Emerson Moisés Costa

Emerson
Personal information
Full nameEmerson Moisés Costa
Date of birth12 April 1972
Place of birthRio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1990–1992Flamengo0(0)
1992Coritiba0(0)
1992–1994Belenenses55(1)
1994–1996Porto60(9)
1996–1998Middlesbrough41(4)
1998–2000Tenerife86(4)
2000–2002Deportivo La Coruña43(0)
2002–2003Atlético Madrid29(2)
2003–2004Rangers14(0)
2004–2005Vasco da Gama14(1)
2005Skoda Xanthi16(1)
2006–2007AEK Athens30(1)
2007APOEL13(0)
2008Madureira0(0)
Total413(27)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Emerson Moisés Costa (born 12 April 1972 in Rio de Janeiro), simply Emerson, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

As well as in his country, he played professionally in Portugal, England, Spain and Scotland. He also received Portuguese citizenship after he married his Portuguese wife.

Football career

Emerson's career began with Brazilian side Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, but he soon moved to Coritiba Foot Ball Club in search of first team football. In 1991, he began his extensive overseas spell, first with C.F. Os Belenenses in Portugal.

After several impressive displays, Emerson secured a move to giants F.C. Porto. Under the management of former England boss Bobby Robson, he won successive league titles, appeared in the UEFA Champions League, and won the 1996 Portuguese Player of the Year award.

By now Emerson's reputation had grown in stature and his performances had attracted interest from major European clubs. Eventually he chose to move to English Premiership club Middlesbrough, completing a £4 million move. It is alleged that the deal was done without manager Bryan Robson's knowledge, the manager only finding out after it was unwittingly mentioned by the club's chief scout Ray Train. Emerson's cousin Fábio also joined the Teesside team, but played just one game in his 14-month spell.

However, things turned sour quickly with Emerson's former manager Bobby Robson, now at FC Barcelona, expressing his interest in bringing the player to the Camp Nou. This unsettled the midfielder, who by this time had already endured relegation to Division One, in addition to difficulties in adjusting to life on Teesside. He travelled to Brazil for a break at the end of 1997, and once there threatened that he would not return to the club.

Eventually the dispute was resolved with a move to CD Tenerife in January 1998, for around £4.25 million. Surprisingly, Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb later stated that he had tried to re-sign the player after Tenerife were relegated. He remained with the Canary Islands club until 2000 when he moved to Deportivo de La Coruña, after the Galicians' 2000 La Liga title. At Depor, he often partnered compatriot Mauro Silva in his first year, but played sparingly in the following.

After further one-year stays with Atlético Madrid and Rangers,[1] where he became the first ever Brazilian to play for the Scottish side, scoring once against Panathinaikos FC in the 2003–04 Champions League,[2] Emerson moved to Greece, joining Skoda Xanthi F.C. in the summer of 2005. After having stayed there only six months, he transferred to another team in the country, AEK Athens FC, in January 2006.

On 23 May 2007, Emerson was released by AEK to join the 2006–07 Cyprus champions, APOEL F.C. from Nicosia. However, in January of the following year, he returned to Brazil and ended his career playing for lowly Madureira Esporte Clube, at the Rio de Janeiro State League.

Honours

Porto
Deportivo

References

  1. ↑ "Gers win Emerson race". BBC Sport. 29 August 2003. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "Rangers denied in Athens". BBC Sport. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2009.

External links