Françoaldo Sena de Souza (born 2 March 1976), commonly known as França, 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 lea ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

França was born in

Codó Codó is a city in the Maranhão, Brazil. It has an estimated population of 123,116 (2020) and an area of 4,361.344 km2. Therefore, the sixth most populous municipality in the state. It has the largest concentration of religious centers of A ...

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

. After his senior beginnings with lowly

Nacional Futebol Clube Nacional Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Nacional, is a Brazilian professional club based in Manaus, Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas founded on 13 January 1913. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série D, the fourth tier of Br ...

and

Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Jaú) Esporte Clube XV de Novembro, more commonly referred to as XV de Jaú, is a Brazilian football club based in Jaú, São Paulo. The team compete in Campeonato Paulista Segunda Divisão, the fourth tier of the São Paulo state football league. Th ...

, he moved in 1996 to national powerhouse

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

, where he proceeded to net eight goals overall in his debut year – even though he did not start regularly – and 182 goals in 323 games during his six-year stay (fourth all-time at the time of his departure); in 1998 and 2000, as the club won the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

, the player was crowned the league's best scorer, respectively at 12 and 18. In the 2002 summer, França signed with

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

from Germany as the team sought replacements for aging

Ulf Kirsten Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps play ...

(37). In his debut season in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

he appeared scarcely, barred by

Dimitar Berbatov Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov (; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Known for his technique and ball control, Berbatov is regarded as one of the greatest Bulgarian players of all time. He cap ...

and

Oliver Neuville Oliver Patric Neuville (; born 1 May 1973) is a German former association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. During an 18-year professional career which began in Switzerland, he played mainly for German ...

, netting only once, in his league debut in a 2–4 home loss against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

; In 2003–04, although the pair remained at the

BayArena BayArena () is a Association football, football stadium in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which has been the home ground of Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen since 1958. History The stadium was originally known as ''Ulrich-Haber ...

, França received much more playing time, and finished just two goals short of the Bulgarian (14 to 16, in as many matches), adding to this a league-best 13 assists. Additionally, Neuville left the following summer. França moved to Japan subsequently, joining

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo ...

, experiencing one relegation and one promotion in his first two years and leaving the club in 2010, aged 34.

International career

França collected eight

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

during two years, but was never selected to any major tournament. He scored once for the national team; his only goal coming in a friendly against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in May 2000.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

São Paulo *

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

* Torneio Rio – São Paulo: 2001 * Copa Master de CONMEBOL: 1996 Kashiwa Reysol * J.League Division 2:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franca 1976 births Living people Footballers from Maranhão Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Brazil men's international footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Nacional Futebol Clube players Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Jaú) players São Paulo FC players Bundesliga players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players J1 League players J2 League players Kashiwa Reysol players Yokohama FC players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan People from Codó