Emerson (footballer, born 1976)

Emerson

Emerson in 2005
Personal information
Full name	Emerson Ferreira da Rosa[1]
Date of birth	(1976-04-04) 4 April 1976 (age 48)
Place of birth	Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1992–1993	Grêmio
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1997	Grêmio	54	(8)
1997–2000	Bayer Leverkusen	82	(11)
2000–2004	Roma	105	(13)
2004–2006	Juventus	67	(4)
2006–2007	Real Madrid	28	(1)
2007–2009	Milan	27	(0)
2009	Santos	6	(0)
2015–2020	Miami Dade FC	17	(4)
Total		379	(41)
International career
1997–2006	Brazil	73	(6)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Brazil Copa América Winner 1999 Paraguay FIFA Confederations Cup Winner 2005 Germany Runner-up 1999 Mexico FIFA World Cup Runner-up 1998 France
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Emerson Ferreira da Rosa (born 4 April 1976), simply known as Emerson, is a Brazilian former professional

.

An experienced footballer who was nicknamed the Puma due to his powerful but elegant, ball-winning style of play, Emerson has played for two Brazilian clubs, Grêmio and Santos, as well as several European clubs in Germany, Italy, and Spain, including Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, Juventus, Real Madrid and Milan, winning several titles. In addition to his Brazilian passport, Emerson also holds Italian, German and Qatari passports.^[3]

Club career

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2010)

Grêmio

Emerson made a name for himself in his native Brazil playing for Grêmio, where he won two state championships, two Brazilian Cups, one Brazilian Championship and one Copa Libertadores. He then went to Europe to play for German club Bayer Leverkusen.^{[citation needed]}

Bayer Leverkusen

In 1997, Emerson was transferred to Bayer Leverkusen. He made his debut on 1 August 1997 against Schalke 04. Leverkusen finished in third place in the 1997–98 Bundesliga season. This was followed by two consecutive second-place finishes in the Bundesliga, behind champions Bayern Munich on both occasions. Emerson spent three years at Leverkusen, scoring 11 goals in 82 league appearances. On 13 August 1997, he made his debut in UEFA competitions in the qualifying round for the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League, in Bayer Leverkusen's 6–1 aggregate win over Dinamo Tbilisi. Leverkusen would eventually reach the Champions League quarter-finals, losing out to eventual champions Real Madrid. Emerson also reached the UEFA Cup round of 16 on two occasions with Leverkusen.^{[citation needed]}

Roma

Emerson signed for Italian

.

Juventus

After a prolonged transfer saga in which Roma wanted to sell Emerson to Real Madrid instead of Serie A rivals

2006 Italian football scandal

.

Real Madrid

After two seasons with Juventus, and following their relegation to Serie B due to their role in the 2006 Italian football scandal, Emerson moved to Real Madrid on 19 July 2006, again following Fabio Capello, costing Real Madrid €16 million.^[8] However, due to the declining relationship between Emerson and Capello and Emerson's poor performances for Real Madrid, in January 2007 Emerson stated his desire to return to Juventus, while it was rumoured he would be willing to take a pay cut.^[9]

However, by May, Emerson's performances had improved considerably, along with a great improvement in the team's results, and on 12 May 2007 he declared his intention to remain with Real Madrid.^[10] But in his conversation with the radio program El Larguero, Real Madrid club president Ramón Calderón said Emerson would leave Real Madrid in the summer (along with the Italian striker Antonio Cassano) for technical reasons.^[11] Emerson won La Liga in his only season with Real Madrid.

Milan

On 21 August 2007, Milan officially confirmed the transfer of Emerson for €6 million.^[12] He made his Milan debut in the club's 3–1 UEFA Super Cup victory over Sevilla on 31 August. However, Emerson was unable to contribute significantly to his new club due to injury, only managing 20 appearances for Milan in the 2007–08 season. Nonetheless, he was also able to win the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup with Milan. On 21 April 2009, he and the club mutually agreed to terminate his contract.

Immediately following his release, Emerson began negotiations with Grêmio with the aim of ending his career with his first club. However, due to international transfer restrictions, Emerson was unable to join Grêmio until August 2009 at the earliest.^[13]

Santos

After his release from Milan, on 26 July 2009 Emerson signed a contract with Santos.^[14] On 16 October 2009, Emerson decided to terminate his contract and leave Santos due to injury problems. Emerson then underwent surgery and retired from active competition.

Miami Dade FC

On 3 November 2015, Emerson announced he was joining

in a 3–1 victory against Jupiter United. On 2 July, he won the 2017 Regular Season Championship, undefeated.

International career

Emerson made his

due to injury.)

The following year, Emerson won the

Emerson was intended to be the original captain for Brazil's 2002 World Cup team, but he suffered an unfortunate injury in training before the first match of the tournament, dislocating his shoulder when attempting to parry a shot by a teammate.^[17] He was replaced by Ricardinho of Corinthians, while Cafu replaced him as captain. Brazil would ultimately win the tournament.

In 2005, Emerson won the

France. Emerson was excluded from the starting line-up in Brazil's quarter-final match due to injury.

After the 2006 World Cup, Emerson retired from the national team, having scored 6 goals in 73 appearances. In addition to the aforementioned tournaments, Emerson also represented Brazil in the 2001 Copa América, in Colombia, where Brazil lost in the quarter-finals to Honduras; and in the 2003 Confederations Cup in France, where Brazil was surprisingly eliminated in the first round, finishing third in their group.

Playing style

Emerson was an experienced, quick, combative, hardworking and dynamic player, who was capable of being deployed in several midfield positions.^[3] He played as a central midfielder, and as a box-to-box midfielder on occasion, although his main position was that of a defensive midfielder, who was renowned for breaking down the opposition's play through his efficient tackling, stamina, anticipation, and ability to read the game.^[19] He was also capable of subsequently starting up attacking plays once he won back possession, due to his quick and effective passing style, as well as his technique.^[3][20] These attributes led to his nickname Il Puma for his elegant, yet powerful, feline movements when chasing down opponents in midfield.^[19] He was also gifted with a powerful and accurate shot from distance, although he was also known to be injury prone.^[3]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Grêmio	1994	Série A	18	2	6	0	4	0			28	2
	1995		11	1	1	0	2	0			14	1
	1996		25	5	5	0	4	0	1	0	35	5
	1997		0	0	7	0	7	2			14	2
	Total		54	8	19	0	17	2	1[a]	0	91	10
Bayer Leverkusen	1997–98[21]	Bundesliga	25	1	3	0	9	4	1[b]	0	38	5
	1998–99[21]		28	5	1	0	3	0	1[b]	0	33	5
	1999–2000[21]		29	5	0	0	8	0	0	0	37	5
	Total		82	11	4	0	20	4	2	0	108	15
Roma	2000–01[21]	Serie A	13	3	0	0	1	0	–		14	3
	2001–02[21]		28	5	2	0	11	2	0	0	41	7
	2002–03[21]		31	2	6	3	11	1	–		48	6
	2003–04[21]		33	3	1	0	8	2	–		42	5
	Total		105	13	9	3	31	5	0	0	145	21
Juventus	2004–05[21]	Serie A	33	2	0	0	11	1	–		44	3
	2005–06[21]		34	2	3	0	9	1	1[c]	0	47	3
	Total		67	4	3	0	20	2	1	0	91	6
Real Madrid	2006–07[21]	La Liga	28	1	0	0	6	0	–		34	1
Milan	2007–08[21]	Serie A	15	0	2	0	3	0	2[d]	0	22	0
	2008–09[21]		12	0	1	0	5	0	–		18	0
	Total		27	0	3	0	8	0	2	0	40	0
Santos	2009[21]	Série A	6	0	–		–		0	0	6	0
Career total			369	37	38	3	102	13	4	0	513	53

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[22]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Brazil	1997	3	1
	1998	2	0
	1999	17	2
	2000	8	2
	2001	11	0
	2002	4	0
	2003	10	0
	2004	0	0
	2005	13	1
	2006	5	0
Total		73	6

Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Emerson goal.^[16]

List of international goals scored by Emerson

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 September 1997	Estádio Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil	Ecuador	4–1	4–2	Friendly
2	31 March 1999	National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo , Japan	Japan	2–0	2–0	Friendly
3	30 June 1999	Estadio Antonio Oddone Sarubbi, Ciudad del Este , Paraguay	Venezuela	2–0	7–0	1999 Copa América
4	23 February 2000	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Thailand	4–0	7–0	Friendly
5				7–0
6	30 March 2005	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay	1–1	1–1	2006 World Cup qualifier

Honours