Álvaro Henrique Alves Pires (born March 11, 1985), or simply Álvaro Pires, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a defensive-midfielder, he currently plays for

Nacional Futebol Clube Nacional Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Nacional, is a Brazilian professional club based in Manaus, Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas founded on 13 January 1913. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série D, the fourth tier of Br ...

. A native of Jardinópolis,

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(just outside

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

), Pires signed his first professional contract at the age of 16 with Brazilian side

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the ...

and broke into the first team at the age of 19. He spent three years there, appearing in a handful of games, before signing with Russian side

Spartak Nalchik PFC Spartak Nalchik () is a Russian association football club based in Nalchik that plays in the fourth-tier Russian Second League Division B. They played in the Russian Premier League between 2006 and 2012. History FC Spartak Nalchik was found ...

, then of the

Russian First Division The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used to ...

. Pires had been on trial with

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

during the club's pre-season, featuring in the inaugural

Pan-Pacific Championship The Pan-Pacific Football Championship was an inter-confederation football (soccer), football tournament between teams from A-League (Australia and New Zealand), Chinese Super League (People's Republic of China, China), J. League (Japan), K-League ...

in Hawaii, and featuring on their Asian tour in China and Hong Kong. Having impressed Galaxy coach

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a former Dutch Association football, footballer and subsequent manager. Regarded among the greatest footballers of all time, he was also noted for his Utility player#Association football, abili ...

with his performances, Pires signed a full professional contract with Galaxy on March 28, 200

He made his MLS debut in Galaxy's first match of the 2008 season against

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

on March 29, 2008, and scored his first MLS goal on June 7, 2008 - also against Colorado.

References

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* 1985 births Living people Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Brazilian men's footballers LA Galaxy players Footballers from São Paulo (state) SC Internacional players PFC Spartak Nalchik players Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Major League Soccer players Men's association football midfielders People from Jardinópolis, São Paulo 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian expatriate men's footballers {{Brazil-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub