Mickaël Zidro Tavares (born 25 October 1982) 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Born in France, he made eleven appearances for the Senegal national team from 2009 to 2011.

Career

Club career

Born in

Villeneuve-Saint-Georges Villeneuve-Saint-Georges () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. People from Villeneuve-Saint-Georges are called ''Villeneuvois'' in French. Hi ...

, France, Tavares began his career at

US Créteil US or Us most often refers to: * ''Us'' (pronoun), the objective case of the English first-person plural pronoun ''we'' * US, an abbreviation for the United States US, U.S., Us, us, or u.s. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Albums * ...

, and moved in 2000 to Portuguese club

FC Alverca Futebol Clube de Alverca is a Portuguese football club based in Alverca do Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2. History F.C. Alverca was founded on 1 September 1939. After many decades in the lower levels of ...

. After two years, he returned to France and signed a contract with SC Abbeville, for whom he scored 9 goals in 26 games in the 2002–03 season, following which he moved to

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes, commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Naunnt''), is a French professional association football, football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 Ap ...

, where he played in the reserve team. In 2005, he joined

FC Tours Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), was a football club based in Tours, France. Formed in 1919, the club adopted the name Tours FC in 1951 after several other name changes. The club was dissolved on 26 February 2025 du ...

, who were promoted a year later to the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

. In July 2007, he was on trial at

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...

, and signed a contract with the club after one week in the Czech Republic. He signed a two-year contract in Prague with the option of one more, before moving to

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

on 30 January 2009. He made his debut on 22 February 2009 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 ...

. On 24 January 2010, Tavares was loaned to 1. FC Nürnberg until the end of the season. In August 2010, Tavares was assigned to train with Hamburg's second team and told he has no future in the first team. On 27 August 2010, Tavares joined

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

club

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 ...

on loan until July 2011. However, despite playing under Gordon Strachan, Tony Mowbray did not appear to rate Tavares. This limited him to just 13 appearances, his last coming in the 90th minute against Sheffield United, 4 months after his penultimate appearance. In September 2012 he was close to sign with Bulgarian side Chernomorets Burgas. Tavares2012

On 5 October 2012, Tavares signed on a free transfer for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. He was given the number 25 shirt, previously worn by

Bobby Zamora Robert Lester Zamora (born 16 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. Zamora began his career at Barking Abbey School. Then he moved to Football League club Bristol Rovers, but was soon signed by Brig ...

. On 4 January 2013,

Martin Jol Maarten Cornelis "Martin" Jol (born 16 January 1956) is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. He played over 400 games during his career which included spells in the Netherlands, Germany and England, as well as earning three caps wi ...

confirmed that Tavares was not offered a new contract and had left the club. He made no appearances for Fulham. On 25 August 2013, it was announced that Tavares would sign an amateur contract with Dutch side

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

. After releasing for free from Waalvijk he signed a new deal with Czech first league club

FK Mladá Boleslav FK Mladá Boleslav is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Mladá Boleslav. Since 2004, the club has been participating in the Czech First League. In the Czech First League, Mladá Boleslav were runners up in 2005–06 and o ...

. In January 2015 he left Mladá Boleslav and signed with Australian club

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

. On 18 April 2016, Tavares was released by Sydney FC and shortly after signed with the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

, where he would reunite with cousin

Jacques Faty Jacques Faty (born 25 February 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Born in France, he represented Senegal at international level. Club career Rennes Born in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Val-de-Marne, Fat ...

for the 2016–17 A-League season.

International career

He received a call-up from

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 ...

in May 2008 against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

in preparation for the

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

, but Tavares did not play in the match. He played for Senegal National Team, receiving his first cap in 2009.

Personal life

Tavares is the son of Tony Tavares nicknamed ''Zagallo'', a Senegalese international from

ASC Diaraf Association Sportive et Culturelle Jaraaf is a Senegalese professional football club based in Dakar. They play in the top division in Senegalese football. Their home stadium is Stade de Diaraf. ASC Jaraaf is the most popular club in Senegal. The ...

and ASF Police, and also the cousin of

and

Ricardo Faty Ricardo William Faty (born 4 August 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in France, he played for the Senegal national team. Career Faty was born in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France. His football career ...

. Tavares has a wife and a three-year-old daughter, Ciara. Tavares can speak Portuguese, having picked up the language during his time playing in Portugal with F.C. Alverca.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tavares, Mickael 1982 births Living people Footballers from Villeneuve-Saint-Georges Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Senegalese people of French descent Senegalese people of Cape Verdean descent Senegalese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers Senegal men's international footballers Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Czech First League players Bundesliga players English Football League players Ligue 2 players Eredivisie players A-League Men players US Créteil-Lusitanos players F.C. Alverca players SC Abbeville players FC Nantes players Tours FC players SK Slavia Prague players Hamburger SV players 1. FC Nürnberg players Middlesbrough F.C. players Fulham F.C. players RKC Waalwijk players FK Mladá Boleslav players Sydney FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players US Sénart-Moissy players Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in England French people of Cape Verdean descent 21st-century French sportsmen 21st-century Senegalese sportsmen