Marcelo Gonçalves

Marcelo Gonçalves Costa Lopes, usually known simply as Gonçalves (born 22 February 1966 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro state) is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a central defender. He was effective on low balls, and was well-known because of his long hair, a recogniseable hairstyle which he wore for most of his career, and which he only cut during the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, when all the Brazilian players entered the field in the semifinal match with shaved heads.

Club career

Gonçalves started his career at Flamengo in 1987. However, he rose to fame playing for Botafogo and was first called up to play for the Brazilian national team with the latter club.

In addition to playing for Botafogo and Flamengo, Gonçalves also played for Santa Cruz, Cruzeiro, Internacional, and Mexican club Tecos. With Botafogo he won the Brazilian championship in 1995, the Carioca championship in 1990 and in 1997, and the Rio-São Paulo championship in 1998; with Tecos (Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara), he won the Mexican championship in 1994, and the CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup in 1995.

He scored the match-winning goal for Botafogo in the club's 1–0 win against Vasco da Gama in the 1997 Taça Guanabara final. Gonçalves also played for Cruzeiro in the club's 2–0 defeat to German side Borussia Dortmund in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup final.

Honours

 Flamengo

    Brazilian Championship: 1987

    Guanabara Cup: 1988, 1989

   EL Gabón Tournament: 1987

   Internacional Tournament of Angola: 1987

 

   Kirin Cup: 1988

   Hamburgo Cup: 1989

 Botafogo

   Friendly Tournament of Veracruz (MX): 1990

    Brazilian Championship: 1995

    Teresa Herrera Cup (ES): 1996

   President of Russia Tournament: 1996

    Wonderful City of Rio de Janeiro Cup: 1996

   Rio-Brasília Cup: 1996

    State Championship: 1990,1997

    Guanabara Cup: 1997

    Rio Cup: 1997

    Rio-São Paulo Tournament: 1998

Cruzeiro
Vice-Champion Interclub World Championship: 1997

 UAG Tecos
    Mexican Championship: 1993/94

 Brazilian National TimeSeleção

    American Cup: 1997

    Confederation Cup: 1997
    Vice-Champion of World Cup France: 1998

International career

At international level, Gonçalves won the Copa América with the Brazilian national team in 1997, as well as the Confederations Cup in the same year. He was mainly a reserve player in Brazil's squad during the 1998 FIFA World Cup, appearing against Norway and Chile, as the team went on to reach the final. In total, he was capped 37 time for Brazil, scoring just one goal.

After football

After finish his career as professional soccer player, Gonçalves has been working as Coach, as soccer commentator on TV and Radio, as Sports Consultant, Sports Director and General manager of the soccer clubs. Gonçalves, after retiring from professional soccer, also played with Botafogo team in the Brazilian Showbol Leaguel. From 2007 till 2014, Gonçalves was a player, coach and one of the organizers of this project.

References

• Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Portuguese-language Wikipedia article (retrieved December 26, 2005).