Márcio Passos de Albuquerque (born 6 September 1978), known as Emerson Sheik or just Emerson, is a 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 forward. Born in Brazil, he represented

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

internationally, leading to his nickname of "Sheik".

Club career

Early days

Emerson Sheik was born in

Nova Iguaçu Nova Iguaçu (, ''New Iguaçu'') is a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil. Geography Location The city is named after the Iguaçu River that runs through it and empties into Guanabara Bay (not to be confused with the Iguaçu Rive ...

and made his senior debut for

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

in 1998.

Japan and Qatar

In 2000, Emerson Sheik joined

Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club based in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. They will play in the 2025 J2 League, the second tier league of Japanese football, after relegation from the J1 League at conclusion of th ...

in the Japanese second division, for whom he scored 31 goals in 34 games during the 2000 season. After the season, he joined another second division club,

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium i ...

, where he continued his impressive goalscoring record, netting 19 times in 18 league games. Midway through the 2001 season, however, he left to join the

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

, for whom he yet again excelled, scoring 71 league goals in 100 appearances. Al-Sadd bought Emerson for US$8 million in 2005 and paired him with Ecuadorian Carlos Tenorio.

Rennes and return to Al-Sadd

On 25 August 2007, Emerson Sheik signed a three-year contract with French side

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

. However, he could not break into the first team. Meanwhile, Al-Sadd were going through a lean phase. They had many bad results and were 14 points behind unbeaten leaders Al Ahli by the end of 2007. In addition, their new import

Mauro Zárate Mauro Matías Zárate (; born 13 March 1987) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. Zárate started his career with Vélez Sarsfield in his native country, playing three years for the team and winning the Pri ...

did not link up well with Carlos Tenorio up front. On 19 December, Al-Sadd announced Emerson's return to fulfill fans' demands.

Flamengo

On 1 February 2009, Emerson Sheik signed a season-long deal with

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

after leaving Al-Sadd as a free agent. He formed a fearsome strike partnership with Adriano, helping the ''Mengão'' win the 2009 Brasileirão Série A after a relatively bad start. Club legend

Andrade Andrade (/ɐ̃ˈdɾa.d͡ʒi/ (Brazil), �̃ˈdɾa.ðɨ(Portugal), or �n̪ˈd̪ɾa.ð̞e(Spanish)) is a surname of Kingdom of Galicia, Galician origin, which emerged in the 12th century as the family name of the knights and lords of the sma ...

praised both players' performances.

Al Ain

On 24 July 2009, he signed a two-year deal with Emirati side

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

. He was presented to the press on 6 September 2009 and was handed the number 8 shirt.

Fluminense

On 19 July 2010, Emerson signed for Fluminense. On 5 December 2010, Emerson scored the winning goal for Fluminense to conquer the Brasileirão Série A title, making him a Brazilian champion for two years in a row.

Corinthians

On 11 April 2011, Emerson Sheik signed for Corinthians. On 4 December 2011, he won his third Brazilian championship in a row with the Timão, making him the first player in history to win three straight Brazilian championships with three different teams. On 4 July 2012, Emerson scored two goals in the second match of the 2012 Copa Libertadores Finals, helping Corinthians to win their first Copa Libertadores. On 16 December 2012, he was part of the Corinthians team which won the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup, beating Chelsea 1–0. In the last few minutes of the game, he was involved in an off-the-ball incident with Gary Cahill, in which Emerson fell to the ground holding his face. Cahill received a red card, but the Englishman claimed Emerson fouled him first before diving. In an interview for ''Esporte Espetacular'', an attraction of

Rede Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965 ...

, Emerson showed his dislike for

Mano Menezes Luiz Antônio Venker Menezes (born 11 June 1962), known as Mano Menezes, is a Brazilian professional football Coach (sport), coach, currently the head coach of Grêmio FBPA, Grêmio. Menezes managed the Brazil national football team, Brazil na ...

, coach of the club. Emerson Sheik told reporters: "I do not wanna work with him anoanymore." Still, according to the former Corinthiano: "I think he anois a very limited coach. I did not see anything special in him, and I do not think he will improve, because he does not have the humility to ask something." Emerson Sheik returned to Corinthians in 2015 as Tite returned to the club as the new manager. He was a first choice for many of the first games of the season, including the 2015 Copa Libertadores. After Corinthians was eliminated in the Round of 16, the club opted against renegotiating Emerson's contract, due to end in 31 July of the same year. He was released on 12 June, after both sides reached an agreement on the matter.

Botafogo

In February 2014, he was loaned to Botafogo, his third club in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He took the shirt number seven, used before by Botafogo's biggest idol,

Garrincha Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha (, "little bird"), was a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, righ ...

International career

Emerson Sheik played 1999

South American Youth Championship South American Youth Championships may refer to: * South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American foo ...

for U-20 Brazil, while he was still known as aged 18 instead of 21. He was offered Qatari citizenship by Al-Sadd so that they could accommodate one more foreign player in their line-up. He accepted and he became a Qatari citizen in 2008. He made his international debut for the Qatar national team on 4 March 2008 in a friendly against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. He also played the next friendly, vs. Jordan, on 16 March and a World Cup qualifying match, vs. Iraq, on 26 March. In April 2008, it was revealed that Emerson Sheik had also played for the Brazil under-20 team which makes him ineligible to play for the Qatari national team. Taking that into consideration, and that he represented Qatar in the World Cup qualifier against Iraq on 26 March, Qatar breached the FIFA rules, and Qatar could have lost the three points they gained from the game against Iraq. FIFA confirmed the breach of laws but said that QFA is not responsible for any wrongdoing, and that Emerson has since not played for Qatar. Although FIFA has loosened the nationality transfer of uncapped players and players with multi-nationality, it was not beneficial to Emerson, because he did not hold multi-nationality when representing Brazil.

Controversy

Emerson Sheik was detained by the Brazilian federal police on his way back to Qatar on 20 January 2006 for allegedly falsifying a birth certificate to show that he was three years younger than his actual age. The fake birth certificate, which was used to issue his passport, said that he was born on 6 December 1981 in

with the name "Márcio Emerson Passos", but his original shows he was born 6 September 1978, with the name "Márcio Passos de Albuquerque".

Kiss issue

On 25 August 2013, after the 1–0 victory over Coritiba in the Brasileirão, Emerson Sheik celebrated by kissing his friend and posting the photo on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. On 26 August, one day after the incident, homophobic Corinthians supporters protested the kiss during a training session. Emerson Sheik called the protests an "idiotic prejudice". On 28 August, in the first game after the incident, a 1–0 loss against Luverdense in the 2013 Copa do Brasil, Emerson Sheik was sent off along with opposition player Zé Roberto after they argued. Speaking to the press after the game, Zé Roberto, in reference to Emerson, said: "I am not the guy that takes a kiss from anyone, I do not accept this kind of thing."

Career statistics

Club

FIFA Club World Cup * Friendly

International

Honors

Club

Consadole Sapporo *

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Urawa Reds * J.League Cup:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Al Ain *

Emirates Cup The Emirates Cup is a pre-season association football invitational competition hosted by English club Arsenal F.C., Arsenal at their home ground, Emirates Stadium, in Holloway, London. The two-day competition was inaugurated in 2007 and is na ...

: 2009 Flamengo *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

Taça Rio Taça Rio ( English: Rio Cup) is an annual football tournament attached to Campeonato Carioca, the state football league in the Rio de Janeiro state. It has been organized since 1982 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. It has had ...

Fluminense *Campeonato Brasileiro Série A:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Corinthians *Campeonato Brasileiro Série A:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

Individual

* J.League MVP Award: 2003 * J.League Top Scorer: 2004 * J.League Best XI: 2002, 2003, 2004 * Qatar National First Division MVP: 2006 *

: 2012 Best Player

References

External links

Márcio Passos de Albuquerque's profile, stats & pics
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson 1978 births Living people São Paulo FC players Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo players Kawasaki Frontale players Urawa Red Diamonds players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Al Sadd SC players Qatar Stars League players Ligue 1 players Stade Rennais FC players CR Flamengo footballers UAE Pro League players Al Ain FC players Fluminense FC players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players J1 League players Saudi Pro League players Copa Libertadores–winning players Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Qatar men's international footballers Qatari men's footballers Qatari expatriate sportspeople in Japan Qatari expatriate sportspeople in France Naturalised association football players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian men's footballers Naturalized citizens of Qatar Footballers from Nova Iguaçu Qatari expatriate men's footballers Qatari people of Brazilian descent Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates