Grafite

Grafite during training (2009)

Edinaldo Batista Libânio ( born April 2, 1979 in Campo Limpo Paulista, São Paulo), known as Grafite, is a Brazilian footballer.

The 1.89 m tall striker won in 2005 with the Sao Paulo Copa Libertadores and the Club World Cup. When VfL Wolfsburg in 2009, he became German champion, Germany's Bundesliga top scorer and player of the year.

Club career

Inconsistent beginnings

He grew up in modest circumstances in the hinterland of the Brazilian state of São Paulo Grafite earned his first money with the door - to-door sale of garbage bags, but his skills as a football player brought him in 1999 a professional contract with the SE Matonense in Matão one, with the he played in the first division of the state championship. In early 2001, he moved from there in the short term to the railway club Ferroviária in neighboring Araraquara - a provincial association that quite a few promising players had in better times in its ranks - and played with this in the fourth division of the state.

In the middle of the year, he joined the Brazilian first division side Santa Cruz FC in the northeastern Brazilian Recife and scored in the Série A for the club 5 goals in 22 games. However, the relegation to the second class, the Série B, he could not stop there.

He drew the attention of another first division side up, Gremio, who took him for a million Montreal to Porto Alegre. Santa Cruz, however, had it forward to about 700,000 Real Matonense.

In Grêmio him but no luck was granted. Right at the beginning of the year, he suffered a serious knee injury that put him out of action for months. In July 2002, during one of his first missions for the traditional club from Rio Grande do Sul, the team retired unhappy with the club Olimpia from Paraguay in the semi-finals of the Libertadores. In the following years, he still came to six league appearances for Gremio, where he remained but a scoreless draw.

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

Right at the beginning of the year 2003, he was passed on to the South Korean club Anyang LG Cheetahs. It was probably in the interest of the club and the player that this already returned to the middle of the year again to Brazil.

Success with Goiás and São Paulo

There he joined the first division club Goiás EC in Goiânia on. This change made ​​soon for sports litigation, as initially was unclear with whom the rights to Grafite were. Grêmio made ​​here claims. Also outstanding salary payments of Santa Cruz at the end of last year played a role. But the matter cleared up within the meaning of Grafite and his new club.

Grafite looked at the time in the capital of the State of Goiás as his " footballing rebirth." In the course of Erstligasaison he developed together with Dimba, who was top scorer with 31 goals, and Araújo, who, like Grafite scored twelve goals this season, the outstanding storm formation the club's history. Goiás finished the season off with the considered as a good ninth place in the table and Grafite got the award Bola de Prata for the best player of the year at his position.

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

In the same month he came in the Libertadores group stage match against the Argentine club Quilmes AC global headlines. In the Morumbi Stadium, he came with the Quilmes defender Leandro Desábato each other, which he accused of insulting him racist. Together with the Argentine midfielder Carlos Arano, the intervening went, he was thereby dismissed. Even during the game refunded Grafite the police report, the Desábato still arrested after the match on the way to the cabin and spent on the watch for racist insult to the survey. After two days in police custody Desábato was dismissed for a deposit and could travel back to Argentina.

By the end of the year Grafite celebrated his biggest success by winning the Copa Libertadores and the Club World Championship with São Paulo. He came into the Libertadores finals can not be used while he was still on as a substitute in a 1-0 victory in the Club World Cup final in Tokyo against Liverpool in the last 15 minutes.

Move to Europe

In January 2006, Grafite moved to Europe to the French Erstligaaufsteiger Le Mans UC, for whom he played his first official match in the stadium of FC Sochaux early February. In the second half of the season 2005/ 06 he came for le MUC in eleven league operations on three Torerfolge. 2006/ 07 he was in 34 point games on the lawn; his twelve hits ranged this season for third in the scoring charts, which he was the most successful shooter of the Red - Yellow. His team finished off on the 12th place in the standings. At the beginning of the season 2007 /08, he completed the first six games in which he scored two more goals before adopting, for approximately € 5.6 million moved to the German Bundesliga on August 31, the last day of the transfer window.

When Felix Magath of VfL Wolfsburg signed trained Grafite a four-year contract he extended during the summer break after the championship season 2008/ 09 until 30 June 2012. Even with the wolves he was with eleven goals in 24 stakes in his first season equal top scorer of his club.

On 23 May 2009, with Grafite VfL ​​Wolfsburg German Champion and also made use of with 28 goals - securing the top scorer - in only 25 of 34 possible missions. Together with Edin Džeko he made the best strike duo in Bundesliga history; the two attackers broke a total of 54 goals the previous record scorer in the 1971/72 season (53 goals) by Gerd Müller and Uli Hoeness. When the football magazine Kicker in collaboration with the Association of German sports journalists (VDS ) conducted choice for Player of the Year Grafite was elected with 331 votes. In December 2009, his goal was for 5-1 Final against Bayern Munich nominated on April 4, as goal of the year for the FIFA Puskás Award. When choosing Grafite hits landed behind goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta in third place. In addition, his goal against Bayern in the ARD sports show was voted Goal of the Year 2009.

In September 2009, Grafite reach the debut in the UEFA Champions League all three goals in a 3-1 win over CSKA Moscow. This, however, remained his only goal in the competition. Wolfsburg reached only the 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 mediocre for the club as well as Grafite. With eleven goals in 30 games, he fell well short of the previous year and also his strike partner Dzeko, who scored twice as many hits. That changed in the season 2010/ 11 is not, in the VfL ​​slipped into the basement table after a new coaching change. In addition, after the departure of Dzeko for winter break weighed even more responsibility on the Brazilian. With nine goals this season and only avoiding relegation with a win on the final day, to which he contributed a goal after all, the season was pretty disappointing.

Change in the United Arab Emirates

After the end of the 2010/11 season Grafite moved after four years at VfL in the United Arab Emirates to the local four times national champions Al -Ahli, in which he undertook for two years. VfL Wolfsburg is having received a fee of just over three million euros. He reported that he had no difficulty in adapting to the climate with temperatures up to 50 ° in summer, it nevertheless something would be difficult for him to play in front of 80 spectators, after he had already played in front of up to 80,000. About the prestigious than rigid Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath he said in retrospect: "He is a special type. I can not complain about it, because I have won everything with him, it was my best time in football. If a team trained normally, it is double with him. Two years with him are like four years with a normal team. "

National

Grafite debuted on 27 April 2005 in São Paulo for the Brazilian national team when he came on in a friendly match against Guatemala in the 38th minute. For 3-0 Seleção he added, with a gate. Almost five years later, early March 2010 Grafite contributed with a game against Ireland in London on his second international match. He came during the second half of the square and prepared by backheel before the 2-0 win by Robinho. Grafite was, together with his former teammates Josué, for Brazil's World Cup squad at the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Private

In February 2005, his mother was kidnapped. You could, however, be freed after one day. The kidnapping was part of a series of ransom demands in the Brazilian football between late 2004 and early 2005 ( as well as the mothers of Robinho and Luis Fabiano were taken hostage ). The married Grafite is Catholic and worshiped as the Protestant news agency Idea tells before each game to Psalm 91 ( "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High ...").

Grafite support the initiative as an ambassador respect! No place for racism.

Origin and pronunciation of the name

Grafite gained its name, the " pencil lead " means ( after the mineral graphite, are made from the pencil lead ), from a previous coach in Brazil, thus alluding to stature and size of Grafite (1.89 meters).

In the media, his name is often " Grafitsch " or " graphite ski " pronounced, both of which are correct pronunciation in Brazil. The player itself is preferred in Germany pronunciation " Grafite " [ ɡrafitə ] - similar to the German sound image.

Achievements

• Copa Libertadores 2005 with the Sao Paulo
• FIFA Club World Cup 2005 with the Sao Paulo
• German Champion 2009 with VfL Wolfsburg
• State of São Paulo Championship: 2005 with FC São Paulo
• Bundesliga top scorer in the 2008/2009 season - 28 goals
• Bola de Prata: 2003 as "the best player in his position "
• Footballer of the Year ( Germany ) 2008/ 09
• Scorer of the goal of the year 2009
• EFFIFU 2009