Early career Xavier debuted in the
Portuguese top division with
Estrela da Amadora. His play there earned him a transfer to
Lisbon club
Benfica. He helped Benfica win the Portuguese league in 1994, and a season after, he moved to
Serie A side
Bari. This stint with the Italian club started a series of transfers across Europe: in 1996, Xavier was sent to
Real Oviedo, then after two seasons he moved to
PSV.
Everton and Liverpool Xavier joined English
Premier League club
Everton in September 1999 on a £1.5 million transfer deal. He was sold to Everton's
Merseyside rivals
Liverpool on 30 January 2002 for £800,000. He was signed to bolster Liverpool's defence following
Markus Babbel's absence through illness. Xavier scored on his Liverpool debut against
Ipswich Town. He also scored against
Bayer Leverkusen in the
UEFA Champions League. Liverpool ended the
2001–02 FA Premier League season as runners-up to
Arsenal. Xavier started the first four league games of the
2002–03 FA Premier League season but later argued with Liverpool manager
Gérard Houllier and did not feature in any of the remaining games, though he did play in a League Cup tie against Ipswich in December. On 29 January 2003, he was loaned to Turkish side
Galatasaray for the remainder of the season, with an option of a permanent move in the summer. Galatasaray did not take up the option to sign Xavier, who subsequently played for
Hannover 96 (2003–04) and
Roma in 2004–05.
Middlesbrough At the start of the 2005–06 season, Xavier was without a club but at the end of August, he signed for
Middlesbrough to replace
Michael Reiziger after the Dutchman was sold to PSV. Following the
UEFA Cup tie against
Skoda Xanthi on 29 September, Xavier was administered a drugs test and failed. On 23 November 2005, he was found guilty of using the
anabolic steroid methandrostenolone (also known as
dianabol), and banned from professional football for 18 months. He said that the substance came from anti-virus medicine that he had imported from the United States. The suspension caused him to miss Middlesbrough's run to the
2006 UEFA Cup final. Xavier remained employed by the club and unsuccessfully appealed the decision; in January 2006 he said that he would take UEFA to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport. Xavier's ban was shortened to 12 months in June 2006, making him eligible to play again from November 2006. In the summer of 2006, he began training again with Middlesbrough, and on 8 November 2006, was offered a contract with the club for the remainder of the
2006–07 season. He scored his first Boro goal on 20 January 2007 in a 5–1 win against
Bolton Wanderers at the
Riverside Stadium.
LA Galaxy On 14 May 2007, it was announced that Xavier was to join the
LA Galaxy of
Major League Soccer (MLS). He played in his first game with the Galaxy on 17 June 2007 at home against
Real Salt Lake, setting up fellow new signing
Edson Buddle in a 3–2 win. Xavier was waived by Los Angeles on 18 July 2008. Later, in an interview to an online football site, Xavier criticised Galaxy manager
Ruud Gullit and the league itself. In December 2009, Xavier quit professional football. ==International career==