| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel | ||
| Date of birth | 8 May 1966 | ||
| Place of birth | Santa Rosa, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1985–1990 | Internacional | 55 | (0) |
| 1990–1993 | Parma | 75 | (0) |
| 1993–1994 | Reggiana | 31 | (0) |
| 1995–1998 | Atlético Mineiro | 81 | (0) |
| 1998–2001 | Galatasaray | 129 | (0) |
| 2001–2003 | Parma | 8 | (0) |
| Total | 379 | (0) | |
| National team | |||
| 1988–1998 | Brazil | 101 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel (born 8 May 1966 in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul) is a retired Brazilian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is of German and Italian descent.
During an 18-year career, he played professionally for five clubs, namely Parma, Atlético Mineiro and Galatasaray.
The recipient of more than 100 caps for Brazil, Taffarel helped the national team win the 1994 World Cup, also appearing in other eight major international tournaments over the course of one full decade.
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Taffarel started playing for Sport Club Internacional, but only appeared in a maximum of 14 top division games during his five-year spell, being however awarded the Silver Ball award for the 1988 season. In 1990, he moved abroad and joined Parma A.C. in Italy, freshly promoted to Serie A for the first time in the club's history; he proceeded to appear in all 34 league games in the following season as the Emilia-Romagna outfit overachieved for a final sixth position and qualified to the UEFA Cup.
In 1993 Taffarel, already only a backup at Parma, signed for fellow top-divisioner A.C. Reggiana 1919, being first-choice as the club narrowly avoided relegation. After that season, he returned to his country and played three seasons with Clube Atlético Mineiro.
Aged 32, Taffarel returned to Europe and joined Galatasaray SK, winning six major trophies during his three-year stint, most notably two Süper Lig and the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, a 4–1 penalty shootout defeat of Arsenal (0–0 after 120 minutes); he closed out his career at the of 37 with former club Parma, after one 1/2 seasons as second-choice, and after having refused an offer from Empoli FC: his car broke while he was going to sign the contract, and he defined such event as a "sign of God".[1][2]
In 2004, Taffarel rejoined Galatasaray as goalkeeper coach (under former teammate Gheorghe Hagi), returning to the club in the same predicament under former coach Fatih Terim for the 2011–12 season.
Taffarel made his debut for Brazil on 7 July 1988 in the Australia Bicentenary Gold Cup, playing all four games and conceding two goals in an eventual win. He was also in goal for the following year's Copa América, in another international conquest (during his 10-year career, he appeared in five editions of the tournament).
Taffarel was the starter for Brazil during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, only allowing one goal in the first round and two in the knock-out phases (excluding two penalty kicks in the final). Four years later, in France, he helped the national team finish second, notably saving two penalties in the 4–2 shootout win against the Netherlands in the semifinals.
Taffarel gained 101 caps with the national team. Upon his retirement in 2003, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira offered to arrange a farewell match but the player refused, stating that he was not interested in such fanfare. He did return to play alongside Romário in late 2004 against Mexico to commemorate the 1994 World Cup victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Brazil | League | Copa do Brasil | South America | Total | ||||||
| 1985 | Internacional | Série A | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| 1986 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||
| 1987 | 10 | 0 | 10 | |||||||
| 1988 | 14 | 0 | 14 | |||||||
| 1989 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 17 | ||||||
| 1990 | 11 | 0 | 11 | |||||||
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 1990/91 | Parma | Serie A | 34 | 0 | 34 | |||||
| 1991/92 | 34 | 0 | 34 | |||||||
| 1992/93 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||||||
| 1993/94 | Reggiana | Serie A | 31 | 0 | 31 | |||||
| Brazil | League | Copa do Brasil | South America | Total | ||||||
| 1995 | Atlético Mineiro | Série A | 22 | 0 | 4 | 26 | ||||
| 1996 | 27 | 0 | 27 | |||||||
| 1997 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 28 | ||||||
| 1998 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Turkey | League | Fortis Turkey Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 1998/99 | Galatasaray | Süper Lig | 32 | 0 | 8 | 40 | ||||
| 1999/00 | 30 | 0 | 17 | 47 | ||||||
| 2000/01 | 27 | 0 | 15 | 42 | ||||||
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 2001/02 | Parma | Serie A | 6 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 15 | |||
| 2002/03 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Country | Brazil | 136 | 0 | |||||||
| Italy | 114 | 0 | ||||||||
| Turkey | 129 | 0 | ||||||||
| Total | 379 | 0 | ||||||||
| Brazil national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1988 | 7 | 0 |
| 1989 | 16 | 0 |
| 1990 | 7 | 0 |
| 1991 | 10 | 0 |
| 1992 | 2 | 0 |
| 1993 | 15 | 0 |
| 1994 | 9 | 0 |
| 1995 | 5 | 0 |
| 1996 | 0 | 0 |
| 1997 | 15 | 0 |
| 1998 | 15 | 0 |
| Total | 101 | 0 |
Taffarel and his former Atlético Mineiro teammate Paulo Roberto started up a player agency, with the focus mainly on promising youngsters.[4]
During the 1998 World Cup, when the Brazilian national team was training at Trois-Sapins stadium in Ozoir-la-Ferrière, a suburb southeast of Paris, the town's mayor proposed renaming the stadium after him.[5]
Taffarel is a born-again Christian who has actively shared his faith in numerous venues. He has been a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes since 1988.[6] He has 17 children, 15 of them adopted.[2]
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