Diego

Diego Ribas da Cunha (born 28 February 1985), commonly known as just Diego or Diego Ribas, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and captains Brazilian club Flamengo.

Diego began his career at Santos, where he won two Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A titles before moving to Porto in 2004. Despite winning further trophies in Portugal, his personal form dropped. After two seasons, he moved for €6 million to Werder Bremen where his form improved, winning domestic honours and helping them to the 2009 UEFA Cup Final. He also won honours at Atletico Madrid, including the UEFA Europa League in 2012. Since 2016, he has played for Brazilian club Flamengo, with whom he has won the Copa Libertadores among other domestic and international honours.

A full international for Brazil since 2003, Diego earned 34 caps and scored four international goals. He was part of the Brazilian squads which finished as runners-up at the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup, won the Copa America in 2004 and 2007, and earned a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics.

Club Career

Santos

At age six, Diego started to show his talent when training with Comercial FC in Ribeirao Preto. After joining another team, Sao Carlos, when he was nine, Diego decided to take trials in the hope of impressing a bigger club. Diego was first signed by the Sao Paulo team Santos at the age of 12. He developed while in the Santos youth system, making his first team debut at the age of 16 in the Rio-Sao Paulo Championship in 2002 and in the same year won the domestic Campeonato Brasileiro championship. He, Robinho, Elano and Alex were known as a famous group when they played for Santos.

Porto

Diego was then signed by Primeira Liga club Porto in July 2004 as a replacement and the potential successor for Deco, but he could not produce the same calibre of performances as he did at Santos.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Диего (russian)