Graphite

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Graphite
Grafite SantaCruz.jpg
Grafite (2016)
Personnel
Surname Edinaldo Batista Libânio
birthday April 2nd 1979
place of birth Campo Limpo PaulistaBrazil
size 189 cm
position Storm
Juniors
Years station
0000-1999 SC Campo Limpo
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2000 SE Matonense
2001 Ferroviária de Araraquara 27 (22)
2001 Santa Cruz FC 22 0(5)
2002-2003 Gremio Porto Alegre 6 0(0)
2002 → Santa Cruz FC (loan) 16 (11)
2003 →  Anyang LG Cheetahs  (loan) 9 0(0)
2003 Goiás EC 20 (12)
2004-2006 Sao Paulo FC 44 (17)
2006-2007 Le Mans UC 51 (17)
2007-2011 VfL Wolfsburg 107 (59)
2011-2015 Al-Ahli Dubai 79 (63)
2015 al-Sadd Sports Club 9 0(4)
2015-2016 Santa Cruz FC 58 (23)
2017 Atletico Paranaense 13 0(0)
2017-2018 Santa Cruz FC 15 0(3)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
2005-2010 Brazil 4 0(1)
1 Only league games are given.

Grafite [ ɡɾaˈfit͡ɕ ] (born April 2, 1979 in Campo Limpo Paulista , São Paulo ; real name Edinaldo Batista Libânio ) is a former Brazilian soccer player . The striker initially played for various clubs in his home country and in 2005 won the Copa Libertadores and club world championship with São Paulo FC . After one and a half years in France at Le Mans UC , Grafite moved to the Bundesliga for VfL Wolfsburg in 2007 . There he formed a storm duo with Edin Džeko, especially in his first two seasons under Felix Magath, and was German champion , top scorer and Germany's footballer of the year in 2009 . After four years Grafite left VfL after 107 Bundesliga games and 59 goals and in the following years let his career end in the United Arab Emirates , Qatar and his homeland. Between 2005 and 2010, Grafite also played five international matches for the Brazilian national team , with which he took part in the 2010 World Cup.

Club career

Mixed beginnings

Grafite, who grew up in simple circumstances in the hinterland of the Brazilian state of São Paulo , earned his first living selling garbage bags door-to-door. In 1999 he signed a professional contract with SE Matonense in Matão , with whom he played in the first division of the state championship . In early 2001 he moved from there at short notice to the Ferroviária railway club in neighboring Araraquara, where he played in the fourth division of the state.

In the middle of the year he signed with the Brazilian first division club Santa Cruz FC in Recife, northeast Brazil, and scored 5 goals in 22 games for the club in the A series . However , he could not prevent the descent into the second class, the Série B , there.

He drew the attention of another first division club, Gremio Porto Alegre , who brought him to Porto Alegre for a million reals . Santa Cruz had to forward around 700,000 reals to Matonense.

At Gremio, he suffered a serious knee injury at the beginning of the year, so that he could not play for months. In July 2002, in one of its first appearances for the traditional club from Rio Grande do Sul , the team was unlucky enough to be eliminated from the Copa Libertadores semi-finals against Club Olimpia from Paraguay . In the following years he came to six league appearances for Gremio, in which he remained goalless.

It was loaned back to Santa Cruz in September. With his old club, he failed in the semifinals of Série B to Criciúma EC and thus to promotion . In total, Grafite scored three goals in Series B for Santa Cruz.

At the beginning of 2003, Grafite moved to the South Korean club Anyang LG Cheetahs . After almost six months, he returned to Brazil.

Success with Goiás and São Paulo

There he joined the first division club Goiás EC in Goiânia . This change soon caused disputes in sports courts, as it was initially unclear who had the transfer rights to Grafite. Grêmio made claims here. Outstanding salary payments from Santa Cruz at the end of the previous year also played a role. But the matter cleared up in the interests of Grafite and his new club.

Grafite regarded his time in the capital of the state of Goiás as his "football rebirth". In the course of the first division season he developed together with Dimba , who was top scorer with 31 goals, and Araújo , who like Grafite scored twelve goals this season, to the outstanding storm formation in the club's history. Goiás finished the season with ninth place in the table, which was considered good, and Grafite received the Bola de Prata award as the best player of the year in his position.

At the beginning of 2004, Grafite was signed by the top club São Paulo FC , with whom he won his first title in April 2005 with the São Paulo State Championship .

In the same month he hit the headlines around the world in the Copa Libertadores group game against the Argentine club Quilmes AC . In the Morumbi Stadium he clashed with Quilmes defender Leandro Desábato, whom he accused of having racially insulted him. Together with the Argentine midfielder Carlos Arano, who intervened, he was sent off the field. During the game, Grafite reported to the police, who arrested Desábato on the way to the dressing room after the game and took him to the police station for questioning because of racist insult. After two days in police custody, Desábato was released on bail and was able to return to Argentina.

By the end of the year Grafite was able to celebrate its greatest successes to date by winning the Copa Libertadores and the club world championship with São Paulo. He was not used in the Libertadores finals, while he was substituted on in the last 15 minutes in the 1-0 win in the Club World Cup final in Tokyo against Liverpool FC .

Change to Europe

Grafite, during his time in Wolfsburg

In January 2006 Grafite moved to Europe for the French first division promoted Le Mans UC , for which he played his first league game at the FC Sochaux stadium in early February . In the second half of the 2005/06 season he came for le MUC in eleven league appearances on three goals. 2006/07 he was in 34 league games on the lawn; his twelve goals were enough this season for a third place in the top scorer list , making him the most successful shooter of the Red-Yellows. His team finished in 12th place in the table. At the beginning of the 2007/08 season he played the first six games, in which he scored two more goals, before moving to the German Bundesliga on August 31, the last day of the transfer period, for around € 5.6 million .

Grafite signed a four-year contract with VfL Wolfsburg coached by Felix Magath , which he extended to June 30, 2012 during the summer break after the 2008/09 championship season. With eleven goals in 24 appearances in his first season, he was also the club's top scorer with the Wolves.

On May 23, 2009 Grafite became German champions with VfL Wolfsburg and also secured the top scorer's cannon with 28 goals - in only 25 of 34 possible appearances . Together with Edin Džeko he formed the best striker duo in Bundesliga history; the two attackers broke the previous goal scorer record from the 1971/72 season (53 goals) by Gerd Müller and Uli Hoeneß with a total of 54 goals . In the election for Footballer of the Year, carried out by the football magazine Kicker in cooperation with the Association of German Sport Journalists (VDS), Grafite was voted with 331 votes. In December 2009, his goal for the 5-1 final against FC Bayern Munich on April 4 was nominated as Goal of the Year for the FIFA Puskás Prize . In the election, Grafite's goal landed in third place behind goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Andrés Iniesta . In addition, his goal against Bayern was voted goal of the year 2009 in the ARD sports show .

In September 2009 Grafite scored all three goals in a 3-1 win against CSKA Moscow in their UEFA Champions League debut . These were his only hits in the competition. Wolfsburg reached third place in Group B and then played in the UEFA Europa League , where they reached the quarter-finals. The season after the championship and after Magath was unsatisfactory for the club as well as for Grafite. With eleven goals in 30 games, he was well behind the previous year and also his strike partner Dzeko, who scored twice as many hits. That did not change in the 2010/11 season, in which VfL slipped into the table cellar after another coach change. In addition, after Dzeko left for the winter break, the Brazilian had even more responsibility. With nine goals of the season and the rescue from relegation only with a win on the last matchday, to which he contributed a goal, the season was disappointing.

Change to the United Arab Emirates

After the end of the 2010/11 season, after four years with VfL and 59 Bundesliga clubs, Grafite moved to the United Arab Emirates to four-time national champion Al-Ahli , where he signed for two years. VfL Wolfsburg is said to have received a transfer fee of just over three million euros. He reported that he had no difficulty adapting to the climate with temperatures of up to 50 ° in summer, but that it was a little difficult for him to play in front of 80 people after playing in front of 80,000. Looking back on Felix Magath, Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath, who is regarded as rigid, he said: “He's a special guy. I can't complain about him because I won everything with him, it was my best time in football. If a team trains normally, it is double that for them. Two years with him is like four years with a normal team. ”In May 2014, Al-Ahli extended the contract for another year.

Change to Qatar and return to Brazil

Grafite at Santa Cruz FC (2016)

In February 2015 he moved to al-Sadd Sport Club , with whom Grafite played in the Qatar Stars League for a few months . In the summer of 2015, the striker went back to his home country to sign a contract with the Brazilian second division club Santa Cruz FC . With the club, the player made it to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A 2016 as runner-up . At the end of the 2016 season, he was relegated to the Brazilian second division again with Santa Cruz FC. Grafite then signed a one-year contract with the first division club Athletico Paranaense . In July 2017 he voluntarily ended his engagement with this due to continued unsuccessfulness. In mid-August, Santa Cruz FC announced that Grafite would be signed back to the club. This was the fourth engagement with the club. On January 22, 2018, his contract was renewed for the season. Grafite will then move to the club's technical committee in July of that year. He revoked the contract extension a few days later and ended his career.

National team

Grafite made his debut for the Brazilian national team in São Paulo on April 27, 2005 , when he was substituted on in a friendly against Guatemala in the 38th minute of the game. He contributed to the 3-0 victory of the Seleção with a goal. Almost five years later, in early March 2010, Grafite played his second international match in a game in London against Ireland. He came on during the second half and prepared the 2-0 final score by Robinho with a heel trick . Grafite and his teammate at the time, Josué , were part of the Brazilian team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa . Grafite was substituted on once at the World Cup.

Private

In February 2005, his mother was kidnapped. She was released after a day. The kidnapping was one of a series of ransom extortions in Brazilian football between late 2004 and early 2005 (the mothers of Robinho and Luís Fabiano were also taken hostage). The married Grafite is Catholic and, as the Evangelical News Agency Idea reports, prays Psalm 91 ("Who sits under the umbrella of the Most High ...") before every game .

As an ambassador, Grafite supports the Respekt! No place for racism .

Origin and pronunciation of the name

Grafite got its name, which means "pencil lead" (after the mineral graphite , from which pencil leads are made), from a former trainer in Brazil, who alluded to the stature and size of graphite (1.89 meters).

In the media his name is often pronounced "Grafitsch" or "Grafitschi", both of which are correct pronunciation in Brazil. In Germany, the player himself prefers the pronunciation "Grafite" [ ɡraˈfitə ] - similar to the German phonetic image.

titles and achievements

Web links

Commons : Grafite  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. Conheçam o histórico das maiores negociações do futebol pernambucano! , meusport.com (port.)
  2. a b Exchange rate 2007: 1 BRL = approx. EUR 0.33
  3. Santa tenta segurar Everaldo e Grafite , terra.es.com.br Esportes, December 11, 2009 (port.)
  4. Goiás garante Regularidade de Grafite . Estadao.com.br, September 24, 2003
  5. Grafite - Official Website ( Memento of September 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  6. Desabato granted bail after arrest for racist abuse , kickitout.org, April 15, 2005 (Eng.)
  7. Figures from France Football, special season issues 2006-07 and 2007-08 as well as the edition of August 28, 2007
  8. France Football, September 4, 2007, p. 20
  9. Footballer of the Year: Grafite . In: kicker online . Olympia-Verlag GmbH. August 2, 2009. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
  10. Matthias Arnhold: GRAFITE Edinaldo Batista Libânio - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga . RSSSF . March 14, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  11. Striker moves to Al-Ahli in Dubai: Grafite is heading for the desert , kicker , June 10, 2011.
  12. Estrela no futebol árabe, Grafite nicht descarta retorno ao Brasil , Espresso de Esporte, December 27, 2011
  13. Al Ahli renew Grafite's contract for another season - 22 May 2014
  14. Grafite returns home , Weltfussball.de, July 2, 2015.
  15. Termination at Athletico Paranaense , report on welt.de from July 10, 2017, accessed on July 10, 2017
  16. Fourth commitment by Santa Cruz , report on folhape.com.br of August 11, 2017, page in portug., Accessed on August 15, 2017
  17. ↑ End of career 2018 , report on globoesporte.globo.com from January 22, 2018, page in portugal, accessed on April 5, 2018
  18. ↑ End of career? Ex-Wolfsburg Grafite revokes the extension at Santa Cruz on transfermarkt.de, accessed on December 27, 2018.
  19. Ambassador - Sport. (No longer available online.) Charitable Respect! No space for Rassismus GmbH, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on February 14, 2015 .
  20. ^ Grafite: "Want to get into the UEFA and DFB Cup finals". In: FIFA.com. November 21, 2008, accessed July 4, 2009 .
  21. UOL Mais, Video: "Conheça os jogadores convocados para a Copa do Mundo" (short presentation of all the players in the Brazilian World Cup 2010 squad from May 12, 2010)
  22. Information from the player at the current sport studio (ZDF) on March 21, 2009, cf. Video excerpt from the program with the player to his name and the correct pronunciation after 4:50  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on January 26, 2014. (offline)
  23. Al Ahli renew Grafite's contract for another season - 22 May 2014
  24. Al Ahli renew Grafite's contract for another season - 22 May 2014