Top 10 South Americans to have succeeded in Europe in modern day football

#8 Rivaldo

Club Honours

Barcelona: UEFA Super Cup (1997), La Liga (1998 and 1999), Copa del Rey (1998), AC Milan: UEFA Champions League (2003), Coppa Italia (2003) and UEFA Super Cup (2003), Olympiacos: Greek Super League (2005, 2006 and 2007) and Greek Cup (2005 and 2006)

Rivaldo started his career with Brazilian club Santa Cruz for whom he made his first team debut in 1991 and he retired from professional football after 23 years this March. He played as attacking midfielder or as a second striker.

The highlight of his career was his time with Barcelona where he spent seven years from 1997 to 2002, scoring 130 goals for the club. He won the league twice with the Catalonian side and formed an impressive partnership with Patrick Kluivert. He had a poor relationship with current Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal during his spell at Barcelona and was released and sold to AC Milan when Van Gaal returned to Barcelona in 2002.

In 1999, Rivaldo won the Ballon d’Or after his impressive performances for both club and country. He spent two seasons at Milan and upon leaving Milan he briefly played for Brazilian side Cruzeiro before joining Greek side Olympiacos. Rivaldo spent three years with the Greek club and also one year with AEK in Greece. Upon leaving Greece, he played for different clubs around the world in Brazil, Uzbekistan and Angola and eventually retired at Mogi Mirim. He remains at the club as their president.

Rivaldo has represented Brazil 74 times and is the 7th highest goal scorer with 34 goals. He made his debut for them as early as 1993. He has scored 8 times at the World Cup, three of which were in 1998 when Brazil finished second and five in 2002 when Brazil were crowned champions.

Edited by Staff Editor