Anselmo Emiliano Carvalho Gomes Ribeiro (born December 17, 1974), known as Jair, is a retired

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player.

Career

Youth

Jair emigrated from his native

to the United States as a child, settling with his family in suburban

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. He attended Madison Park High School in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for ne ...

Professional

Jair began his professional career in Portugal, with the reserves of

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, although he never played a first team game with the team, and spent a great deal of time on loan at Portuguese second division clubs

Alverca Alverca do Ribatejo () is a city (''cidade'') and a former civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Alverca do Ribatejo e Sobralinho. It covers an area of and had a pop ...

and

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 ...

. After two years with

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

in Bulgaria, Jair signed with

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

in March 1998, and became a starter in the team's midfield. He transferred to San Jose Clash in the middle of the 1999 season in exchange for Jeff Baicher, having played 29 games and scored 4 goals for Revolution, a move which sparked concerns about possible

conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in whi ...

within the league. After a year with the

Hampton Roads Mariners Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales * Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbou ...

in the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

, and a short three-month stay at one of his old clubs in Portugal,

, Jair moved to Florida to play for

Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny were an American professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Mutiny were a charter member of MLS, playing from 1996 to 2001. Th ...

in 2001, ultimately playing 25 games for the team prior to its demise at the end of the season. Jair spent two more years playing competitively, with Connecticut Wolves in the

in 2002, and with

Western Mass Pioneers Western Mass Pioneers is an American soccer team based in Ludlow, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1998, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team plays its home games at Lusitano Stadium ...

in the USL Pro Soccer League in 2003, before retiring from the sport in 2004.

International

Jair has played with the

Cape Verde national football team The Cape Verde national football team (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ; recognized as Cabo Verde by FIFA) represents Cape Verde in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Cape Verdean Football Federation. ...

, appearing in

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

in 2000 against

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

.FIFA
"Match Report - Algeria - Cape Verde Islands 2:0 (2:0)"
. April 21, 2000. Retrieved on June 27, 2013.

Personal

Jair's nickname was inspired by the legendary Brazilian player

Jair da Rosa Pinto Jair da Rosa Pinto (21 March 1921 – 28 July 2005), or simply Jair, was an association footballer who played offensive midfielder – one of the leading Brazilian men's footballers of the 1940s and 1950s, who is best remembered for his per ...

, who is best remembered for his performance in

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 ...

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...

campaign.

Post-Soccer Career

Jair currently resides in Florida.

References

External links

Player Profile
at ForaDeJogo {{DEFAULTSORT:Ribeiro, Anselmo 1974 births Living people Cape Verdean men's footballers Cape Verdean expatriates in the United States Cape Verde men's international footballers Sporting CP footballers S.C. Olhanense players PFC CSKA Sofia players San Jose Earthquakes players New England Revolution players Virginia Beach Mariners players Tampa Bay Mutiny players Connecticut Wolves players Western Mass Pioneers players UConn Huskies men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Major League Soccer players Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders People from Roxbury, Boston Soccer players from Boston