Early career Heerenveen In Summer 2006, he moved to the Dutch club
SC Heerenveen of the
Eredivisie for €4.5 million, which remains their highest-ever transfer fee paid. In his first season, he finished as top goalscorer of the
Eredivisie with 34 goals (in 31 games), which is a club record. Alves is the third Brazilian to become topscorer in the Dutch first division, joining former
PSV strikers
Romário and
Ronaldo, and the second Brazilian who scored over 30 goals in the same competition, with Ronaldo netting 30 in the 1994–95 season. Other than finishing first in the scorers table, he was runner-up in the race for the
European Golden Boot, a single point behind
Roma forward
Francesco Totti. On 7 October 2007, in only his second appearance of the season, Alves scored seven goals in his side's 9–0 victory over
Heracles Almelo, setting a new
Eredivisie record for most goals scored in a single match. Heerenveen's manager (
Gertjan Verbeek) had already made three substitutions yet chose to take Alves off the pitch in the 89th minute to pay tribute to his fantastic performance.
Middlesbrough In the January transfer window of the 2007–08 season he moved to
Premier League side
Middlesbrough on 31 January 2008. Alves' transfer fee was said to have been €12 million, on a four-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut on 9 February, against
Fulham as a second-half substitute for
Lee Dong-Gook. His first Middlesbrough start came on 27 February in an
FA Cup home tie against
Sheffield United, when he was substituted in the 73 minute. Middlesbrough eventually won the game 1–0. His first two goals for Middlesbrough came at the
Riverside Stadium on 6 April against
Manchester United in a 2–2 draw. He finished his first season in England with a hat-trick in an 8–1 home victory against
Manchester City. Alves' first goal of the 2008–09 season came on 30 August, where he scored a 25-yard free-kick which flew into the top corner of the
Stoke City net. He then scored goals against Blackburn Rovers and a penalty against Manchester City, two against Barrow and one against local rivals
Sunderland with a goal from 18 yards out. However, Alves could not find steady form which led to his record move, and with a haul of just four league goals the season turned out to be a disappointing one for both him and Middlesbrough, who were relegated to the Championship.
Al-Sadd On 4 September 2009, Alves moved to Al-Sadd on a three-year deal for £7 million. He scored 2 goals in 12 league matches, and scored one goal in the
Qatari Stars Cup after three games. Alves then accepted a loan bid from another
Qatari League club,
Al-Rayyan SC.
Al-Rayyan On 31 January 2010, Alves was loaned to the Qatari seven-time league champion
Al-Rayyan SC, coached by the Brazilian coach
Paulo Autuori. Alves scored 18 goals on his loan spell, 9 of them in seven matches of the
AFC Cup, and seven goals in seven league matches. He officially moved to Al-Rayyan in May 2010. Alves officially moved to
Al-Rayyan SC for a further two years after winning the
2010 Emir of Qatar Cup with Al Rayyan on 15 May 2010. Alves shortly emerged as a fan favorite, however he suffered a ligament injury in his left knee in December which kept him out of action for eight months. While recovering, he stated: He rejoined Al-Rayyan as their top striker and started the
2011–12 season in Al-Rayyan's starting eleven.
Al Gharafa and retirement On 11 September 2012, he signed a one–year deal with
QSL club
Al Gharafa as their fourth professional player. Having been a free agent for over two seasons, Alves announced his retirement from professional football on his Instagram page on 5 October 2015. Alves had been training with the youth team of his former club Heerenveen the days before his decision to retire. ==International career==