Careca
Personal information
Full name Antônio de Oliveira Filho
Date of birth (1960-10-05) 5 October 1960 (age 63)
Place of birth Araraquara, Brazil
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1982 Guarani 77 (46)
1983–1987 São Paulo 67 (54)
1987–1993 Napoli 164 (73)
1993–1996 Kashiwa Reysol 60 (31)
1997 Santos 9 (2)
1998 Campinas 10 (6)
1999 São José (RS) 2 (0)
Total 389 (212)
International career
1982–1993 Brazil 64 (30)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Antônio de Oliveira Filho (born 5 October 1960), better known as Careca (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈɾɛkɐ]), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

During his career, Careca played for several clubs, most notably with Italian side Napoli. He also played for the Brazil national team on over 60 occasions.

Club career

Careca began his footballing career in his home state of São Paulo with local side Guarani in 1978. With his finishing ability and devastating pace quickly established himself as one of his country's best young strikers. With Guarani, he won the Brazilian Championship during his first season and the Brazilian Second Division in 1981.

By 1983 he had been signed by São Paulo, he continued to gather notoriety because of his impressive goals to games ratio and by 1986, Careca led São Paulo to the Brazilian Championship, beating his former club Guarani in the final. He was awarded Bola de Ouro the same year, which is the Brazilian equivalent of Footballer of the Year.

Move to Napoli

In the summer of 1987 Careca moved to Italian Serie A champions Napoli, where he was part of the "Ma-Gi-Ca" forward lineup with Bruno Giordano and Diego Maradona.[1] Careca's first season at Napoli was an unsuccessful one, despite his 13 goals: the team were knocked out in the first round of the European Cup by Real Madrid and they lost the title in the final games of the season.

However, his second season was far more successful. The team won the UEFA Cup, with Careca scoring a goal in each leg of the final, one a memorable lobbed goal, and finished second in Serie A, also reaching the Coppa Italia final that season. In 1990, Careca finally won the Scudetto with Napoli, following the success up with the first ever Supercoppa Italiana later that year. Careca spent a further three years with Napoli, establishing a partnership with Gianfranco Zola, during which Napoli failed to win any silverware.

Later stages of playing career

In 1993 Careca left Italy to play for new Japanese J.League team Kashiwa Reysol. Careca spent three years with the team, during which time he helped them to promotion to the J1 league in 1994. He returned to Brazil in 1997 with Santos, he spent a year with the club and another year with Cambinas (1998) before joining the lower-league team São José (RS), where he finished his career in 1999.

Careca retired having played 64 games for Brazil, and scored 30 goals.

Garforth Town owner and manager, Simon Clifford, persuaded Careca to play the majority of a friendly game against Guiseley in the summer of 2005.

Footballing name

The word careca is Portuguese for 'bald'. It was a nickname given to Careca as a child because of his admiration for a famous Brazilian clown of the same name.

Other Carecas

Two contemporaries of Careca, who like him played for the Brazil national football team, were also called Careca and are thus sometimes confused with him: Careca II and Careca Bianchezi.

International career

Careca first broke into the national side of Brazil during 1982, but was forced to miss the 1982 World Cup in Spain due to a thigh injury suffered in practice three days before Brazil's debut in that tournament. His place in the squad for that tournament was taken by Roberto Dinamite. He was also part of the Brazilian squad that came in second in the 1983 Copa América.

It was during the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico, that Careca really established himself in world football. He ended the tournament, during which Brazil were memorably eliminated on penalties by France at the quarter-final stage, with five goals which placed him second in the Golden Boot rankings behind England's Gary Lineker. In 1990, Careca was part of the Brazilian team that was defeated by Argentina in the second round. He scored two goals in the tournament. His last cap was earned in August 1993.

Style of play

Careca is regarded as one of the greatest strikers in the history of Brazilian football.[2] He was a prolific, fast, opportunistic, and powerful striker, with excellent technique and great striking ability. Despite being right-footed, he was also capable of scoring with his left foot, and he was known for his ability to score goals off-balance from angled shots even when running with the ball. Careca was also good in the air, and he had an excellent positional sense, which along with his intelligence, sense of space, and attacking movement, made him known for frequently being in the right position at the right time in the penalty area. Although he was usually deployed as a striker, he was also capable of playing in deeper positions, as a creative forward, due to his ability to play off of his teammates and provide them with assists, as well as his tendency to make attacking runs starting from outside the area in order to create space for other players.[3][4][5][6][7] After scoring a goal, Careca often celebrated by mimicking an aeroplane's wings with his arms outstretched.[8]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Guarani 1978[9] Série A 28 13 — 28 13
1979[9][10] 1 0 7[a] 0 — 8 0
1980[9] 17 7 — 17 7
1981[9] 14 8 — 14 8
1982[9] 17 18 — 17 18
Total 77 46 7 0 84 46
São Paulo 1983[9] Série A 20 17 — 20 17
1984[9] —
1985[9] 17 12 — 17 12
1986[9] 30 25 — 30 25
1987[9][10] 2[a] 1 — 2 1
Total 67 54 2 1 69 55
Napoli 1987–88[9][10] Serie A 26 13 7 5 1[b] 0 — 34 18
1988–89[9][10] 30 19 10 2 12[b] 6 — 52 27
1989–90[9][10] 22 10 1 0 6[b] 2 — 29 12
1990–91[9][10] 29 9 6 1 2[b] 0 1[c] 2 38 12
1991–92[9][10] 33 15 4 2 — — 37 17
1992–93[9][10] 24 7 3 3 — — 27 10
Total 164 73 31 13 21 8 1 2 217 96
Kashiwa Reysol 1993[9] Football League
1994[9] 25 19 — 25 19
1995[9][10] J1 League 30 10 — 30 10
1996[9][10] 5 2 — 5 2
Total 60 31 — 60 31
Santos 1997[9] Série A
Career total 368 204 31 13 30 9 1 2 430 228
  1. ^ a b Appearances in Copa Libertadores
  2. ^ a b c d Appearances in European Cup
  3. ^ Appearance in Supercoppa Italiana

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[9]
National team Year Apps Goals
Brazil 1982 4 0
1983 11 5
1984 0 0
1985 7 3
1986 11 8
1987 4 2
1988 0 0
1989 6 6
1990 7 3
1991 1 0
1992 2 0
1993 7 2
Total 60 29

Honours

Guarani

São Paulo

Napoli[11]

Individual

References

  1. ^ Richardson, James (3 April 2007). "Serie A's comeback kid eyes another miracle". The Guardian. UK.
  2. ^ "Shooting from the hip – Careca joins Brazil's coaching staff". Goal.com. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  3. ^ "Careca" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  4. ^ "ANTONIO FILHO DE OLIVEIRA 'CARECA'". Pianeta Azzurro (in Italian). Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  5. ^ "CARECA (Antonio de Oliveira Filho)". Treccani: Enciclopedia dello Sport (in Italian). 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  6. ^ Marco Caiazzo (5 December 2015). "Careca vede un solo avversario: "Napoli stai attento alla Juve"" [Careca sees only one opponent: "Napoli beware of Juve"]. La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Careca: The Napoli striker who was better than Neymar". La Gazzetta dello Sport. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  8. ^ Paul Doyle (27 October 2009). "Carling Cup: Barnsley v Manchester United – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Careca at National-Football-Teams.com
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Careca » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  11. ^ "Careca". Eurosport. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  12. ^ "South American Team of the Year". RSSSF. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2015.

External links

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