Claudio Taffarel (English)

Claudio Taffarel (Español)

• Full Name: Claudio André Mergen Taffarel
• Date of Birth: May 8, 1966
• Place: Santa Rosa (Río Grande do Sul), Brasil
• Position: Goalkeeper

National Team

• 108 games (1988-1998) with 64 victories, 31 ties and 13 defeats

• Played in 3 World Cups: Italy 1990, United States 1994 and France 1998
  • Champion World Cup United States 1994
• Played in 5 Copa Americas: Copa América Brasil 1989, Copa América Chile 1991, Copa América Ecuador 1993, Copa América Uruguay 1995 and Copa América Bolivia 1997
  • Champion Copa América Brasil 1989
  • Champion Copa América Bolivia 1997

Teams and Achievements

• Internacional de Porto Alegre (1984-1990)
• Parma (1990-1993)
  • 1 Coppa Italia (1992)
• Reggiana (1993-1994)
• Atlético Mineiro (1994-1997)
  • 1 Copa CONMEBOL (1997)
• Galatasaray (1998-2001)
  • 1 UEFA Cup (2000)
  • 1 UEFA Super Cup (2000)
  • 2 Turkish Leagues (1999 and 2000)
  • 2 Turkish Cups (1999 and 2000)
• Parma (2001-2003)
  • 1 Coppa Italia (2002)

• Remarkable goalkeeper with excellent reflexes and great positioning. He was an expert at stopping penalties.
• In his youth, he joined club Crissiumal, playing as a midfielder, forward, and goalie.
• When Claudio was 16 years old, he was not accepted to club Gremio de Porto Alegre as a goalkeeper. However, two years later, Internacional de Porto Alegre recruited him as a young promising player.

• He won the Gold medal with Brazil in the 1987 Pan American Games. One year later, he achieved the Silver medal in the Summer Olympics of Seoul 1988.
• Claudio kept growing, having great performances both for his team and country, becoming an undisputed starter.
• Parmalat, owner of Parma (Italy), took notice of this, asking the team to purchase the player in 1990. The dairy and food company used Taffarel’s image to advertise their products in Brazil.

• In 1993, Parma and Brazil started doubting his ability due to mistakes made by the player.
• Parma cut him in that year, forcing Claudio to join recently promoted Reggiana. Brazilians started asking coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to put Zetti instead of him.

• Fortunately for the player, coach Parreira trusted him as a starter in the 1994 World Cup, a correct decision since Taffarel had a solid performance in the tournament. He was crucial in the final against Italy, saving a penalty in the shootout to win the world title for his country.

• Reggiana decided to not to continue with him after the World Cup, even though with Taffarel at goal, the team had their most successful season in Serie A history, finishing thirteen in the table.
• He signed with Atlético Mineiro after spending seven months without a professional contract.

• In Copa América Uruguay 1995, Claudio suffered from another difficult moment, making some mistakes. He again proved everyone wrong in the 1998 World Cup, reaching the final against France.
• After the World Cup, he joined Turkish club Galatasaray for the next three seasons.
• In Turkey, Taffarel achieved great recognition, winning the UEFA Cup (UEFA Europa League), UEFA Super Cup, and multiple national titles.

• The goalie return to Parma in his last professional years, spending most of the time on the bench. At age 37, he retired even though he was offered a one year contract at Empoli.
• In 2005, he opened an agency that represented promising Brazilian youngsters with his former Atlético Mineiro teammate Paolo Roberto Prestes.
• Nowadays, the Brazilian works as a goalkeeper coach for his old club Galatasaray and National Team.

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Sources

Online

AS

Kallás, Fernando (2014) “Dunga llama a Mauro Silva y Taffarel para su cuerpo técnico”, https://as.com/futbol/2014/07/23/internacional/1406140924_899016.html

Fernández Maldonado, Jorge (2015) “Taffarel: Si jugamos bien podemos ganar al Atlético”, https://as.com/videos/2015/11/24/portada/1448390279_630606.html?autoplay=1

Sancar, Özgür (2015) “Taffarel: Será duro pero no solamente para nosotros”, https://as.com/futbol/2015/09/14/champions/1442196645_413172.html

CBF

Assessoria CBF (2018) “Campeao em 1994, Taffarel completa 52 años”,  https://www.cbf.com.br/selecao-brasileira/torcedor/jogadores-imortais/tetracampeao-taffarel-celebra-52-anos-nesta-terca

CNN

(2003) “World Cup winner Taffarel retires”, http://edition.cnn.com/2003/SPORT/football/09/26/taffarel.quits.reut/index.html

CONMEBOL

Bolaños, Eduardo (2015) “Balance histórico de la Copa América”, http://www.conmebol.com/es/15092015-1845/balance-historico-de-la-copa-america

Bolaños, Eduardo (2014) “Atlético Mineiro consigue invicto la Copa Conmebol 1997”,  http://conmebol.com/es/16122014-2257/atletico-mineiro-consigue-invicto-la-copa-conmebol-1997

El País

Reuters (1990) “Taffarel jugará en el Parma”, https://elpais.com/diario/1990/07/15/deportes/647992813_850215.html

El Tiempo

Redacción Futbolred.com (2015) “Colombia 2 – 0 Brasil: la única victoria fue en la Copa América de 1991”, https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS-15957696

Ansa (1993) “Taffarel pasó de la gloria al infierno”, https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-139637

FIFA

Setyon, Ricardo (2000) “Claudio Taffarel: One mistake and I get all the blame”, https://www.fifa.com/news/claudio-taffarel-one-mistake-and-get-all-the-blame-74374

(2008) “El fútbol sigue en las manos de Taffarel”, https://es.fifa.com/mensyoutholympic/news/y=2008/m=7/news=futbol-sigue-las-manos-taffarel-825756.html

Football History

“Coppa Italia”, https://www.footballhistory.org/tournament/coppa-italia.html

Goal

Edwards, Daniel (2016) “Maradona’s tears, Colombia’s tragedy & Taffarel’s prayers: the story of USA 94”, https://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3889/main/2016/06/02/24193872/maradonas-tears-colombias-tragedy-taffarels-prayers-the-story-of-

Líbero

(2017) “Claudio Taffarel: así luce portero brasileño campeón Mundial en USA 1994”, https://libero.pe/futbol-internacional/180660-claudio-taffarel-asi-luce-portero-brasileno-campeon-mundial-en-usa-1994-fotos

IMDb

Perfil de Claudio Taffarel, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1968739/

INFOBAE

(2008) “¿En qué anda Taffarel, el gran arquero de Brasil?”, https://www.infobae.com/2008/07/17/392365-en-que-anda-taffarel-el-gran-arquero-brasil/

The Guardian

Eve, James (2003) “Highway to heaven”, https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,1072696,00.html

LA Times

Almond, Elliot (1994) “World Cup USA ’94 / THE FINAL: Goalkeeper Is Looking for Real Job Now: Soccer: Brazil’s Taffarel was dropped by Italian league team before the start of the World Cup”

Reggiana Calcio

“THE DAL CIN YEARS”, https://www.reggianacalcio.it/society/story/the-dal-cin-years/?lang=en

UEFA

“2000: Jardel doubles up for Galatasaray”, https://www.uefa.com/uefasupercup/history/season=2000/

“History: Galatasaray AS, Turkey”, https://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=50067/profile/history/index.html

“1993: Crippa derrota al Milan”, https://es.uefa.com/uefasupercup/history/season=1993/