Felisberto Sebastião da Graça Amaral, more commonly known as Gilberto (born 21 September 1982), is an Angolan 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 winger 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 ...

left 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 ...

. He played professionally for Egypt's

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

, Belgian club Lierse, Cypriot club

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintai ...

, and for Benfica de Luanda in his native country. He represented the Angola national team at international level.

Club career

Al Ahly

While playing for

in Egypt, Gilberto was well known for fitting into the team's tactic. The tactic was that Gilberto would run on the side of the pitch and then cross the ball at the end to

Flavio ''Flavio, re de' Longobardi'' ("Flavio, King of the Lombards", HWV 16) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's ''Flavio Cuniberto''. It was Ha ...

who would score with a header. With Al Ahly, Gilberto played against many world class teams such as

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

and Roma. He helped his team to domestic success before helping them become the only team in the world to qualify to

Club World 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 200 ...

twice in a row.

2015 incident and retirement

On 26 July 2015, during a match of Benfica de Luanda, Gilberto was knocked out following a tackle by an opponent from Progresso do Sambizanga. He subsequently remained unconscious for about twenty minutes, before being resuscitated by medical service and immediately carried to the hospital. A doctor stated that no injuries were detected in medical tests. Shortly afterwards, he announced his retirement as a player and that he was taking an office position with Benfica de Luanda.

International career

An Achilles tendon injury made him miss the 2006 African Cup of Nations and the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

in Germany. He was part of the Angola national team during the

2008 African Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confederat ...

in Ghana. In the

2010 African Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was held in Angola, where it began on 10 January 2 ...

opening game against Mali on 10 January in Luanda Gilberto made assist for 1–0 lead to

Flávio Amado Flávio da Silva Amado (born 30 December 1979), better known as Flávio, is an Angolan former professional footballer striker. He is the assistant of Angolan side Petro Atlético. Club career Flávio helped his team Al Ahly to participate in ...

in the first half. In the second half he scored from penalty-kick for Angola 3–0 lead and later in the game

Seydou Keita Seydou Keïta (; anglicised to Keita; born 16 January 1980) is a Malian former footballer. A versatile midfielder, he operated as both a central or defensive midfielder. Keita most notably played for Lens (five seasons) and Barcelona (four ...

penalised him for another penalty kick for Angola.

Manucho Mateus Alberto Contreiras Gonçalves (born 7 March 1983), commonly known as Manucho, is an Angolan former professional footballer who played as a striker. Manucho moved from Petro Atletico to Manchester United in January 2008. Before playing ...

scored for 4–0 but the match finished 4–4 after four consecutive goals for

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Angola's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gilberto goal.''Felisberto Sebastião de Graça Amaral "Gilberto" - International Appearances
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilberto Living people 1982 births Sportspeople from Luanda Angolan footballers Angola international footballers Angolan expatriate footballers Association football midfielders Atlético Petróleos de Luanda players Al Ahly SC players Lierse S.K. players AEL Limassol players S.L. Benfica (Luanda) players Egyptian Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Cypriot First Division players Expatriate footballers in Egypt Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Cyprus 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Belgium