Julio Cesar


Cesar
Personal Information
Full Name:Júlio César Soares de Espíndola
Date of Birth:September 3, 1979
Place of Birth:Duque de Caxias, Brazil
Height:1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing Position:Goalkeeper
Club information:
Current club:Internazionale
Number:12
Youth career:Grajau CC
Senior Club
YearsClubApp (Gls)
1998-2004Flamengo0129 (1)
2005-Internazionale0113 (0)
2005→ Chievo Verona (loan)000 (0)
National Team
2004-Brazil026 (0)


1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 7 June 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 14 September 2008.

He is commonly known as Júlio César, and is a Brazilian footballer who plays goalkeeper for F.C. Internazionale Milano.

Club career

He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and played for the local team Flamengo for 6 years. He started playing indoor football at Grajau Country Club, a local club situated in Grajau (a suburb in Rio de Janeiro), where he spent most of his childhood. He was snapped up by Internazionale and then promptly loaned to Chievo Verona for the 2004-05 season due to the fact that Inter had reached their limit of non-EU players allowed on the roster. In his six months with Chievo, Júlio César did not make a single appearance for them.

Internazionale Milano

In August 2005, he formally joined Internazionale after signing a 3-year-deal. He replaced Francesco Toldo as first choice goalkeeper for a series of summer friendlies and turned in a series of impressive performances, cementing his starting position between the posts for the season. He has been in impressive form in F.C. Internazionale Milano`s recent rise to the top of Italian football and has been first choice for them for the last two and a half seasons. He has kept his excellent form for the 2007/08 season , making very crucial saves and even helping his team get all 3 points against Empoli by saving a penalty in the dying minutes of the game on the 3rd of February. The game ended 1-0 for Inter and left them 8 points clear of nearest challengers, A.S. Roma.

International career

Júlio César has been capped 24 times for Brazil, and won the 2004 Copa América. He was called up as the second-choice goalkeeper for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Since 2007 he has established himself as first-choice goalkeeper for Brazil ahead of Roma's Doni and Dida of AC Milan. This is as a result of Dida retiring from the Brazilian squad. Since becoming first choice for Brazil, he has gone on to set the longest consecutive clean sheet record for Brazil, at over 10 hours sequentially.

Honours