Marcos Tavares

Marcos Magno Morales Tavares (born 30 March 1984) is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Maribor as a striker. He was also part of the Brazilian youth national teams. He gained Slovenian citizenship on 16 September 2013. Tavares is Maribor's all-time most capped player and top goalscorer. He is also the all-time top goalscorer of Slovenian PrvaLiga with 150 goals.

Club Career

Tavares has maintained that he was unable to manage the conflict between professional and personal life during his teenage years, and that his excessive partying, drinking and overall lack of discipline contributed to his failure to succeed in Brazil. At the age of 19 he went to Malaysia in desire for quick implementation. In the 2004 season, he played for Kedah in the Malaysian Super League, where he scored eleven league goals. When the season ended, Tavares returned to Brazil, where he played for Clube Atletico Paranaense. After that, he once again continued his career in Kedah, where he was the team's top goalscorer in the 2005–06 Malaysia Premier League with twelve goals.

After one season with Kedah, he was noticed by Roberto de Assis Moreira, who took him to Gremio and later to Porto Alegre Futebol Clube.

In 2007, Tavares moved to Europe as he signed for Cypriot side APOEL. He scored four goals in the Cypriot Cup, but in the Cypriot League he played only five matches without scoring any goals. Because he didn't perform as the club expected, Tavares was released from APOEL in January 2008.

Maribor

While playing for APOEL, Tavares met Nilton Fernandes, who introduced him to Zlatko Zahovic, the director of football at the Slovenian football team Maribor. He signed a contract with Maribor in January 2008.

Tavares soon established himself in the team and among the fans. In the next season, he was entitled Slovenian champion with Maribor. He was the top scorer for Maribor and second in the Slovenian PrvaLiga with 15 goals, and was named the best player in the Slovenian PrvaLig

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