The Five (and a half) Brazilians at Euro 2008

I’ve heard it muttered that Euro 2008 would be better if Brazil were involved. Well, maybe. But then it wouldn’t be the European Championships would it?

However, there will be five (and a half) Brazilians playing at Euro 2008, they’ll just be playing for other countries. Read on to find out who they are, and how they wound up playing in the European Championships.

1. Mehmet Aurélio (Turkey)

Born as Brazilian named Marco Aurélio Brito dos Prazeres in Rio de Janeiro, but acquired Turkish citizenship and the name “Mehmet” after five years doing defensive midfield work for Trabzonspor and Fenerbahçe.

When Mehmet Aurélio made his Turkey debut in 2006, he became the first naturalized Turkish player in the history of ever. Fenerbahçe fans seem to like him too:

2. Deco (Portugal)

Has played for Portugal for so long, it’s easy to forget that the little magician is actually Brazilian. Crossed the water to play in the Portuguese league in 1997 and after six years became a naturalized Portugueezer. Made his international debut in 2003, against Brazil of all teams.

Only played eight minutes, but scored a free kick as Portugal won 2-1, and has since become the creative heartbeat of the Portugal team. Probably the best Brazilian at Euro 2008.

3. Pepe (Portugal)

Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira (to give his full, and very Brazilian, name) played his youth football for Corinthians but left at 18 to play for Portuguese team Maritimo. The central defender then had three years at Porto before joining Real Madrid in July 2007 for a sky-high €30 million and taking Portuguese citizenship a month later.

Arguably good enough to play for Brazil but overlooked due to the out of sight out of mind effect.

4. Roger Guerreiro (Poland)

Born in São Paulo and spent his early career playing for the likes of Corinthians and Flamengo before a move to Legia Warsaw in 2006. The left winger / attacking mid never got any love from the Seleção (which to be fair, isn’t an easy place to get your love) but had them drooling in Poland.

One shotgun citzenship ceremony later (17th April 2008) and Roger is in Poland’s Euro 2008 squad. It could be that he won’t be able to dominate international games in a Poland shirt the way he does the Polish league in a Legia Warsaw shirt, but should be fun finding out.

5. Marcos Senna (Spain)

Brazilian by birth, Spanish by citizenship. The midfielder has been with Villarreal since 2002 and with the Spanish national team since early 2006.

The defensive midfielder’s got great long and short range passing and an absolute bomb of a shot on him (see above).

5.5 Kevin Kurányi (Germany)

Not quite Brazilian in the same way as the above five players. Born in Rio de Janeiro, but to a German Hungarian father and a Panamanian mother. So no Brazilian blood, but a very Brazilian birthplace. Either way, the lanky striker plays his club football for Schalke ‘04 and does his international duty for Germany. How German is he? Well he scored against England. You can’t get much more German than that.

Play our free to enter Euro 2008 Predictor Bracket game