Deco is considered one of the heavyweights of FC Barcelona and one of a small number of players who has won the Champions League with two different clubs.
In fact when he won the UEFA Best Midfielder award for his performance in the 2005-6 Champions League he was the first player to have won the award twice, having won it first with Porto.
In his career Deco has won the 2006 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, the 2003-4 UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player, the 2004 Portuguese Footballer of the Year and the 2006 South American Sportsman of the Year.
Anderson Luis de Souza was born in Sao Bernardo, Brazil on 27th August 1977. His early professional career got off to a shaky start when he was playing for Corinthians, who didn't consider him good enough and he moved to Benfica in Portugal.
From there he moved to FC Alverca for a season where he performed well and almost renewed his contact with Benfica. However they failed to reach agreement and instead moved to S.C. Salgueiros in for the 1998-99 season, where he scored two goals in 12 matches. His performances were noticed by FC Porto staff, where he moved during the winter transfer window.
After assuming Portuguese nationality in 2002 after living there for 6 years, Deco was called up to play for the national squad; his first match for Portugal was against Brazil in which Deco scored. It was also Portugal's first win over Brazil in 37 years.
When Deco was on the verge of moving to Chelsea in 2004, a deal that was assumed to be concluded, Deco surprised everyone by announcing that he'd prefer to move to Barcelona. After intense negotiations he signed a four year deal with the Catalan club in July of that year.
When joining FC Barcelona he was felt by many to be surplus requirements as he was an attacking midfielder. However, when he was played in central midfield he strengths came out and he has been a popular member of the squad ever since.
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