Mário Jardel

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Personal information
Mário Jardel
Full name	Mário Jardel Almeida Ribeiro
Date of birth	September 18, 1973 (age 33)
Place of birth	Fortaleza, Brazil
Nickname	Super Mario
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Anorthosis Famagusta FC
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990-1994 1995-1996 1996-2000 2000-2001 2001-2003 2003 2004 2004-2005 2005 2005-2006 2006 2007	Vasco da Gama Grêmio FC Porto Galatasaray Sporting Ancona Bolton Wanderers Newell's Old Boys Alaves Goiás Beira Mar Anorthosis Famagusta FC	39 (22) 73 (67) 125 (130) 24 (22) 49 (53) 4 (0) 12 (3) 3 (0) 1 (0) 12 (3) 4 (1)
National team²
1996-2001	Brazil	10 (1)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of August 27, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of July 11, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Mário Jardel Almeida Ribeiro (born 18 September 1973 in Fortaleza, Brazil) is a professional footballer.

Jardel played for Vasco da Gama, but moved in 1995 to Grêmio Porto Alegre, where he won the Libertadores Cup.

In 1996, he was linked to several teams, and after failing to transfer to SL Benfica and Rangers (due to the strict British rules involving non-EU players) he signed with Portuguese side FC Porto, where with help from players such as Zlatko Zahovic, Sérgio Conceição and Ljubinko Drulović he was the top goalscorer in Europe for 3 years (1998-99, 1999-00, 2001-02), with a goal average of slightly over 1 goal per match (130 goals in 125 games, avg: 1.04). Although he was top scorer 3 times, due to the use of coefficents based on each European league's standards, he only won twice, the 1998-99 and 2001-02 European Golden Boots. He lost out to Kevin Phillips in 1999-00 despite Phillips having scored 6 goals less than Jardel.

Jardel's future seemed bright enough. Before the 2000-2001 season he was traded to the Turkish club Galatasaray, winners of UEFA Cup in 2000, for exactly $20m, a fee paid by a television company owner.

Scoring five goals in his debut match suggested he would adapt well to his new club, but towards the end of the season injuries and growing personal problems hinted he was soon going to leave Turkey again. Regardless, he was part of the Galatasaray team that won the UEFA Super Cup, himself scoring twice to beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the Super Cup final, and reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with Jardel scoring six goals in the competition in victories against teams such as A.C. Milan and Real Madrid. Also, he was a favorite of Galatasaray fans, who called him "Super Mario" Jardel. He ended the season with 22 goals.

In 2001-2002 he tried to return to Portugal. The first team interested in his contract was SL Benfica, and was a major key in Manuel Vilarinho's campaign, but talks failed. He then returned to Porto, but his transfer was refused by coach Octávio Machado. Sporting appeared last and signed him.

The 2001-2002 season proved hugely successful to Jardel - he scored 42 goals in 30 games, and Sporting won both the Primeira Liga and the Portuguese Cup. He wins also the Prize "Player of the Year" by the Portuguese newspaper Record.

While the 2001-2002 season was arguably the best of Jardel's career, the following season proved to be the beginning of the end. Left off the Brazilian national team again, this time for the 2002 World Cup (despite his tremendous goal-scoring abilities he was rarely called up), and unfit at the start of the season, he spent the most of it on the injury list.

While physically he was only overweight, medical reports showed that Jardel was depressed. Some say it was because of a discussion with his agent José Veiga, others pointed to problems with his wife, illegal gambling problems or drug abuse. In the Christmas break he returned to his native Fortaleza, where he injured his knee in a swimming pool fall. He scored only nine goals that season.

He was released by Sporting before the start of the 2003-2004 season. He moved to English side Bolton Wanderers, but failed to score a league goal for the club. He did however score three goals in the English League Cup, where Bolton eventually were losing finalists. These goals came in games against Walsall, where Jardel scored twice, and against Liverpool at Anfield. During the winter break, he moved to Italian side Ancona, but could not convince the staff of his physical capabilities. By the end of the season, he quit European football, and tried to return to Palmeiras, but failed to pass physical exams.

In July 2004 Jardel signed a contract with Rosario side Newell's Old Boys, after rumours about a possible return to Portugal, to play in the newly promoted Penafiel, where his former team mate Ljubinko Drulović plays and António Oliveira (his first Porto manager) assumed the chairman position.

On 25 September 2004, Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola published a seven-page investigative report about Jardel's career. The investigation concluded that Jardel was actually involved in drugs and nightlife, which combined with several broken promises related to transfers (including one to Real Madrid, weeks before Ronaldo joined them in 2002) led to his depression. Later that day, Jardel confirmed most of the story to the website Mais Futebol'.

In August 2005 Jardel returned to Turkey in order to sign a contract with Ankaragücü. The signing could not be completed however, because Jardel arrived late in Ankara and Ankaragücü found another player for his position in the meantime.

As of January 2006 Jardel was playing for Brazilian first-division side Goiás Esporte Clube.

Jardel was signed by Beira Mar for the 2006-2007 season. Despite arriving to the club overweight, he worked hard and trained specifically to lose weight and gain physical form and scored one goal on his debut for Beira-Mar in a 2-2 draw with Desportivo das Aves.

In the winter transfer season Jardel signed for the Cypriot team Anorthosis FC.