Paulo Sérgio Rosa, usually known as Viola (born 1 January 1969), is a former Brazilian

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 forward. He was given his nickname in his youth, which was a reference to the brand–name of his first pair of football boots.

Career

Viola is famous for his strong personality on the pitch and great appearances in many teams he has played for throughout his long career. His first great appearance was in his second match, in the final game of 1988 Campeonato Paulista (1st Division Championship of São Paulo State) between

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 ...

and Guarani, regarded by the press as having a better team. Viola was called just because the main Corinthians forward, Edmar, was called by the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team ( pt, Seleção Brasileira de Futebol), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' (‘Canary Squad’, after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international football and is administered by the B ...

and then sold to

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

– and because his main substitute, Marcos Roberto, was with a broken arm. Viola was not having a great offensive exhibition, but could score the title goal in the extra time – by putting his leg in the way of a lopsided shot from Wilson Mano, turning it into an assist. Despite becoming a sudden star, Viola did not have a regular basis of good exhibitions and passed through some loanings until 1992 – he was not part of the first Corinthians title at Brasileirão, in 1990, when he was loaned to São José. He then had a reasonable year in 1992, not resembling anymore the skinny boy from 1988. In 1993, Viola almost did another title goal to Corinthians in the Campeonato Paulista, celebrating it with a

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

imitation – mocking the

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 ...

nickname. But in the second final match, the rivals won the tournament. Nevertheless, Viola continued to celebrate his goals in joking ways, increasing his popularity. He was then first called by the Brazil team, going to

1993 Copa América The 1993 Copa América was the 36th Copa América, CONMEBOL's football tournament for national teams. It was held in Ecuador between 15 June and 4 July. All 10 CONMEBOL members took part, but for the first time two nations from outside CONMEBOL w ...

and to

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

when he came as a substitute in the extra time, bringing an electric performance to a tied game. Viola also ended 1994 as runner-up with Corinthians in the Brasileirão. By the beginning of 1995, Viola was then sold to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, but remained for more six months in Corinthians - the winning the Campeonato Paulista and the

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 P ...

. However, he did not suit himself in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Despite having reasonable goal numbers, he chose to come back to Brazil by the mid of 1996, even signing with Palmeiras. He did not have a regular frequency of good exhibitions, and left the club after the runner-up campaign in the 1997 Brasileirão, signing with Santos. He then earned again good performances, leading the team to the semifinals of the Campeonato Paulista and of the Brasileirão, and to the 1998

Copa Conmebol The Copa CONMEBOL ( en, CONMEBOL Cup) was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contes ...

title. He also ended the Brasileirão as top scorer. His career's last good moments were in Vasco da Gama, by 1999 and 2000, as a supporting member of the runner-up squad of 2000

FIFA World Club Cup 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 2000 ...

and of the

2000 Copa Mercosur The Copa Mercosur 2000 was the 3rd staging of the international club cup. The competition started on 1 August 2000 and concluded on 20 December 2000 with Vasco da Gama beating Palmeiras in the final. Participants * Atlético Mineiro * Corinthi ...

and Brasileirão champions. Viola then had an unsuccessful return to Santos in 2001. In he left Brazil again to join Turkish side

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

, where he scored 18 goals in 46 Super Lig matches during a -season spell. In mid-2003, back to Brazil, Viola would defend many other teams, alternating them with some showbol matches and even a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

show participation by 2010. His last coming back trial was in Taboão da Serra, in 2015.

Honours

Club

Corinthians * São Paulo State League: 1988, 1995 *

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Santos *

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 s ...

Vasco da Gama * Brazilian League:

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 S ...

Copa Mercosur The Copa Mercosur (, pt, Copa Mercosul , "Mercosur Cup") was a football competition played from 1998 to 2001 by the traditional top clubs from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. The competition was created by CONMEBOL to generate TV m ...

International

Brazil *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

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 ...

Individual

*São Paulo state league's top scorer: 1993 *Brazilian league's top scorer: 1998 *Copa Conmebol's top scorer: 1998

References

External links

*
Guardian Article
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Viola (Footballer) 1969 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Spain CR Vasco da Gama players Association football forwards Guarani FC players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players São José Esporte Clube players Esporte Clube Bahia players Uberlândia Esporte Clube players Duque de Caxias Futebol Clube players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Valencia CF players La Liga players Gaziantepspor footballers Süper Lig players Brusque Futebol Clube players 1993 Copa América players 1994 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Brazil international footballers The Farm (TV series) contestants Clube Atlético Taboão da Serra players Footballers from São Paulo