Ricardo Rogério de Brito, better known by his nickname Alemão (born November 22, 1961), is a former Brazilian 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 lea ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. His nickname means ''German'' in the

Portuguese language Portuguese ( or ) is a Western Romance language of the Indo-European language family originating from the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is the official language of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tom� ...

. A tenacious and physical yet technically gifted player, Alemão was a strong, consistent, hard-working, and versatile midfielder, who excelled in a holding role as either a defensive midfielder or

deep-lying playmaker In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, due to his tactical intelligence, energy, tackling, and his ability to read the game, as well as his capacity to start attacking plays after winning back possession.

Nickname

The nickname, "Alemão" ("the German"), was attributed to his blond hair and fair complexion, making him similar in appearance to the many German immigrants in Brazil.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Lavras Lavras is a municipality in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Located at an altitude of 919 m, it has a population of 104,761 inhabitants (2022). The area of the municipality is 564,495 km2. The average annual temperature is 19.6°C and t ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, Alemão started his career playing for a Minas Gerais' club called Fabril in 1980. In 1981, he moved to

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 ...

, of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, where he stayed until 1987, winning the Bola de Prata award of Placar Magazine in 1985. In 1987, and in 1988, he played for

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, of Spain, scoring six goals in 35 games, and won the

EFE Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major Spanish language, Spanish-language multimedia news agency and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was ...

Trophy as best South American player and the La Liga Foreign Player of the Year in 1988. Between 1988, and 1992, he played 93 games and scored nine goals for

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

of Italy, playing alongside star offensive players like

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

and Careca as a defensive foil. With Napoli, he won the UEFA Cup in 1989, scoring a goal in the final, followed by the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

title and the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

in 1990. In 1992, he signed with

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

of Italy, scoring two goals in 40 games, until he left the club in 1994. In 1994, he returned to Brazil, playing 77 games and scoring two goals for

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, winning two international titles with the club in 1994, the

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL () 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 contest, similar to the ...

, and the

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

; he remained with the club until 1996, when he moved to

Volta Redonda Volta Redonda () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with an area of 182.81 km2, located from 350m to 707m above the sea level (22°31'23" S, 44°06'15" W) and with a pop ...

and retired from football.

International

Alemão was capped 39 times for the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team (), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' ("Canary Squad", after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Brazilian Football Co ...

, between June 1983, and June 1990, scoring six goals, and he was part of the national team squad for the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

and the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. He was also part of the Brazilian team that won the

1989 Copa América The 1989 Copa América football tournament was hosted by Brazil, from 1 to 16 July. All ten CONMEBOL member nations participated. Brazil won their fourth Copa América, and first since 1949, by beating Uruguay 1–0 in the final match at the Est ...

. He played his last game for the Brazil national team on June 24, 1990, when his team was defeated by

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in the second round of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Managerial career

Alemão started his managerial career in 2007, at Tupynambás, then in 2008, he was hired as manager of

América Mineiro The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, which was, on that season, on second division of the Minas Gerais State League, but was promoted to the first level under his management.

Honours

Club

;Napoli *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 1988–89 *

: 1989–90 *Supercoppa Italiana: 1990 ;São Paulo *

: 1994 *

: 1994

International

;Brazil *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Individual

* Placar Magazine Bola de Prata Award: 1985 *

Trophy for Best South American Player of the Year: 1988 * La Liga Foreign Player of the Year: in 1988

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alemao, footballer, 1961 1961 births Living people People from Lavras Brazilian people of German descent Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Atlético Madrid footballers SSC Napoli players Atalanta BC players São Paulo FC players Volta Redonda FC players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players La Liga players Serie A players UEFA Europa League–winning players Brazil men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1989 Copa América players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Copa América–winning players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian football managers América Futebol Clube (MG) managers Nacional Futebol Clube managers Central Sport Club managers Atlético Rio Negro Clube managers Footballers from Minas Gerais 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen