Márcio Amoroso dos Santos (born 5 July 1974) is a Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

pundit and former professional player who mainly played as a forward. He played for several teams in his home country as well as in Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece while also representing Brazil at international level, winning the 1999 Copa América. A talented striker with great

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills and goalscoring ability, Amoroso was also capable of creating chances for teammates.

Club career

Amoroso started his career at homeland club

Guarani FC Guarani Futebol Clube, colloquially called Guarani, is a Brazilian association football club in Campinas, São Paulo. Guarani is the only club not based in a state capital or coastal city to have won the top tier of the Brazilian Championsh ...

at 1992. In July 1992, he was loaned to a Japanese outfit Verdy Kawasaki ( J.League Division 1), winning two J-League titles, and returned to Guarani FC two years later, finishing the 1994 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A as the season's top scorer. In 1996, he transferred to

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

, but he came to prominence playing in the Italian

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 ...

for unfashionable Udinese in the late-1990s. There he starred alongside

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German association football official and former player who played as a striker. He has previously served as the technical director of the Germany national team. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bier ...

in a side which played an adventurous 3–4–3 formation, finishing his first season with the club in third place in

. When the league's top scorer Oliver Bierhoff left the club for

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

in 1998, many thought Udinese Calcio would struggle to repeat their success, but that very next season Amoroso himself became the focus of the team, and was the top scorer in Serie A with 22 goals. The following season, he transferred to the defending UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia champions

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

for an astounding €30 million. Although the team started the season strongly, winning the

1999 Supercoppa Italiana The 1999 Supercoppa Italiana was a match played by the 1998–99 Serie A winners AC Milan and 1998–99 Coppa Italia winners Parma. It took place on 21 August 1999 at the San Siro in Milan, Italy. Parma won the match 2–1 to earn their firs ...

, Parma never quite fulfilled their potential to win the league title, and Amoroso was not able to match the form he managed with Udinese due to recurring injury problems; the club did manage to reach the 2001 Coppa Italia final, however. After two seasons, Amoroso was soon on the move again, this time to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in Germany, for 50 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

(€25 million), a German record at that time. Amoroso won 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 ...

title during the 2001–02 season, and was also the league's top scorer. He helped the club to the 2002 UEFA Cup final, where his goal (a penalty) could not prevent the team from losing 3–2 to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. During his next two seasons with the club, his appearances were more limited however, due to recurring injury problems. Amoroso played for

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

during the 2004–05 season, although he was mainly used as a substitute, scoring only 5 goals in 29 appearances, as Málaga finished the season in 10th place in the league. Amoroso moved to

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 ...

in the summer of

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 ...

and immediately helped them to the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

, the most prestigious club prize in South America. In January 2006, after having won the FIFA Club World Championship, finishing the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

as top scorer, he returned to Italy, signing an 18-month contract for A.C. Milan as a replacement for

Christian Vieri Christian Vieri (; born 12 July 1973), commonly known as Bobo Vieri, is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning ...

, who had transferred to

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

. After an unsuccessful spell, Amoroso agreed to cancel his contract with A.C. Milan on 1 September 2006, and immediately signed a new contract with Corinthians. Amoroso quickly received the no. 10 jersey from Corinthians as a replacement for

Carlos Tevez Carlos Alberto Tevez (; né Martínez; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. A dynamic forward (association football), forward in his prime, Tevez ...

(who left SC Corinthians Paulista and moved to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

). But there he could not show the football that he was capable of, having his contract resigned in April 2007, signing in for Grêmio. Since August, Amoroso did not play for Grêmio, having his contract resigned due to lack of form. In January 2008, he signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

. However, he spent only six months in Thessaloniki. On 29 December 2008, Amoroso returned to Guarani for the 2009 season. He retired at the end of the season, at the age of 34, due to injury struggles, despite not making an appearance for the club that year.

International career

Amoroso scored 9 goals in 19 appearances 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 ...

between 1995 and 2003. He made his debut in a 5–0 win over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, and was later a member of the squad that won the 1999 Copa América.

Individual

Aris Thessaloniki was Amoroso's 12th club in six countries. He won 20 trophies and personal awards, including the

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 ...

with Brazil and both the FIFA Club World Championship and Copa Libertadores with São Paulo. He has also played for Verdy Kawasaki, Flamengo, Udinese, Parma, Borussia Dortmund, Málaga, Milan, Corinthians, Grêmio and Guarani which was his last club. Amoroso was the top scorer in three national championships, and broke the Bundesliga transfer record when he moved to Borussia Dortmund from Parma in the middle of 2001.

Personal life

Amoroso is of Italian descent through his mother. He is the nephew of the footballer José Amoroso Filho.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Amoroso goal.''

Honours

Verdy Kawasaki * J.League Division 1:

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Flamengo *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

: 1996 * Copa de Oro:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Parma *

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 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Borussia Dortmund *

: 2001–02 *

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 ...

runner-up: 2001–02 São Paulo *

* FIFA Club World Championship:

Boca Raton FC * American Premier Soccer League: 2016 Brazil *

Individual *

Bola de Ouro The ''Bola de Ouro'' (Golden Ball) is an annual award given each year, since 1973, by Brazilian sports magazine '' Placar'' to the best player in the Campeonato Brasileiro. A group of sports journalists watch every match of the competition and ra ...

: 1994 * Bola de Prata: 1994 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A top scorer:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Top scorer: 1998–99 *

top scorer: 2001–02 * Toyota Award:

* FIFA Club World Championship top scorer:

Notes

References

External links

*
Brazilian Footballer of the Year 1994
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amoroso, Marcio 1974 births Footballers from Brasília Living people Men's association football forwards Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazil men's international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Guarani FC players Tokyo Verdy players CR Flamengo footballers Udinese Calcio players Parma Calcio 1913 players Borussia Dortmund players Málaga CF players AC Milan players São Paulo FC players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Grêmio FBPA players Boca Raton FC players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players J1 League players Serie A players Bundesliga players La Liga players Super League Greece players Kicker-Torjägerkanone Award winners 1999 Copa América players Copa América–winning players Copa Libertadores–winning players