França (footballer, born 1976)

França was born in Codó, Maranhão. After his senior beginnings with lowly Nacional Futebol Clube and Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Jaú), he moved in 1996 to national powerhouse São Paulo FC, where he proceeded to net eight goals overall in his debut year – even though he did not start regularly – and 182 goals in 323 games during his six-year stay (fourth all-time at the time of his departure); in 1998 and 2000, as the club won the Campeonato Paulista, the player was crowned the league's best scorer, respectively at 12 and 18.

In the 2002 summer, França signed with Bayer 04 Leverkusen from Germany as the team sought replacements for aging Ulf Kirsten (37). In his debut season in the Bundesliga he appeared scarcely, barred by Dimitar Berbatov and Oliver Neuville, netting only once, in his league debut in a 2–4 home loss against VfL Bochum;^[1]

In 2003–04, although the pair remained at the BayArena, França received much more playing time, and finished just two goals short of the Bulgarian (14 to 16, in as many matches), adding to this a league-best 13 assists. Additionally, Neuville left the following summer.

França moved to Japan subsequently, joining Kashiwa Reysol,^[2] experiencing one relegation and one promotion in his first two years and leaving the club in 2010, aged 34.

França collected eight caps for Brazil during two years, but was never selected to any major tournament. He scored once for the national team; his only goal coming in a friendly against England in May 2000.^[3]

Club

More information Club, Season ...

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			State League		National cup		League cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
São Paulo	1996[citation needed]	Série A	8	1	18	8	2	0	–		6[a]	0	34	9
	1997[citation needed]		15	3	2	2	3	0	22[b]	2	3[c]	2	45	9
	1998[citation needed]		22	7	9	12	4	1	11[b]	1	6[d]	2	52	23
	1999[citation needed]		22	12	3	5	3	2	1[e]	1	6[d]	4	35	24
	2000[citation needed]		16	8	11	18	9	5	3[b]	5	–		54	40
	2001[citation needed]		25	13	10	10	6	8	12[f]	11	6[d]	3	65	45
	2002[citation needed]		–		–		7	5	11[b]	19	–		18	24
	Total		108	44	53	55	34	21	60	39	27	11	282	174
Bayer Leverkusen	2002–03[4]	Bundesliga	16	1	–		4	2	1	0	8[g]	2	29	5
	2003–04[4]		33	14	–		2	0	–		–		35	14
	2004–05[4]		22	6	–		1	2	2	0	7[g]	6	32	14
	2005–06[4]		–		–		–		1	0	–		1	0
	Total		71	21	0	0	7	4	4	0	15	8	97	33
Kashiwa Reysol	2005[citation needed]	J1 League	3	0	–		1	0	0	0	–		4	0
	2006[citation needed]	J2 League	28	4	–		0	0	–		–		28	4
	2007[citation needed]	J1 League	25	8	–		0	0	1	0	–		26	8
	2008[citation needed]		19	4	–		4	2	2	1	–		25	7
	2009[citation needed]		23	10	–		1	0	1	0	–		25	10
	2010[citation needed]	J2 League	4	3	–		–		–		–		4	3
	Total		102	29	0	0	6	2	4	1	0	0	112	32
Career total			281	94	53	55	47	27	68	40	42	19	491	235

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1. [a]

   Appearances in Copa de Oro, Copa Master de CONMEBOL, and Supercopa Libertadores
2. [b]

   Appearances in Torneio Rio – São Paulo
3. [c]

   Appearances in Supercopa Libertadores
4. [d]

   Appearances in Copa Mercosur
5. [e]

   Appearance in pt:Seletiva para a Libertadores
6. [f]

   Six appearances and five goals in Copa dos Campeões, six appearances and six goals in Torneio Rio – São Paulo
7. [g]

   Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

More information National team, Year ...

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Brazil	2000	6	1
	2001	0	0
	2002	2	0
Total		8	1

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São Paulo

• Campeonato Paulista: 1998, 2000^{[citation needed]}
• Torneio Rio – São Paulo: 2001^{[citation needed]}
• Copa Master de CONMEBOL: 1996

Kashiwa Reysol

• J.League Division 2: 2010^{[citation needed]}