Carlitos (footballer, born 1982)

Carlos Alberto Alves Garcia[1] (born 6 September 1982), commonly known as Carlitos, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left winger.

Carlitos
Personal information
Full name Carlos Alberto Alves Garcia
Date of birth (1982-09-06) 6 September 1982
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
1993–2000 Arrentela
2000–2001 Amora
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2002 Amora 34 (5)
2002–2004 Estoril 72 (13)
2004–2007 Benfica 11 (0)
2005 Benfica B 2 (3)
2006 → Vitória Setúbal (loan) 14 (4)
2006–2007 → Sion (loan) 26 (8)
2007–2010 Basel 76 (11)
2010–2012 Hannover 8 (0)
2012–2014 Estoril 44 (4)
2014–2019 Sion 104 (16)
National team
2004 Portugal U21 7 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 May 2019

In his country, he played mainly with Estoril, but also won one Primeira Liga championship with Benfica. He spent most of his career in Switzerland, with Sion and Basel.

Club career

Early years / Benfica

Born in Lisbon, Carlitos started his professional career at Amora F.C. in 2001, at the age of 19. Two years later he moved to neighbours G.D. Estoril Praia, helping it achieve promotion to the Primeira Liga in his second year.

Subsequently, Carlitos caught the eye of S.L. Benfica, who signed the player after the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Germany, where he appeared with Portugal.[2] He helped Benfica conquer their first league title in 11 years, but could never break into the first team (ten games, nine as a reserve, none complete).

Switzerland

In January 2006, Carlitos was loaned out to Vitória de Setúbal, making a good impression in six months. In June, he returned to Benfica but was immediately loaned out again, this time to Swiss side FC Sion, teaming up with compatriot – of Benfica and FC Porto fame – João Manuel Pinto.

In July 2007, Carlitos was sold definitely but stayed in the country, moving to FC Basel for a fee of €1.5 million.[3][4] His official debut came on 22 July in a 1–0 win over FC Zürich at St. Jakob-Park, and he scored the club's 200th goal in European competition on 5 December, curling the ball into the back of the net from a free kick against SK Brann, also at home, which also meant that Basel qualified for the UEFA Cup's round-of-32.[5]

Carlitos was a very important attacking element in Basel's double during his debut campaign.[6] On 17 August 2008 he netted twice in a 4–1 win over the team's greatest rivals, Zürich, at the Letzigrund.[7]

Hannover

On 3 August 2010, Carlitos moved to Germany and its Bundesliga by signing with Hannover 96 for an undisclosed fee.[8] He made his debut on the 21st, retiring injured after three minutes in an eventual 2–1 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt;[9] after being diagnosed with a tore cruciate ligament,[10] he featured rarely until the end of his contract.

Later career

Carlitos returned to Portugal and its top division on 31 August 2012, re-joining former club Estoril.[11] He scored his first goal for them in the competition on 9 February 2013 to close a 2–0 home victory over Vitória de Guimarães,[12] adding six matches and one goal[13] in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.

In the summer of 2014, Carlitos returned to Sion on a two-year deal.[14][15]

Honours

Estoril

Benfica

Vitória Setúbal

Basel

References
  1. His surname is Alves Garcia, former from mother, latter from father.
  2. "Futebol: Europeu sub-21 – Portugal bate Suécia (3–2) e está nos Jogos Olímpicos" [Football: Under-21 Euro – Portugal beat Sweden (3–2) and reach Olympic Games] (in Portuguese). Angola Press News Agency. 9 June 2004. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  3. "Encaixe de 1,5 milhões de euros por Carlitos" [€1.5 million income for Carlitos]. Record (in Portuguese). 14 July 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  4. "Carlitos-Transfer zum FC Basel 1893 perfekt" [Carlitos Transfer to FC Basel 1893 confirmed] (in German). FC Basel. 24 July 2007. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  5. "FC Basle 1–0 SK Brann". ESPN Soccernet. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  6. "Basel win 12th football title". Swissinfo. 11 May 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  7. "Basel erobert in Zürich Tabellenspitze" [Basel take top spot in Zürich]. Blick (in German). 17 August 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  8. "Carlitos: "Bin ein sehr guter Spieler"" [Carlitos: "I'm a really good player"]. Neue Presse (in German). 3 August 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  9. "Hannover hat Glück und holt ersten Dreier" [Hannover are lucky and bag first three] (in German). kicker. 21 August 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  10. "Die Gazelle nimmt einen neuen Anlauf" [The gazelle starts afresh] (in German). Spox. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  11. Marques, Sara (31 August 2012). "Carlitos (ex-Benfica) regressa ao Estoril" [Carlitos (formerly of Benfica) returns to Estoril] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  12. "O fabuloso golo de Luís Leal" [Luís Leal's wonder goal]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 9 February 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  13. Ferreira, Luís Pedro (22 August 2013). "LE: Estoril-FC Pasching, 2–0 (destaques)" [EL: Estoril-FC Pasching, 2–0 (highlights)] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  14. "SL-News: Carlitos zurück zu Sion" [SL-News: Carlitos back to Sion] (in German). Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  15. Kielmann, Walter (16 August 2014). "Er ist in die Schweiz zurückgekehrt, um vorwärtszukommen" [He has returned to Switzerland, to move forward]. Aargauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 22 September 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.