Paulo Sérgio Rosa, usually known as Viola (born 1 January 1969), is a Brazilian former

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

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 ...

. He was given his nickname in his youth, which was a reference to the brand–name of his first pair of football boots.

Career

Viola is famous for his strong personality on the pitch and great appearances in many teams he has played for throughout his long career. His first great appearance was in his second match, in the final game of 1988 Campeonato Paulista (1st Division Championship of São Paulo State) between

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

and Guarani, regarded by the press as having a better team. Viola was called just because the main Corinthians forward, Edmar, was called by 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 ...

and then sold to

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– and because his main substitute, Marcos Roberto, was with a broken arm. Viola was not having a great offensive exhibition, but could score the title goal in the extra time – by putting his leg in the way of a lopsided shot from Wilson Mano, turning it into an assist. Despite becoming a sudden star, Viola did not have a regular basis of good exhibitions and passed through some loanings until 1992 – he was not part of the first Corinthians title at Brasileirão, in 1990, when he was loaned to São José. He then had a reasonable year in 1992, not resembling anymore the skinny boy from 1988. In 1993, Viola almost did another title goal to Corinthians in the Campeonato Paulista, celebrating it with a

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

imitation – mocking the

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

nickname. But in the second final match, the rivals won the tournament. Nevertheless, Viola continued to celebrate his goals in joking ways, increasing his popularity. He was then first called by the Brazil team, going to

1993 Copa América The 1993 Copa América was the 36th Copa América, CONMEBOL's football tournament for national teams. It was held in Ecuador between 15 June and 4 July. All 10 CONMEBOL members took part, but for the first time two nations from outside CONMEBOL w ...

and to

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

when he came as a substitute in the extra time, bringing an electric performance to a tied game. Viola also ended 1994 as runner-up with Corinthians in the Brasileirão. By the beginning of 1995, Viola was then sold to

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, but remained for more six months in Corinthians - the winning the Campeonato Paulista and the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

. However, he did not suit himself in

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. Despite having reasonable goal numbers, he chose to come back to Brazil by the mid of 1996, even signing with Palmeiras. He did not have a regular frequency of good exhibitions, and left the club after the runner-up campaign in the 1997 Brasileirão, signing with Santos. He then earned again good performances, leading the team to the semifinals of the Campeonato Paulista and of the Brasileirão, and to the 1998

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 ...

title. He also ended the Brasileirão as top scorer. His career's last good moments were in

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

, by 1999 and 2000, as a supporting member of the runner-up squad of

2000 FIFA Club World Championship The 2000 FIFA Club World Championship was the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup, the world club championship for men's club association football teams. It took place in Brazil from 5 to 14 January 2000. FIFA as football's international governing bod ...

and of the

2000 Copa Mercosur The 2000 Copa Mercosur was the 3rd season of the Copa Mercosur, CONMEBOL's club tournament for countries in the southern part of America. The competition started on 1 August 2000 and concluded on 20 December 2000 with CR Vasco da Gama, Vasco da ...

and Brasileirão champions. Viola then had an unsuccessful return to Santos in 2001. In he left Brazil again to join Turkish side

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

, where he scored 18 goals in 46

Super Lig Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter/player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard button) ...

matches during a -season spell. In mid-2003, back to Brazil, Viola would defend many other teams, alternating them with some showbol matches and even a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show participation by 2010. His last coming back trial was in Taboão da Serra, in 2015.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Corinthians * São Paulo State League: 1988, 1995 *

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Santos *

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 ...

Vasco da Gama * Brazilian League:

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 ...

Copa Mercosur The Copa Mercosur (, , "Mercosur Cup") was a Association football, football competition played from 1998 to 2001 by the traditional top clubs from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. The competition was created by CONMEBOL to generate ...

Brazil *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

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 ...

Individual *São Paulo state league's top scorer: 1993 *Brazilian league's top scorer: 1998 *Copa Conmebol's top scorer: 1998

References

External links

*
Guardian Article
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Viola (Footballer) 1969 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Spain CR Vasco da Gama players Men's association football forwards Guarani FC players SE Palmeiras players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players São Paulo state football team players São José Esporte Clube players Esporte Clube Bahia players Uberlândia Esporte Clube players Duque de Caxias Futebol Clube players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Valencia CF players La Liga players Gaziantepspor footballers Süper Lig players Brusque Futebol Clube players 1993 Copa América players 1994 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Brazil men's international footballers Clube Atlético Taboão da Serra players Footballers from São Paulo 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen