized the club's style of play and predicted struggles if changes were not made. Being a free agent Zé Roberto signed through his agent Juan Figer a three year contract with

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...

in Montevideo, a club he would never play for. On 31 August 2006 it was announced that he would join

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

in Brazil for one year. and helped the team to win the 2007

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

. The win was his first title in a Brazilian competition. He scored seven goals in the 2007 Copa Libertadores, where Santos reached the semi-finals. During his time with Santos he appeared in 48 official matches scoring 12 goals, playing for the first time in his career as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. On 22 June 2007 it was announced, that he will return to Bayern Munich, which paid on million euro to Nacional for a two year loan. He stated, "It was as if I’d never been away", en route to winning a fourth domestic double with the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

ns. During Bayern's 2007–08 season, he scored five goals and was influential in Bayern's domestic and cup double. The revitalised Zé Roberto demonstrated all his newly acquired skills by scoring five goals and forming a rock-solid partnership with

Mark van Bommel Mark Peter Gertruda Andreas van Bommel (born 22 April 1977) is a Dutch football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the manager of Belgian side Royal Antwerp. His FIFA World Cup profile describes him as "a tackli ...

in his new role in central defensive midfield. He made a successful start to the 2008–09 season – scoring four goals in his first 11 starts. He would conclude his second spell at the

n club appearing in 59 league matches scoring nine goals. Zé Roberto left the club at the end of the 2009 season after Bayern executives refused to offer him a new two-year deal.

Hamburger SV

upZé Roberto training with Hamburg in 2009 His contract with Bayern ran until 30 June 2009. The club offered him a contract until 2010, though Zé Roberto declined. Bundesliga side

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

officially announced signing Zé Roberto to a two-year contract on 2 July 2009. But

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

reported Hamburg actually paid €4 million sign-on fees to Zé Roberto's agent Juan Figer, which Bayern also paid €1 million in 2007. In May 2011, Zé Roberto confirmed that he would not renew his contract with the German team, because he wanted a longer contract than the new one offered by the club.

Al-Gharafa

On 10 July 2011, Zé Roberto signed a two-year contract with the

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

i club

Al-Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari multisports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Al Rayyan. It is best known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. It was estab ...

, where he helped his team win the 2012 Emir of Qatar Cup.

Return to Brazil

After a season with Qatari outfit Al-Gharafa, Zé Roberto returned to Brazil in May to join Grêmio, helping them finish third in the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

. On 10 December 2012, he expressed his desire to retire at Grêmio after extending his contract by a further year. On 9 December 2014, Zé Roberto left Grêmio as the club decided not to renew his contract.

Palmeiras

Zé Roberto playing for Palmeiras in 2017 On 22 December 2014, Zé Roberto joined

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

on a one-year contract, valid until 31 December 2015. He was immediately appointed team captain, helping them win the

2015 Copa do Brasil The 2015 Copa do Brasil (officially the 2015 Copa Sadia do Brasil for sponsorship reasons) was the 27th edition of the Copa do Brasil football competition. The competition was contested by 87 teams, which qualified either by participating in their ...

with four goals scored in the competition. In the

, Palmeiras finished in the 9th position. He signed a one-year extension to his contract on 19 October 2015, that will keep him in the squad until 31 December 2016. On 28 November 2016, he won his first national championship in Brazil, declaring after the final match against Chapecoense that he would not retire at the end of the season. Eventually, on 9 December, he signed a new contract with Palmeiras, keeping him at the club until the end of 2017. On 24 November, he announced Palmeiras match against

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

two days later would be the last of his career and that he would retire.

International career

Zé Roberto was part of the

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 ...

squads at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

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 ...

World Cups. In 1998, he helped the Seleção to the final, making one appearance, but was an unused substitute as Brazil lost to hosts

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

3–0. He was left out of the 2002 World Cup winning squad due to a calf injury. Zé Roberto scored Brazil's third and final goal in a man of the match performance in Brazil's second round match against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

in the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. Zé Roberto helped Brazil to wins at the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

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 ...

editions of the Copa América, scoring Brazil's third goal in their 3–1 defeat of

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

in the final on 26 June 1997. He also represented Brazil at the

and

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 ...

FIFA Confederations Cups in Saudi Arabia and Germany respectively, winning both. He played the full ninety minutes of the

in 2005, as Brazil overpowered arch rivals

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

4–1 on 29 June 2005.

Style of play

upZé Roberto in 2011 Capable of playing both as a left-sided defender, and in several

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

positions, Zé Roberto was a quick, hard-working, and versatile left-footed player, who in his prime was known for his technique, vision, and efficient style of play, as well as his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

, passing, crossing, and tackling ability. He started his career as an attacking full-back or wing back on the left flank, occasionally functioning in a

box-to-box 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 ...

role in midfield; he was later deployed as a left-winger, and subsequently in a more creative role, as an

, although he struggled to find space in the national side in this position, due to the presence of several other world-class playmakers in the squad. During his time at Bayern Munich, he excelled alongside van Bommel 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 ...

, due to his ability to read the game, break down opposing plays, and subsequently start counter-attacks; his adeptness at this new holding role led him to be called up to the Brazilian national team once again, where he also formed an effective and consistent defensive midfield partnership with Emerson.

Personal life

Zé Roberto is married to Luciana, with whom he has three children: Endrik, Miriá, and Isabelli. Zé Roberto is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. He said, "Aside from the fame, the money, from not being able to have anything and today being able to have everything, I find that the difference is to have God in my heart, by accepting Jesus. The money will finish, fame will be forgotten, but God is special. Today I have God and tomorrow I will live with God in a much better place, that is, heaven."

Career statistics

Sources:

Club

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year International goals :''Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first.''

Honours

;Real Madrid *

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 ...

: 1996–97 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

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 ...

: 1997–98 ;Bayern Munich *

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08 *

DFL-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

: 2004, 2007 ;Santos *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

;Al-Gharafa *

Emir of Qatar Cup Emir of Qatar Cup ( ar, كأس أمير قطر), also known as the Emir Cup, but changed to Amir Cup starting in 2019, is an association football tournament played every season by 18 first and second division teams. The most successful is Al Sad ...

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 ...

;Palmeiras *

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de ...

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 ...

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 ...

;Brazil *

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 ...

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

Lunar New Year Cup The Lunar New Year Cup, previously known as the Carlsberg Challenge or the Carlsberg Cup, is an annual invitational football tournament organised in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) since 1908. It is usually held on the firs ...

Individual * ''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

Team of the Season: 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2007–08 *

FIFA World Cup All-Star Team At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game. Awards *There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA ...

* Bola de Prata: 2012, 2014 *

Team of the year:

References

External links

*
Zé Roberto profile
at Leverkusen.com * * Tom Sanderson:
How Zé Roberto defied time to remain a star at 43
', These Football Times, 24 July 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ze Roberto 1974 births Living people Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players FC Bayern Munich footballers Hamburger SV players Brazilian footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Qatar Brazilian expatriate footballers La Liga players Real Madrid CF players CR Flamengo footballers Santos FC players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Footballers from São Paulo (state) 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1997 Copa América players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1999 Copa América players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players Brazil international footballers Bundesliga players Al-Gharafa SC players Qatar Stars League players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar UEFA Champions League winning players Association football fullbacks Association football midfielders Brazilian Christians