Afonso Alves

Alves shortly emerged as a fan favorite, however he suffered a ligament injury in his left knee in December which kept him out of action for eight months. While recovering, he stated "Offers may’ve come to me during the transfer period, but I never bothered to listen to them and left them all to my agent. While recuperating from surgery, I remained in touch with coach Paulo (Autuori) and the club management, and kept them updated on my progress." He rejoined Al-Rayyan as their top striker and started the 2011–12 season in Al-Rayyan's starting eleven.

Having been a free agent for over two seasons, Alves announced his retirement from professional football on his Instagram page on 5 October 2015. Alves had been training with the youth team of his former club Heerenveen the days before his decision to retire.

He made his debut on 9 February, against Fulham as a second-half substitute for Lee Dong-gook. His first Middlesbrough start came on 27 February in an FA Cup home tie against Sheffield United, when he was substituted in the 73 minute. Middlesbrough eventually won the game 1–0.

His first two goals for Middlesbrough came at the Riverside Stadium on 6 April against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw. He finished his first season in England with a hat-trick in an 8–1 home victory against Manchester City.

On 11 September 2012, he signed a one–year deal with QSL club Al Gharafa as their fourth professional player.

On 31 January 2010, Alves was loaned to the Qatari seven-time league champion Al-Rayyan SC, coached by the Brazilian coach Paulo Autuori. Alves scored 18 goals on his loan spell, 9 of them in seven matches of the AFC Cup, and seven goals in seven league matches. He officially moved to Al-Rayyan in May 2010.

Alves officially moved to Al-Rayyan SC for a further two years after winning the 2010 Emir of Qatar Cup with Al Rayyan on 15 May 2010.

On 4 September 2009 Alves moved to Al-Sadd on a three-year deal for £7 million. He scored 2 goals in 12 league matches, and scored one goal in the Qatari Stars Cup after three games. Alves then accepted a loan bid from another Qatari League club, Al-Rayyan SC.

In the January transfer window of the 2007–08 season he moved to Premier League side Middlesbrough on 31 January 2008. Alves' transfer fee was said to have been €20 million, on a four and a half year contract.

Alves' first goal of the 2008–09 season came on 30 August, where he scored a 25-yard free-kick which flew into the top corner of the Stoke City net. He then scored goals against Blackburn Rovers and a penalty against Manchester City, two against Barrow and one against local rivals Sunderland with a goal from 18 yards out. However, Alves could not find the form which led to his record move, and with a haul of just four league goals the season turned out to be a disappointing one for both him and Middlesbrough, who were relegated to the Championship.

He was capped eight times for the Brazilian national team in 2007, managing to score a single goal for his representative country during this spell.

On 7 October 2007, in only his second appearance of the season, Alves scored seven goals in his side's 9–0 victory over Eredivisie rivals Heracles Almelo, setting a new Eredivisie record for most goals scored in a single match. Heerenveen's manager (Gertjan Verbeek) had already made three substitutions yet chose to take Alves off the pitch in the 89th minute to pay tribute to his fantastic performance.

On 17 May 2007, Alves received his first call-up for the Brazilian national team for friendlies against England and Turkey. On 1 June, in the game against England, Alves was brought on to replace Kaká after 71 minutes of play and very nearly scored after a Wes Brown slip. He was also part of the Brazilian squad which won the 2007 Copa América in Venezuela. Alves scored his first international goal on 12 September 2007 against Mexico in a 3–1 win.

In Summer 2006, he moved to the Dutch club SC Heerenveen of the Eredivisie for €4.5 million, which remains their highest-ever transfer fee paid.

Alves started his career with Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro. In 2002, he left Atlético Mineiro for the Swedish club Örgryte from Gothenburg. In 2004, he moved to Malmö FF, where he won the Swedish League that year. He stayed for the 2005 season, scoring 14 in 24 games, becoming the club's top-scorer for the second year running when Malmö finished fifth. Alves was at Malmö for the start of the 2006 season, and scored three goals in seven matches.

Alves left Brazil as a 21-year-old in 2002 to move to Sweden. He has a son, Felipe Henrique, who is a footballer at Atletico Mineiro's Tupinambas Academy, and lives with Alves' former girlfriend in Brazil.

In his first season, he finished as top goalscorer of the Eredivisie with 34 goals (in 31 games), which is a club record. Alves is the third Brazilian to become topscorer in the Dutch first division, joining former PSV strikers Romário and Ronaldo, and the second Brazilian who scored over 30 goals in the same competition, with Ronaldo netting 30 in the 1994–95 season. Other than finishing first in the scorers table, he was runner-up in the race for the European Golden Boot, a single point behind Roma forward Francesco Totti.

Afonso Alves Martins Júnior (born 30 January 1981), known professionally as Afonso Alves, is a Brazilian former professional footballer, who played as a striker for Atlético Mineiro, Örgryte, Malmö FF, Heerenveen, Middlesbrough, Al-Sadd, on loan and then permanently at Al-Rayyan and concluding his career at Al-Gharafa.

Alves was born on 30 January 1981, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil's third biggest city. He was brought up by his mother, Dona Eliade, and has a brother, Alexsander, and sister, Alexandra. His father died when he was nine years old.