Márcio Amoroso dos Santos (born 5 July 1974) is a Brazilian football pundit and former professional player who mainly played as a forward. He played for several teams in his home country as well as in Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece while also representing Brazil at international level, winning the 1999 Copa América. In his prime, he was a very talented striker with great

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 ...

skills and goalscoring ability who was also capable of creating chances for teammates.

Club career

Amoroso started his career at homeland club

Guarani FC Guarani Futebol Clube, colloquially called Guarani, is a Brazilian association football club in Campinas, São Paulo. Guarani is the only club from Brazil's countryside to have won the top tier of the Brazilian Championship. The team curren ...

at 1992. In July 1992, he was loaned to a Japanese outfit

Verdy Kawasaki is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country. Founded as Yomiuri F.C. in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, wit ...

( J.League Division 1), winning two J-League titles, and returned to Guarani FC two years later, finishing the 1994 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A as the season's top scorer. In 1996, he transferred to

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 ...

, but he came to prominence playing in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

for unfashionable

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

in the late-1990s. There he starred alongside

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierh ...

in a side which played an adventurous 3–4–3 formation, finishing his first season with the club in third place in

. When the league's top scorer Oliver Bierhoff left the club for

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

in 1998, many thought Udinese Calcio would struggle to repeat their success, but that very next season Amoroso himself became the focus of the team, and was the top scorer in Serie A with 22 goals. The following season, he transferred to the defending UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia champions

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

for an astounding €30 million. Although the team started the season strongly, winning the

1999 Supercoppa Italiana The 1999 Supercoppa Italiana was a match played by the 1998–99 Serie A winners Milan and 1998–99 Coppa Italia winners Parma. It took place on 21 August 1999 at the San Siro in Milan, Italy. Parma won the match 2–1 to earn their first ...

, Parma never quite fulfilled their potential to win the league title, and Amoroso was not able to match the form he managed with Udinese due to recurring injury problems; the club did manage to reach the 2001 Coppa Italia final, however. After two seasons, Amoroso was soon on the move again, this time to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

in Germany, for 50 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

(€25 million), a German record at that time. Amoroso won the

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 ...

title during the 2001–02 season, and was also the league's top scorer. He helped the club to the 2002 UEFA Cup Final, where his goal (a penalty) could not prevent the team from losing 3–2 to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

. During his next two seasons with the club, his appearances were more limited however, due to recurring injury problems. Amoroso played for Málaga during the 2004–05 season, although he was mainly used as a substitute, scoring only 5 goals in 29 appearances, as Málaga finished the season in 10th place in the league. Amoroso moved to

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

in the summer of 2005 and immediately helped them to the Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious club prize in South America. In January 2006, after having won the

FIFA Club World Championship The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

, finishing the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

as top scorer, he returned to Italy, signing an 18-month contract for A.C. Milan as a replacement for

Christian Vieri Christian "Bobo" Vieri (; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his p ...

, who had transferred to

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. After an unsuccessful spell, Amoroso agreed to cancel his contract with A.C. Milan on 1 September 2006, and immediately signed a new contract with

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 ...

. Amoroso quickly received the no. 10 jersey from Corinthians as a replacement for

Carlos Tevez Carlos Alberto Tevez (; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. A quick, tenacious, powerful, hard-working and dynamic forward in his prime, Tevez was capable of playing as a striker, as a wing ...

(who left SC Corinthians Paulista and moved to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

). But there he could not show the football that he was capable of, having his contract resigned in April 2007, signing in for Grêmio. Since August, Amoroso did not play for Grêmio, having his contract resigned due to lack of form. In January 2008, he signed a one-and-a-half year contract with

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

. However, he spent only six months in Thessaloniki. On 29 December 2008, Amoroso returned to Guarani for the 2009 season. He retired at the end of the season, at the age of 34, due to injury struggles, despite not making an appearance for the club that year.

International career

Amoroso scored 9 goals in 19 appearances for

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 ...

between 1995 and 2003. He made his debut in a 5–0 win over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, and was later a member of the squad that won the 1999 Copa América.

Individual

Aris Thessaloniki was Amoroso's 12th club in six countries. He won 20 trophies and personal awards, including the Copa América with Brazil and both the FIFA Club World Championship and Copa Libertadores with São Paulo. He has also played for Verdy Kawasaki, Flamengo, Udinese, Parma, Borussia Dortmund, Málaga, Milan, Corinthians, Grêmio and Guarani which was his last club. Amoroso was the top scorer in three national championships, and broke the Bundesliga transfer record when he moved to Borussia Dortmund from Parma in the middle of 2001.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Verdy Kawasaki * J.League Division 1:

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

Flamengo * Campeonato Carioca: 1996 * Copa de Oro: 1996 Parma * Supercoppa Italiana:

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 shoot ...

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

runner-up: 2001 Borussia Dortmund *

: 2001–02 *

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

runner-up: 2001–02 São Paulo * Copa Libertadores: 2005 *

: 2005 Boca Raton FC * American Premier Soccer League: 2016 Brazil * Copa América:

Individual *

Bola de Ouro The ''Bola de Ouro'' (Golden Ball) is an annual award given each year, since 1973, by Brazilian sports magazine '' Placar'' to the best player in the Campeonato Brasileiro. A group of sports journalists watch every match of the competition and ra ...

: 1994 * Bola de Prata: 1994 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A top scorer:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Top scorer: 1998–99 *

top scorer: 2001–02 * Toyota Award: 2005 *

top scorer: 2005

Notes

References

External links

*
Brazilian Footballer of the Year 1994
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amoroso, Marcio 1974 births Footballers from Brasília Living people Association football forwards Brazilian footballers Brazil international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate soccer players in the United States Guarani FC players Tokyo Verdy players CR Flamengo footballers Udinese Calcio players Parma Calcio 1913 players Borussia Dortmund players Málaga CF players A.C. Milan players São Paulo FC players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Boca Raton FC players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players J1 League players Serie A players Bundesliga players La Liga players Super League Greece players Kicker-Torjägerkanone Award winners 1999 Copa América players Copa América-winning players