Neném

Carlos Alberto Lisboa (born 5 February 1973), better known as Neném, is a retired Brazilian beach soccer player who played as a forward. He was a mainstay of the Brazil national team from 1994 until 2005. Injury forced him into retirement in 2009.

He is considered one of the greatest players to ever grace the sport; in 2019, the magazine France Football (who award the Ballon d'Or in association football) placed Neném second in an article named "10 Legends of Beach Soccer". He is also the all-time top scorer of the Brazil national team, with 337 goals. He is the second player with the most Beach Soccer World Championship titles with 9, only behind fellow Brazilian defender Júnior Negão.

Career Playing career In 1994, aged 21 and trying to make a career as an association football forward, Neném accepted an invite from Júnior and Edinho to join them and other veteran players as part of the newly formed Brazil national beach soccer team. He debuted at the Copa America tournament in December. Meanwhile, he also maintained his dream of having a successful football career. He had spells at Fluminense, Marcílio Dias, Figueirense, Cruzeiro and CFZ do Rio. But most notably, aged 25, Neném signed for French club Lille OSC in January 1999, stepping aside from Brazil's beach soccer squad. After only a handful of appearances in Ligue 2 and the Coupe de France and without scoring in any, Neném failed to fit into the team's system and quickly returned to Brazil in the summer. Soon after, Neném decided to end his footballing pursuits and instead dedicate himself entirely to beach soccer.

Exclusion from the Brazil squad Brazil's failure at the 2005 World Cup lead to suggestions that the bulk of the squad was now too old, with Neném aged 33 heading into the next World Cup. Alexandre Soares became Brazil's new manager in the summer of 2005 and ushered in radical changes to the squad, shunning longstanding squad members such as Jorginho, Robertinho, Juninho and Neném himself. This was in spite of Neném's reputation of being Brazil's all-time top goalscorer which had earned him the nickname, "rei da praia" (king of the beach). Soares justified his decisions in claiming that team cohesion was more important than individual brilliance; others, including Neném, cited off-field political strife involving relations between the players and the then governing body for the sport in Brazil. His exclusion was met with fury by fans during Brazil's opening game of the tournament against Poland, who chanted "where's Neném, where's Neném!?", something which was repeated throughout Brazil's campaign. Some fans also hurled abuse at Soares on the touchline.

The likes of Jorginho were particularly angry, dumbfounded and outspoken regarding Soares' decision to exclude them; During this time he also oversaw the team at the 2007 World Cup. Meanwhile, he continued to play club beach soccer, including in Japan,

In 2009, whilst playing in the Brazilian National (club) Championship, Neném suffered a knee injury. He managed the team until 2018,

He has been compared to the likes of Garrincha He is the father of three children – two sons, Kayke (b. 1993) and Caio (b. 1995), and one daughter, Kyra Carol (b. 2001).

Honours The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours Neném achieved:

Country Beach Soccer World Championships Winner (8): 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 Mundialito Winner (6): 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 Copa Latina Winner (4): 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004

Individual FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2): Silver Ball: 2005 Silver Shoe: 2005 Beach Soccer World Championships (3): Top scorer: 2002, 2003 Best player: 2002 Mundialito (6): Top scorer: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004 Best player: 1997 Copa Latina (3): Top scorer: 1998, 2004 Best player: 1998