Dani (footballer, born 1976)

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Dani
Dani in 2011
Personal information
Full name Daniel da Cruz Carvalho[1]
Date of birth (1976-11-02) 2 November 1976 (age 49)[1]
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal[1]
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1985–1995 Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1996 Sporting CP 9 (0)
1996West Ham United (loan) 9 (2)
1996–2000 Ajax 72 (12)
2000 Benfica 5 (0)
2001–2003 Atlético Madrid 64 (10)
Total 159 (24)
International career
1992 Portugal U15 8 (4)
1992–1993 Portugal U16 15 (6)
1993 Portugal U17 6 (4)
1994 Portugal U18 8 (6)
1995–1996 Portugal U20 15 (6)
1995–1998 Portugal U21 11 (6)
1996 Portugal U23 6 (0)
1995–2000 Portugal 9 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Portugal
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Third place 1995 Qatar
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Daniel da Cruz Carvalho (born 2 November 1976), commonly known as Dani, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder.

He spent most of his eight-year professional career with Ajax after starting out at Sporting CP, appearing in nearly 100 competitive matches and winning three major titles. He also competed abroad in England with West Ham United, and in Spain with Atlético Madrid.

All youth levels comprised, Dani played 69 times for Portugal and scored 33 goals. He made his full debut in 1995.

Club career

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A talented attacking player whose career was cut short due to a poor work ethic, Dani was born in Lisbon and began his career with local club Sporting CP,[2][3] making his first-team debut during 1994–95 aged just 17, in a team which also included Luís Figo, Ricardo Sá Pinto and Bulgarian Krassimir Balakov,[4] and helped the side to that season's Taça de Portugal.

In January 1996, Dani started a small loan in the Premier League with West Ham United, where he scored at Tottenham Hotspur[5] and at home against Manchester City.[6] Despite performing reasonably well during his tenure, his season ended when he was fired by manager Harry Redknapp when he missed training after being spotted in a nightclub.[7]

Subsequently, Dani represented AFC Ajax, appearing regularly for the Amsterdam side but almost never as an undisputed starter. He did score an important goal in the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie against Atlético Madrid, in a 3–2 away win (4–3 aggregate).[8]

In December 2000, following a brief spell with S.L. Benfica, Dani signed for Atlético Madrid of the Spanish Segunda División on the recommendation of his compatriot Paulo Futre, the latter's director of football,[9] teaming up with also-Portuguese Hugo Leal.[10] After the Colchoneros returned to La Liga with him as an important unit,[11][12] he was pretty much absent for the majority of the 2002–03 campaign and, having failed to find a new team, definitively retired from football in early 2004 at only 27.[13]

International career

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Dani earned nine caps for Portugal, the first coming on 12 December 1995 in a 1–1 friendly with England, and the last on 29 March 2000 in a 2–1 victory over Denmark (also friendly).[14][4]

Previously, he appeared for the under-20 national team at the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship in Qatar, being awarded the second place in both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards,[15] and also competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics where his country finished fourth.[16]

Personal life

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Before and during his playing career, Dani worked regularly as a model. After retiring, he worked in television, including as a pundit for TVI 24.[17][18][19]

Dani married Patrícia Claro in 2009. The couple had two daughters, Maria Luísa (born 2011) and Benedita (2015).[20][21][22]

Redknapp, when he was manager at West Ham, once said about the player: "Dani is so good-looking I don't know whether to play him or fuck him".[23]

Honours

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Sporting CP

Ajax

Atlético Madrid

Portugal

Individual

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Dani at WorldFootball.netLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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  25. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  • Dani at ForaDeJogo (archived)Lua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  • Dani at SoccerbaseLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  • Dani at BDFutbolLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  • Dani national team profile at the Portuguese Football Federation (in Portuguese)
  • Dani at National-Football-Teams.comLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  • DaniFIFA competition record (archived)Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).