Player Profile: Abel Xavier  

Full name: Abel Luis da Silva Costa Xavier

Position: Defender

Date of Birth: 30 November 1972

Birthplace: Nampula, Mozambique

He may not be the most decorated player on the planet, but Abel Xavier is certainly one of the most decorative Portuguese players of all time, with his outrageous blond mane and matching facial hair. His career has been equally colourful, playing for a total 11 clubs in 7 countries.

Yet one shouldn’t let the nomadic career and quirky appearance disguise the fact that Xavier has proved himself as a first-class defender over the years. He is extremely strong in the air and a potent threat when venturing forward.

Born in Mozambique, Xavier moved to Portugal still a child. Upon spotting that the youngster combined a passion for the game and raw talent, he was recruited by the youth academy of Estrela da Amadora, where he made his debut in 1990.

Championship winner

Three seasons, 85 matches and 5 goals later his performances earned him a switch to neighbouring Lisbon giants, Benfica, where Xavier won a league championship in his second year with the club in 1994.

After just two seasons the defender started his meandering trek across Europe’s football leagues with a move to Italian club Bari, but made just 8 appearances for the Serie A side before packing his bags to sign for Spanish side Real Oviedo in 1996. Despite wooing the fans of the club during two seasons and 58 appearances, the player was on the move again in 1998, signing for PSV Eindhoven.

After giving the club a flavour of his ability with 2 goals in 19 appearances, picking up a Dutch Super Cup in the process, Xavier upped and offed again as he hopped across the North Sea to sign for Premiership outfit Everton.

Merseyside switch of allegiance

After two seasons and 43 appearances, Xavier made what was his shortest ever move in geographical terms as he signed for Merseyside rivals, Liverpool. Xavier almost won a Premiership title with The Reds in 2002, playing in 19 matches and scoring one goal, but the club decided not to retain the player.

A string of one-year contracts followed as his striking blond tuft went on display in Turkey (Galatasary), Germany (Hannover 96) and Italy (Roma), before he eventually landed back in England where he signed for his current club (at the time of writing!), Middlesbrough, in 2005.

Having just joined Boro, Xavier endured the darkest moment of his career when he failed a drugs test in November 2005, and was slapped with an 18-month suspension. Xavier always maintained that he has never taken any performance enhancing substance and his ban was reduced to 12 months in June 2006.

He returned to action in the 2006/07 season, where his fine performances led to rumours of a yet another move to a more ambitious club, but Xavier opted to repay Middlesbrough’s faith in him and proved that he still has the ability to mix it at the highest level at 34 years of age. To round of one of the most remarkable careers of any Portuguese in the history of the game, Xavier had a spell alongside David Beckham at US team LA Galaxy.

International career

Xavier earned 20 caps for the national team, scoring 2 goals. His most memorable match in a Portugal shirt came in the 2000 European Championships when Portugal faced France in the semi-final.

With the scores tied at 1-1 Xavier met a last-minute Luis Figo cross with a powerful header, only for Fabien Barthez to pull off an extraordinary save to send the match into extra time. Heartbreak would follow as Xavier was then adjudged to have used his hand to stop a Sylvain Wiltord shot, with Zidane scoring the resulting golden goal penalty to knock Portugal out.