To many football fans, the Portuguese player Abel Xavier was mostly remembered for his bleached hair and beard, which looked very catchy against the background of dark skin, as well as his fateful hand game in the penalty area at the 2000 European Championships. But in fact, Javier had a very eventful career - he replaced more than a dozen different clubs, in each of which he has his own story. Moreover, he became a coach and works in this incarnation to this day. What is the story of a Portuguese named Abel Xavier?
Carier start
Abel Xavier was born in 1972 in the city of Nampula, which now belongs to the African state of Mozambique, but in those days it was officially a Portuguese colony - respectively, Xavier had Portuguese citizenship from childhood . From an early age he began to get involved in football and joined the sports academy of the Estrela club. It was there that he underwent training, and in 1990, when he was 18 years old, the club signed a professional contract with him.
In his first club, Abel spent only three years, gradually merging into big football and gaining experience, then to make a more impressive leap. He played in the position of the central defender, but could speak on the right edge. In 1993, the young talent was noticed by the Lisbon “Benfica”, and after 85 matches for his home club, Javier moved to one of the strongest teams in Portugal.
In Benfica, Abel quickly got into the base, although he was only 21 years old. It was with this club that Shavier managed to achieve the first major success, but in 1995 he took a rather unusual step. The defender had a bright future in one of the best Portuguese clubs, but Portugal, as everyone knows, is not one of the five leaders in the European championships. Therefore, the favorite of the local championship, Javier preferred the middle club of the Italian championship - “Bari”. Having played 45 matches for Benfica, the defender moved to Serie A.
Exit to a new level
23-year-old Xavier could not gain a foothold in the new club - for the whole year he played there only eight matches, so he was forced to change his residence permit a year later.
The new club of the Portuguese was the Spanish Real Oviedo - not a dream team, this Real was more likely to fight for survival in the championship of Spain than for any trophies. But Xavier spent two years there to get firmer on his feet. And in 1998 he moved to the camp of the Dutch champion - to PSV from Eindhoven.
Shavier was already 25 years old, but he still could not find a club in which he could stay for a long time. Even in PSV, he did not stop: having played one season outside the top five European championships, he still returned, joining the English Everton.
Rise
In “Everton”, Abel’s affairs went much better than in previous teams - he even deserved a challenge to the European Championship, which will be discussed a little later. As a result, the defender gained a good reputation, and in the winter of 2002, after two and a half years at Everton, he went on an increase - the defender signed the English Liverpool.
Unfortunately, Xavier did not take root with the Merseysiders, and a year later he went to conquer the Turkish championship as part of the Galatasaray. He spent only six months on loan, but during this time he could not convince the Turks to sign it on an ongoing basis. Until the winter of 2004, Abel remained part of Liverpool, with virtually no gaming practice. Fortunately, in the winter of 2004, the German Hannover offered an aging star a short-term contract. In “Hanover” he played only five matches.
When the 32-year-old defender's contract expired, he was temporarily unemployed. Only six months later, the Italian “Roma” went the same way as the “Hanover”, offering Shavier a short-term contract, but this time the football player had even fewer matches for the club - only three. And in the summer of 2005, the English Middlesbrough saved Javier from unemployment. There, the defender was doing more than well - he found a club in which he could play calmly until the end of his career. But in the winter of 2005, the unexpected happened - Abel Xavier was disqualified.
Doping scandal
Xavier Abel is a football player who by 2005 had a long, but not the most unambiguous career. And apparently, on the slope of the sports path, he decided that he needed more energy to continue playing. Unfortunately, this did not go unnoticed - after the match in the UEFA Cup, Middlesbrough players were forced to pass a doping test - and the Xavier test showed a positive result. As a result, it was decided to disqualify the player for 18 months - later this period was reduced to 12 months, and Xavier Abel was able to return to the field in November 2006.
Return to football
Now you can understand how rich a football player like Abel Xavier has a biography. The statistics of him as a player, of course, are not very impressive, but his constant attempts to find himself at least in some club, which led to the use of doping and disqualification, attract attention. So, in November 2006, Javier returned to football and even finished the season at Middlesbrough, but the club decided not to risk it and not renew the contract with the player so as not to incur even more problems.
Therefore, in 2007, Javier took the path that many football players have taken (and still are) - he signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy American club. In the United States, Javier spent the whole season playing his last twenty matches on a professional level. In the summer of 2008, the player announced his retirement - and his football biography ended. Abel Xavier, however, did not give up his favorite sport. He tried himself in the role of coach of three Portuguese clubs - Olanenci, Fahrense and Aves. In 2016, he headed the Mozambique team and still remains its coach.
Team appearances
Separately, it is worth telling about how not a player of clubs from various countries showed himself, but Portugal defender Abel Xavier. He was first called to the national team in 1993 during a qualification for the 1994 World Cup, which the Portuguese failed. He was not invited to the 1996 European Championship , Portugal did not get to the 1998 World Cup again, but the 2000 European Championship was a benefit for both Javier and the whole team. The Portuguese reached the semifinals, where they met with the French. The main time ended with a score of 1: 1, and in the extra time there was a “golden goal" rule: if one of the teams scores, the match immediately ends. Xavier was close to becoming the author of the “golden goal”, but could not beat Barthez - and from the hero instantly turned into an antihero when he played with his hand in his own penalty area. Zinedine Zidane scored a penalty, and the Portuguese national team ended its journey on the way to the first step of the podium.
In 2002, Xavier was called to the World Cup, but practically did not appear on the field. In the match against the South Korean national team, he was replaced for 17 minutes - it was they who became his last, since after the departure of Portugal from the group, Abel announced that he was completing a career in the national team.