Cabral (footballer)

This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Tavares and the second or paternal family name is Varela.
Cabral

Cabral playing for Basel in 2011
Personal information
Full nameAdilson Tavares Varela[1]
Date of birth22 October 1988
Place of birthPraia, Cape Verde
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Playing positionDefensive Midfielder
Youth career
1997–1998Moudon
1998–2001Etoile Broye
2001–2005Lausanne
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2005–2007Lausanne26(0)
2007–2013Basel99(2)
2008–2009→ Sevilla Atlético (loan)23(1)
2013–2015Sunderland1(0)
2014→ Genoa (loan)7(0)
National team‡
2005–2006Switzerland U185(1)
2006–2007Switzerland U1914(0)
2007–2008Switzerland U202(0)
2007–2009Switzerland U219(0)
2012-Cape Verde1(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:48, 17 August 2013 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 31 December 2010, 24:00 (UTC)

Adilson Tavares Varela (born 22 October 1988 in Praia, Cape Verde), commonly known as Cabral, is a Cabo Verdean footballer who currently plays as a midfielder formerly for Sunderland.

Club career

FC Lausanne-Sport

Cabral came through the ranks at FC Lausanne-Sport and made his debut for the club in 2005. He went on to play 26 games for Lausanne-Sport.

FC Basel

In summer 2007, he left in direction FC Basel on a free transfer, signing a three-year deal. He played his debut for Basel in the 5–1 away defeat on 5 August 2007 against BSC Young Boys.[3] However, he played just a handful of games during his first season at Basel and therefore for the 2008–09 season he was loaned out to Sevilla FC's B Team, Sevilla Atlético, where he made 22 appearances, scoring one goal.

When he returned to Basel Manager Christian Gross had been sacked and Thorsten Fink was in charge. He was a much improved player following his season in Spain and thus during the 2009–10 season he broke into the first team squad. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 home win over AC Bellinzona on 6 December 2009.[4] At the end of that season Cabral was part of the Double winning squad and he had played 21 league games during the campaign.

His best goal was in the 2010/2011 UEFA Champions League against A.S. Roma when he dribbled around the defence and then lobbed the ball over Bogdan Lobonţ to the final score of 3:1. At the end of the Basel's 2010–11 season Cabral won his third Championship Medal and the following season saw him win his third Double (the fourth League Championship title[5] and the third Swiss Cup Medal).[6]

After his team mate Benjamin Huggel retired from professional football in May 2012, Cabral took his place in central midfield and advanced to becoming team leader. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 Cabral won the Championship title[7] and was Swiss Cup runner up with Basel.[8] In the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning UEFA Champions League holders Chelsea, but they were knocked out, losing both home and away tie, beaten 2–5 on aggregate.[9]

Sunderland

On 10 June 2013, Sunderland announced the signing of Cabral on a free transfer.[10] He scored his first goal for the club against Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-final of the 2013 Premier League Asia Trophy. Sunderland would eventually win that game 3–1. He made his competitive debut for the club on the opening day of the season in a 1-0 home defeat against Fulham on 17 August 2013.[11] However, he failed to make another league appearance all season, even after Paolo di Canio was sacked as manager and replaced with Gus Poyet.

On 2 February 2015, Sunderland confirmed that Cabral had left the club by mutual consent.[12]

Genoa

On 9 January 2014 he was loaned to Genoa until the end of the season.[13]

International career

Despite being born in the West African country of the Cape Verde islands, he has represented Switzerland at Under-18, Under-19, Under-20 and Under-21 levels.

In November 2012, Cabral returned to his original nationality, being called up for the friendly match between the Cape Verde national senior team against Ghana.[14] In that match, which Cape Verde lost 0–1, he was on the bench but did not play.[15]

Personal life

Cabral is the cousin of Manuel Fernandes a midfielder for FC Lokomotiv Moscow and Gelson Fernandes, a midfielder for Stade Rennais of the Ligue 1 and the Swiss national team.[16]

Honours

Basel

References

  1. ↑ "Barclays Premier League Squad Numbers 2013/14". Premier League. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Premier League Player Profile Cabral". Premier League. Barclays Premier League. 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "FCB kassiert eine 1:5-Kanterniederlage gegen YB" (in German). FC Basel 1893. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  4. ↑ Wyder, Lukas (2009). "FCB dreht Spiel gegen Bellinzona und gewinnt verdient mit 3:2 (1:2)" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  5. ↑ "Jetzt hat Basel den Titel auf sicher" (in German). football.ch. 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  6. ↑ "Matchtelegram FC Basel 1893 5:3 FC Luzern" (in German). football.ch. 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
  7. ↑ Schifferle, Michael (2013). "Season review: Switzerland". Eufa. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
  8. ↑ SFV (2013). "Telegramm Schweizer Cup Final" (in German). Schweizerischer Fussballverband. Retrieved 2013-05-20.
  9. ↑ Haylett, Trevor (2013). "Basel take heart after Chelsea defeat". Eufa. Retrieved 2013-05-03.
  10. ↑ "Sunderland sign Cabral, Valentin Roberge and Modibo Diakite". BBC Sport. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "Sunderland 0 – 1 Fulham". BBC. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  12. ↑ "Midfielder Cabral departs". Sunderland. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "Cabral makes loan move". Sunderland AFC. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  14. ↑ (Portuguese)
  15. ↑ (Portuguese)
  16. ↑ (Portuguese)

External links