Abel Xavier

Birth Date: November 30 1972
Birth Place: Nampula
Birth Nation: Mozambique
Height: 189cm
Weight: 81kg
Nationality: Portuguese
Position: Defender

Full Name: Abel Luis da Silva Costa Xavier

Previous Clubs:
Estrela de Amadora
SL Benfica
Bari
Real Oviedo
PSV Eindhoven
Everton
Liverpool
Galatasaray
Hannover 96
AS Roma
Middlesbrough

He started his career with Estrela de Amadora before earning a move to Lisbon giants SL Benfica, where he helped the team life the Portugese League title in 1994. The following season he joined Serie A side Bari.

In 1996 he left Italy for Spain and Real Oviedo, then to Holland and PSV Eindhoven two seasons later. He joined Everton for ?1.6 million in September 1999 and spent three seasons with the blue half of Merseyside before a switch to the red half and Liverpool.

After two years he left England and the next stop of his European tour with a switch to Turkey and Galatasaray. A year after Germany became the next stop with a transfer to Hannover 96, followed a year later with a year back in Italy with AS Roma. Finally in August 2005 he joined Middlesbrough on a Bosman free.

No stranger to controversy, he earned himself a 9 month ban from FIFA after, along with several other Portugese players, he chased and harrassed a linesman who had awarded a clear handball against him during the Euro 2000 semi-final match against France. Later, following a UEFA Cup match for Middlesbrough against FC Xanthi of Greece, he was drug tested and gave a positive sample. On 23 November 2005 he was found guilty of using a banned substance by a UEFA tribunal and banned for 18 months. He failed in an appeal in December 2005.

July 12 2006: Former Middlesbrough defender Abel Xavier has had his 18-month ban from football for doping reduced to one year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Uefa imposed the ban on the Portuguese defender in November 2005 after he tested positive for anabolic steroids in a Uefa Cup tie two months earlier. An appeal to Uefa failed in December, but the 33-year-old took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Boro terminated Xavier's contract in January after his failed appeal. A Uefa spokesman said in a statement: "We are surprised by the verdict but cannot make any further comments before receiving the detailed reasoning of the decision."

Abel Xavier