![]() Mauricinho at the 2019
South American Beach Games. | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Mauricio Pereira Braz de Oliveira | ||
Date of birth | 9 December 1989 | ||
Place of birth | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Position(s) | Forward | ||
International career‡ | |||
Years | Team | Apps | ( Gls) |
2012– | Brazil | 137 | (166) |
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2023 |
Mauricio Pereira Braz de Oliveira (born 9 December 1989), known better as Mauricinho, is a Brazilian beach soccer player who plays as a forward. He won the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup representing Brazil and claimed the Silver Ball (second best player) award at the competition; he has also appeared at three other World Cups ( 2015, 2019, 2021). In addition, he was named the best player in the world at the 2017 Beach Soccer Stars awards.
Mauricinho began playing beach soccer competitively in 2010; [1] he was spotted by Brazilian beach soccer legend, Júnior Negão, playing with friends on Copacabana Beach and was subsequently invited to play for Vasco da Gama. [2]
He was first called up to the Brazilian national team in 2012. [3] Mauricinho began to thrive under the leadership of coach Gilberto Costa, post-2015. [4] This rise peaked in 2017 when he was voted by fellow players and coaches as the best player in the world; this followed being declared the second best player of that year's World Cup in the Bahamas in which he scored a brace in Brazil's win in the final over Tahiti. He was also the top scorer in Beach Soccer Worldwide competitions that year, with 54 goals. [5]
He made his 100th appearance for Brazil in an 8–2 win against Oman at the 2019 World Cup. [6]
As well as continuing to play for Vasco da Gama and winning the Copa Libertadores with the club, [2] outside of Brazil, as is typical of top beach soccer players, [7] Mauricinho has played for numerous clubs in Europe. [2] In 2017, he joined top Portuguese side, Braga, and immediately won the Euro Winners Cup (EWC). [8] In 2018, he switched to Russian rivals Kristall. [1] Reaching the 2018 EWC final against his former Iberian club, he missed the crucial attempt in the penalty shootout, handing Braga the victory. [9] He redeemed himself in the 2020 edition when, in a repeat of the 2018 final, Mauricinho scored to help Kristall become European champions. [10]
In the immediate aftermath of Brazil's quarter-final defeat to Senegal at the 2021 World Cup, Mauricinho announced that he would be retiring from the national team, claiming that it "needs some new blood". [11] However, the decision proved short-lived, as he took his place in new coach Marco Octavio's first call-up in May 2022. [12]
Note: Some of the sources of these statistics may have counted an appearance when the player was actually an unused substitute.
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The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours Mauricinho has achieved:
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![]() Mauricinho at the 2019
South American Beach Games. | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Mauricio Pereira Braz de Oliveira | ||
Date of birth | 9 December 1989 | ||
Place of birth | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Position(s) | Forward | ||
International career‡ | |||
Years | Team | Apps | ( Gls) |
2012– | Brazil | 137 | (166) |
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2023 |
Mauricio Pereira Braz de Oliveira (born 9 December 1989), known better as Mauricinho, is a Brazilian beach soccer player who plays as a forward. He won the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup representing Brazil and claimed the Silver Ball (second best player) award at the competition; he has also appeared at three other World Cups ( 2015, 2019, 2021). In addition, he was named the best player in the world at the 2017 Beach Soccer Stars awards.
Mauricinho began playing beach soccer competitively in 2010; [1] he was spotted by Brazilian beach soccer legend, Júnior Negão, playing with friends on Copacabana Beach and was subsequently invited to play for Vasco da Gama. [2]
He was first called up to the Brazilian national team in 2012. [3] Mauricinho began to thrive under the leadership of coach Gilberto Costa, post-2015. [4] This rise peaked in 2017 when he was voted by fellow players and coaches as the best player in the world; this followed being declared the second best player of that year's World Cup in the Bahamas in which he scored a brace in Brazil's win in the final over Tahiti. He was also the top scorer in Beach Soccer Worldwide competitions that year, with 54 goals. [5]
He made his 100th appearance for Brazil in an 8–2 win against Oman at the 2019 World Cup. [6]
As well as continuing to play for Vasco da Gama and winning the Copa Libertadores with the club, [2] outside of Brazil, as is typical of top beach soccer players, [7] Mauricinho has played for numerous clubs in Europe. [2] In 2017, he joined top Portuguese side, Braga, and immediately won the Euro Winners Cup (EWC). [8] In 2018, he switched to Russian rivals Kristall. [1] Reaching the 2018 EWC final against his former Iberian club, he missed the crucial attempt in the penalty shootout, handing Braga the victory. [9] He redeemed himself in the 2020 edition when, in a repeat of the 2018 final, Mauricinho scored to help Kristall become European champions. [10]
In the immediate aftermath of Brazil's quarter-final defeat to Senegal at the 2021 World Cup, Mauricinho announced that he would be retiring from the national team, claiming that it "needs some new blood". [11] However, the decision proved short-lived, as he took his place in new coach Marco Octavio's first call-up in May 2022. [12]
Note: Some of the sources of these statistics may have counted an appearance when the player was actually an unused substitute.
|
|
The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours Mauricinho has achieved:
|
|
|