João Victor Saraiva (born 22 January 1977), better known as Madjer, is a Portuguese retired

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

player. He played in the

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

position, and has won numerous awards at the

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the Beach Soccer World Championshi ...

s for his goalscoring abilities. He took the nickname Madjer because his idol is the former Algerian player

Rabah Madjer Rabah Mustapha Madjer (; born 15 December 1958) is an Algerian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He reached stardom as a Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Po ...

. He has often been hailed as the best-ever beach soccer player. He became the first player to score 1000 international beach soccer career goals in an 8–1 win 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 September 2016. In 2019, he was considered, by the prestigious magazine

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

, to be the best beach soccer player of all time.

International career

Madjer has an extraordinary agility and dribbling talent in contrast to his height (194 cm). Besides, he is very capable in acrobatic finishes such as volleys, over-head kicks and

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

s. His skills provide a vital contribution for his team while competing in EBSL, Mundialito, and above all the Beach Soccer World Championship. At the 2005, 2006, and 2008 World Cups Madjer won the golden boot for most goals scored in the tournament, and, he also was the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of EBSL last season in 1999, 2006, 2008 and 2009. He retired from the sport after winning the

2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the 10th FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the premier international beach soccer championship contested by men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. Overall, this was the 20th edition of a List ...

in a victory over Italy.

Statistics

Honours

Club

;Cavalieri del Mare Beach Soccer *Scudetto: 2005 ;

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

* Circuito Nacional de Futebol de Praia: 2010, 2016 ;

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

*Russian National Beach Soccer Championship: 2011; *

Euro Winners Cup The Euro Winners Cup (EWC) is an annual, continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) from ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

;Alanya *Turkish National Beach Soccer Championship: 2011 ; Al-Ahli Club *UAE National Beach Soccer Championship: 2012, 2013, 2014 *UAE President's Cup: 2014 *UAE Supercup: 2014 ;

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (, ), abbreviated as BJK, is a Turkish professional sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

*Turkish National Beach Soccer Championship: 2013

Country

(3):

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Euro Beach Soccer League The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer featuring European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in Europe ...

(6): 2002,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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 ...

Euro Beach Soccer Cup The Euro Beach Soccer Cup (EBSC), originally known as the ''European Pro Beach Soccer Championships'' until 2004, was a biennial (previously annual) beach soccer competition contested between European men's national teams, organised by Beach Soc ...

(6): 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 *

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from countries served by national Olympic committees within the European Olympic Committees (EOC), the regional association for such committ ...

(Gold Medal): 2019 *

BSWW Mundialito The BSWW Mundialito, often simply known as Mundialito, is an annual international beach soccer tournament that takes place between few select countries, which are invited to play at the tournament organized by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW). First p ...

(4): 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012 *

Copa Latina The Latin Cup was an international official football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested FIFA launch the competition ...

(1): 2000

Individual

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Ball (2):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Silver Ball (2):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bronze Ball (1):

* Beach Soccer World Championships Top Scorer (2):

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Shoe (3):

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Silver Shoe (3):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

* Beach Soccer MVP (3): 2003, 2005, 2006 * Beach Soccer Best Player of the Year (2): 2015, 2016 * Beach Soccer Goal of the Year (1): 2015 * Beach Soccer Team of the Year (2): 2015, 2016 * Euro Beach Soccer League MVP (5): 1999, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 * Euro Beach Soccer League Top Scorer (6): 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 * Euro Beach Soccer League Fair Play Award (1): 2005 * Euro Beach Soccer League Portuguese Event Top Scorer (1): 2007 * Euro Beach Soccer League French Event Top Scorer (1): 2007 * Euro Beach Soccer League Spanish Event Top Scorer (1): 2004 * Euro Beach Soccer Cup Top Scorer (4): 2004, 2009, 2010, 2012 * FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA) Top Scorer (1): 2011 * Mundialito MVP (6): 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 * Mundialito Top Scorer (5): 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 * Copa Latina MVP (2): 1999, 2000 *Capocannoniere Serie A (2): 2008, 2009 *Capocannoniere Coppa Italia (1): 2008 *Russian National Beach Soccer Championship MVP (1): 2011 *Turkish National Beach Soccer Championship MVP (2): 2012, 2013 *UAE National Beach Soccer Championship Top Scorer (1): 2012 *

Mundialito de Clubes The Mundialito de Clubes () is an international club beach soccer competition contested between top men's clubs from around the world. The tournament is loosely similar to the FIFA Club World Cup in association football, however participating team ...

Top Scorer (1):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

BiographyMadjer BlogueMilano Beach Soccer
{{Navboxes , title=Awards , bg=gold , fg=navy , list1= {{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Ball {{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Shoe {{FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup winning captains {{Beach Soccer Stars Best Player 1977 births Living people Men's association football forwards Portuguese men's footballers Portuguese beach soccer players European Games bronze medalists for Portugal Beach soccer players at the 2015 European Games European Games medalists in beach soccer Beach soccer players at the 2019 European Games European Games gold medalists for Portugal