Ze Roberto

A professional football player from Brazil, Jose Roberto da Silva Junior, commonly known as Ze Roberto, plays as a midfielder. One of the most famous modern-era players to come out of Brazil, Ze Roberto is a skilful and technical midfielder who has played with some of the top teams in the world. His career began in 1994, when he broke into the first team at Portuguesa after gaining promotion from their youth academy.

Almost instantly, Ze Roberto was a favourite with the fans for his effectiveness on the pitch. He played 61 games between 1994 and 1997, for Portuguesa, scoring just one goal but playing well enough to be picked for the national team. In 1995, Ze Roberto made his way into the Brazilian senior national team, and in 1997, made a massive move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Although Ze Roberto would only stay at Real Madrid for one season, he helped the team win the Primera Division title in 1997 as well as the Supercopa Espana title the same year, even though he played just 15 games. He even won the 1997 Confederations Cup with the national side.

After winning the 1997 Copa America title with Brazil, Ze Robert returned to his home-country in 1998, signing up with Flamengo. Until the end of the year, he played 24 times for the club and moved to Bayer Leverkusen, in Germany, before the beginning of 1999. At Leverkusen, Ze Roberto truly came into his own, winning the 1999 Copa America title and made his mark at Leverkusen.

He played over 110 times for the club, scoring 17 goals, and helping the team reach the finals of the 2002 UEFA Champions League, which they eventually lost to Real Madrid. At the end of 2002, Ze Roberto moved to German giants Bayern Munich and became a regular starter for the team. In 2003, 2005 and 2006, Ze Roberto would win the German League and Cup double with the club. He also won the league cup in 2004, a title he would win again in 2007, on his return to Bayern.

Meanwhile, Ze Roberto moved back to Brazil in 2006, signing up with Santos and leading them to the 2007 Paulista Championships. He moved back to Bayern Munich in 2007 and over the next three seasons, won the league and cup double, once again, in 2008. In all, with the exception of the 48 games with 12 goals that Ze Roberto had played for Santos, he had been a Bayer player for 110 appearances in his first stint and 59 in his second.

In 2009, Ze Roberto left Bayern and moved to Hamburger SV, playing 54 games for the side and scoring 7 times. He moved to Al-Gharafa in Qatar, after leaving Hamburger in 2011, and played a single season for the team, winning the Emir of Qatar Cup in 2012. Ze Roberto made 14 league appearances of the club, scoring once, before moving back to Brazil and signing up with Gremio.