Giovanni Silva de Oliveira

Giovanni Personal information Full name Giovanni Silva de Oliveira Date of birth February 4, 1972(1972-02-04) (age 36) Place of birth Abaetetuba, BrazilHeight 190 cm (6.2 ft) Nickname Gio or Magos ("magician") Position Attacking Midfielder/ ForwardClub information Current club SportNumber 10 Youth clubs 1989-1991 Tuna LusoSenior clubs1 Years Club App (Gls)* 1990-1991
1991-1992
1993-1993
1994-1994
1994-1994
1994-1996
1996-1999
1999-2005
2005-2006
2006
2006-2007
2007- Taça Luz
Tuna Luso
Remo
Paysandu
Sãocarlense
Santos
Barcelona
Olympiacos
Santos
Al Hilal
Ethnikos
Sport
47 (24)
15 (5)

18 (8)
36 (18)
68 (18)
129 (61)
27 (4) National team2 1993-2003 Brazil20 (6)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of {{{pcupdate}}}.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of {{{ntupdate}}}.
* Appearances (Goals)

Giovanni Silva de Oliveira (born February 4, 1972), better known as Giovanni, is a football player from Brazil. He plays forward for Sport Club do Recife in the Brazilian National League A and he was also capped for the Brazilian national team.

1 Career in Brazil
2 Barcelona
3 Olympiacos
4 Return to Brazil
5 National team
6 Honors
7 Personal Honors
8 External links

Career in Brazil

Born in Abaetetuba, Giovanni started his career in 1991 at Tuna Luso. In 1993, he scored 24 goals, before joining Remo, Paysandu and Sãocarlense before moving to top Brazilian club Santos in 1995. Pelé himself paid for his transfer, and proclaimed him as the "new Pelé".

In his first season he scored in half of the games he played, while in his second he notched 25 goals in 19 games. The peak of his career wearing Pelé's number 10 jersey was when he led Santos to the second place in the Brazilian Championship. In the semi-finals against Fluminense, Santos lost 4-1 in the first leg away, and Giovanni dyed his hair red to show faith in the team.

He displayed a splendid game in the second leg and Santos managed to win 5-2, with Giovanni scoring twice and assisting on the final Marcelo Passos goal. Unfortunately, he could not help Santos overcome Botafogo in the final game. Nonetheless, he is still known to many Santos supporters as "Messias" (Messiah) and his fans named themselves "Giovanni's witnesses" - similar to a religion, "Jehovah's witnesses".

Barcelona

After Santos FC, he moved to the Catalan club FC Barcelona in 1996. He was a first team regular for two seasons and scored 18 goals overall. Barcelona fans still remember him for his ability to score game-winning goals against Real Madrid.

Olympiacos

He moved to the Greek club Olympiacos in the summer of 1999 and soon established himself as one of the best players in the history of the Greek league.

A flamboyant striker, he was known for his great dribbling and his ability to lob the goalkeeper and pass the ball through defender's legs (nutmeg). His technique and the variety of fascinating moves made Olympiakos' fans think of him as the most talented player from their team and loved him as a gifted hero. His skills earned him the nickname "magos" (wizard) in Greece.

He was the leading goalscorer in Greece in the 2003-2004 season with 21 goals. The highlight of his career was his contribution in the demolition of Panathinaikos at Rizoupoli stadium in 2003 (during the final game of the season, Panathinaikos did not need a single point to win the Championship, but simply needed to keep the score difference to less than two goals. Olympiakos won that game 3-0, and along with it their seventh consecutive title).

Return to Brazil

After six seasons he left the Piraeus club in 2005 to return to São Paulo and Santos FC.

In the beginning of 2006, he signed a one year contract with Saudi Arabia's leading team Al Hilal in what was thought to be the last stop of his career.

However, on August 15, 2006, Giovanni signed a one-year contract with 2nd division Greek club Ethnikos Piraeus for 400,000 Euros, and then on April 21, 2007 he signed a contract with first division Brazilian side Sport Club do Recife until 15th December 2007.