Abel Luís da Silva Costa Xavier (; born 30 November 1972) is a Portuguese football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Xavier played for clubs in Portugal, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Turkey and Germany before retiring with the

LA 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 ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS) in 2008. He represented both Merseyside rivals Everton and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. While at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

he was the first Premier League player to test positive for

performance-enhancing substance Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve ath ...

s, and was banned for one year. From his debut in 1993, Xavier played 20 games for the Portugal national team, and was selected in their squads for

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. He later became a manager for several Portuguese clubs and the Mozambique national team.

Club career

Early career

Xavier debuted in the Portuguese top division with Estrela da Amadora. His play there earned him a transfer to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

club Benfica. He helped Benfica win the Portuguese league in 1994, and a season after, he moved to

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

. This stint with the Italian club started a series of transfers across Europe: in 1996, Xavier was sent to

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

, then after two seasons he moved to PSV.

Everton and Liverpool

Xavier joined English

club Everton in September 1999 on a £1.5 million transfer deal. He was sold to Everton's

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

rivals

on 30 January 2002 for £800,000. He was signed to bolster Liverpool's defence following

Markus Babbel Markus Babbel (; born 8 September 1972) is a German professional football coach and former player who most recently managed Western Sydney Wanderers FC. He played as a defender for clubs in Germany and England. Babbel won the UEFA Cup twice: in ...

's absence through illness. Xavier scored on his Liverpool debut against Ipswich Town. He also scored against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Liverpool ended the

2001–02 FA Premier League The 2001–02 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth season of the competition. It began with a new sponsor, Barclaycard, and was titled the FA Barclaycard Premiership, replacing the pr ...

season as runners-up to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Xavier started the first four league games of the

2002–03 FA Premier League The 2002–03 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th season of the Premier League, the top division in English football. The first matches were played on 17 August 2002 and the last were ...

season but later argued with Liverpool manager

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, ...

and did not feature in any of the remaining games, though he did play in a League Cup tie against Ipswich in December. On 29 January 2003, he was loaned to Turkish side

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

for the remainder of the season, with an option of a permanent move in the summer. Galatasaray did not take up the option to sign Xavier, who subsequently played for

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

(2003–04) and

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

in 2004–05.

Middlesbrough

At the start of the 2005–06 season, Xavier was without a club but at the end of August, he signed for

to replace

Michael Reiziger Michael John Reiziger (; born 3 May 1973) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played mainly as a right back. Reiziger currently manages the Netherlands U21 team. After making a name for himself at Ajax, with whom he won one Champio ...

after the Dutchman was sold to PSV. Following the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

tie against

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club () is a Greek Association football, football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace. They play their home matches at Skoda Xanthi Arena Founded in 1967, Xanthi is well set up in terms of their financial support and youth set ...

on 29 September, Xavier was administered a drugs test and failed. On 23 November 2005, he was found guilty of using the

anabolic steroid Anabolic steroids, also known as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), are a class of drugs that are structurally related to testosterone, the main male sex hormone, and produce effects by binding to the androgen receptor (AR). Anabolism, Anaboli ...

methandrostenolone Metandienone, also known as methandienone or methandrostenolone and sold under the brand name Dianabol (D-Bol) among others, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication which is mostly no longer prescribed. It is also used non-medically ...

(also known as dianabol), and banned from professional football for 18 months. He said that the substance came from anti-virus medicine that he had imported from the United States. While other players had failed tests for recreational substances, Xavier became the first Premier League player to be found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs. The suspension caused him to miss Middlesbrough's run to the

2006 UEFA Cup final The 2006 UEFA Cup Final was a association football, football match that took place at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, Netherlands on 10 May 2006 as the culmination of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. The match was contested by Middlesbrough F.C., Middlesbrou ...

. Xavier remained employed by the club and unsuccessfully appealed the decision; in January 2006 he said that he would take UEFA to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

. Xavier's ban was shortened to 12 months in June 2006, making him eligible to play again from November 2006. In the summer of 2006, he began training again with Middlesbrough, and on 8 November 2006, was offered a contract with the club for the remainder of the 2006–07 season. He scored his first Boro goal on 20 January 2007 in a 5–1 win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

at the

Riverside Stadium The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since its opening in 1995. It has an all-seated capacity of 34,742, although provisional planning permission is in place to expan ...

LA Galaxy

On 14 May 2007, it was announced that Xavier was to join the

(MLS). He played in his first game with the Galaxy on 17 June 2007 at home against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

, setting up fellow new signing Edson Buddle in a 3–2 win. Xavier was waived by Los Angeles on 18 July 2008. Later, in an interview to an online football site, Xavier criticised Galaxy manager

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 ...

and the league itself. In December 2009, Xavier quit professional football.

International career

Xavier was a part of the Portugal squad which came third at the

1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship The 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the third edition of the tournament, was held in the Scottish cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Motherwell, Aberdeen, and Dundee between 10 and 24 June 1989. Players born after 1 August 1972 could participate in ...

in Scotland. Xavier's full international debut for senior team came on 31 March 1993, away in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in qualification for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

. He played three more matches in the unsuccessful qualification campaign that year and did not play for Portugal again until

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Xavier was selected for

and became one of the key figures in the competition, not only due to playing some of his best football but also due to a distinctly bleached-blonde hairstyle with a matching beard. In the semi-final against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, he went from close to hero, as France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez blocked what looked a sure goal, to a villain, when he deflected a shot by

Sylvain Wiltord Sylvain Claude Wiltord (born 10 May 1974) is a French former professional footballer. Mainly a right winger, he also played as a centre-forward, second striker and on the left wing. Wiltord had a four-season spell at Arsenal, with whom he w ...

near the post in the dying seconds of

golden goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

extra time with his hand.

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

scored the penalty and put France in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Xavier was initially given a nine-month ban from football for his vociferous protests against referee

Günter Benkö Günter Benkö (born 12 July 1955 in Oberwart, Burgenland) is a retired football (soccer) referee from Austria, best known for supervising two matches during the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. He also led two matches at the 2000 UEFA European ...

's decision to award the penalty, but it was eventually reduced to six months. In the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, he was part of the squad but played only as a substitute in the final group stage match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in his final of 20 international appearances.

Managerial career

In July 2013, Xavier signed to be manager of Portuguese top division club

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

for the upcoming

2013–14 Primeira Liga The 2013–14 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga ZON Sagres for sponsorship reasons) was the 80th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. It began on 18 August 2013 and concluded on 11 May ...

season. He was sacked by the club on 28 October 2013, despite beating Arouca in his last match to reach 11th in the table. In December 2014, Xavier signed for another team from the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

, Farense of the Segunda Liga. He left his position on 28 May, after leading his team to the 11th position. In July 2015, Xavier signed a one-year deal with another team in the second division, Desportivo das Aves. He was fired in early September after a series of poor results. On 26 January 2016, he signed a two-year contract as coach of the Mozambique national team, starting work on 1 February. In December 2017, with his contract due to expire, he had it extended until the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

. After conceding an added-time goal to

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

, the Black Mambas missed out on the tournament in Egypt but he was assured of a new deal by the

Mozambican Football Federation The Mozambican Football Federation (Portuguese: ') is the governing body of football in Mozambique. It was founded in 1975, affiliated to FIFA in 1980 and to CAF in 1978. It organizes the national football league Moçambola and the national team ...

; this offer was rescinded after a poor performance at the

2019 COSAFA Cup The 2019 COSAFA Cup was the 19th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). The tournament was originally ...

in South Africa.

Personal life

Xavier was born in

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, which was then a Portuguese colony, and moved to Portugal as a child. He settled in Jamor in the western suburbs of Lisbon, where he lived in poverty. He grew up in a strict

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

background. On retiring from his playing career, Xavier converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. He said that he was initiated into the faith by a brother of the monarch of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

in 2009, who gave him the name Faisal. Xavier said "You can call me Abel, you can call me Faisal or Abel ‘Faisal’ Xavier. Deep down, I wanted to keep the same name, but be recognised by a historical name in Islam". From 2011 to 2014, Xavier was in a relationship with actress Oceana Basílio. In February 2017, with debts of €1.5 million, bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against him.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Xavier goal.''

Managerial

Honours

Estrela da Amadora * Segunda Liga: 1992–93 Benfica *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

: 1993–94 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

runner-up:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

PSV * Johan Cruijff Shield:

Liverpool *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 2002–03 Portugal U17 *

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

* FIFA U-16 World Cup third-place:

Portugal U18 * UEFA Under-18 Championship runner-up:

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Portugal U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

References

External links