Bahia Alves made his professional debut for
Bahia in a match against
Paraná Clube for the
2001 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Bahia won 3–0, with Alves providing two assists and winning a penalty for the other goal. Head coach
Evaristo de Macedo thereafter gave him a starting place in the team. In Bahia, he won the 2002 Copa do Nordeste. His consistently good performances landed him a transfer, at first on loan, to Spanish side
Sevilla, midway through 2002.
Sevilla After
2002–03, on loan to Sevilla from Bahia, Alves travelled to play in the
2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he impressed as Brazil won the tournament. He was named the third-best player of the tournament and, after this, the Sevilla move was made permanent. In June 2006, Sevilla agreed to sell Alves to
Liverpool, but Liverpool were unable to match Sevilla's asking price of around £8 million. In December 2006, he signed a new contract with Sevilla, tying him to the club until 2012. He had a successful
2006–07 season, making 47 appearances and scoring 5 goals. He played in every one of Sevilla's
UEFA Cup matches, in a competition which the club went on to win. From his years in Spain, Alves acquired Spanish citizenship, thus allowing him to bypass any non-EU quota restrictions and exempting him from needing a
work permit to play in any EU countries. On 1 August 2007, Alves told
SporTV he wanted to leave Sevilla for a European giant, later reiterating his desire to leave Sevilla to
Marca, saying he was flattered by
Chelsea's interest and that he could never turn down such an opportunity. In an interview with
Antena 3 on 8 August, Alves confirmed his agent had been in England for some time handling Chelsea's offer, urging Sevilla to at least consider the offer. On 16 August 2007, Sevilla rejected an unspecified Chelsea bid and, six days later, rejected another two bids from Chelsea, considering them to be "way below what was expected". Alves later revealed his dismay with Sevilla club president José María del Nido for having knocked back Chelsea's offers for his services after his move to
Stamford Bridge collapsed, with Chelsea signing fellow Brazilian full back
Juliano Belletti for a much lower fee. After a public war of words between Alves and Del Nido, as well as the death of teammate
Antonio Puerta, Alves decided to stay with Sevilla, with player and president ostensibly reconciled.
Barcelona in the
2008-09 UEFA Champions League|alt=|195x195px On 2 July 2008, Alves joined
Barcelona, leaving Sevilla in tears and saying he would love to play for the club again. He said he came to Sevilla as a boy and was leaving as a man. The official price of the transfer stood at £23 million up-front, with approximately £7 million more depending on a number of performance-related factors over the next few seasons of Alves' Barcelona career, making him one of the most expensive defenders in history and the third-most expensive player bought by
Barça. He signed a four-year contract with Barcelona, which included a buy-out clause of €90 million. Alves made his competitive and European debuts for Barcelona against
Wisła Kraków in the
2008–09 UEFA Champions League third-round qualifiers on 13 August 2008. He made his La Liga debut in the
Liga season-opener away to
Numancia on 31 August 2008. Later on in his debut season, he missed the
2009 UEFA Champions League Final due to a yellow-card suspension, although Barcelona nonetheless defeated
Manchester United 2–0 to complete the
treble after also winning La Liga and the
2008–09 Copa del Rey. In his
second season at
Barça, the club retained the
Liga title and won the
2009 FIFA Club World Cup. In the
2010–11 season, Alves was instrumental in Barcelona's winning of their third consecutive
Liga title. On 28 May 2011, Alves played in his first
Champions League final as Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3–1 at
Wembley Stadium to win its fourth
European Cup. In
2011–12, Alves was part of a Barcelona team that won the
Copa del Rey and the
Club World Cup. In
2012–13, Alves won the
Liga title for the fourth time in his five seasons at
Barça. In
2013–14, Alves wore shirt number 22, formerly worn by his friend
Eric Abidal, to whom he offered to donate part of his liver during Abidal's treatment for liver cancer.
Banana incident On 27 April 2014, during a match at
Villarreal's stadium,
El Madrigal, Alves was targeted by a Villarreal supporter, who
threw a banana at him as a gesture of
racial abuse. Alves picked up the banana, peeled it and took a bite. He responded to the incident by saying: "We have suffered this in Spain for some time. You have to take it with a dose of humour. We aren't going to change things easily. If you don't give it importance, they don't achieve their objective." Teammate
Neymar's response – to post a photograph of himself on social media also eating a banana – went viral. Other footballers have also since taken photographs of themselves eating bananas.
Cyrille Regis, who had been racially abused while a player in the 1970s and 1980s, expressed concern that the viral campaign would detract from the important issues of combating racism in the game. Alves said that whoever threw the banana at him should be publicly shamed, and on 30 April 2014, a man was arrested in connection with the incident. Villarreal were later fined €12,000 for the incident.
Third Champions League title On 6 June 2015, Alves started for
Barça in the
2015 Champions League final as the club won its fifth European Cup by beating
Juventus at the
Olympiastadion in
Berlin. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Alves,
Lionel Messi,
Andrés Iniesta,
Xavi,
Gerard Piqué,
Pedro and
Sergio Busquets are the only players to have been a part of both treble-winning teams.
Final season After Barcelona were eliminated by compatriots
Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals of the
2015–16 UEFA Champions League, Alves recorded a "bizarre" video in which he impersonated his wife consoling him for the defeat, and posted it on
Instagram; manager
Luis Enrique subsequently dropped him from the following match against
Valencia. On 2 June 2016,
Roberto Fernández, Barcelona's technical secretary, announced Alves was leaving Barcelona that summer after eight years. Although under contract until 30 June 2017, Alves contract had a clause allowing him to leave as a free agent.
Juventus On 27 June 2016, Juventus announced the signing of Alves on a two-year deal with the option of a third year. He made his Juventus debut on 20 August in a 2–1 home win over
Fiorentina in
Serie A. On 21 September, Alves scored his first goal with Juventus in a 4–0 home win over
Cagliari, before opening his Champions League account with the club against
Dinamo Zagreb six days later. On 27 November, he suffered a broken leg in Juventus' 3–1 defeat to
Genoa. Alves made his return from injury as a substitute in a 1–0 ''
Derby d'Italia'' win over
Internazionale on 5 February 2017. On 9 May 2017, Alves scored once and assisted a goal for
Mario Mandžukić as Juventus defeated
Monaco 2–1 to qualify for the
2017 Champions League final. Six days earlier, Alves had assisted both goals for
Gonzalo Higuaín in the first leg of the tie at the
Stade Louis II. On 17 May, Alves scored the opening goal of a 2–0 win over
Lazio in the
2017 Coppa Italia Final. On 3 June, Alves appeared in his third
UEFA Champions League final as Juventus were defeated 4–1 by
Real Madrid at the
Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff. On 29 June 2017, Alves had his contract with Juventus terminated by mutual consent. He made 33 appearances, winning the 2016–17 Serie A title and
2016–17 Coppa Italia in his one season in
Turin.
Paris Saint-Germain On 12 July 2017, Alves joined French side
Paris Saint-Germain on a
free transfer, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut for the club on 29 July in the
2017 Trophée des Champions, scoring once and assisting the winning goal for
Adrien Rabiot in a 2–1 victory over
2016–17 Ligue 1 champions Monaco. On 5 August, Alves assisted
Edinson Cavani for PSG's first goal of the
2017–18 Ligue 1 season in a 2–0 win over
Amiens at the
Parc des Princes. On 8 May 2018, he started in the
2018 Coupe de France Final, as PSG defeated
Les Herbiers VF 2–0 to clinch the
2017–18 Coupe de France title; he came off in the 86th minute for
Thomas Meunier, after sustaining an injury. On 28 August 2018, Alves announced through a post on his Instagram page changing his squad number from 32 to 13 in tribute to Brazilian legend and four-time
World Cup winner
Mário Zagallo. After his contract with the club expired on 30 June 2019, Alves became a free agent.
São Paulo On 1 August 2019,
São Paulo announced the signing of Dani Alves on a contract that runs until December 2022. A lifelong supporter of São Paulo, Alves had previously on numerous occasions declared his wish of playing for the club. He was received at the Morumbi stadium, in front of 44,000 fans. Idols of the club's recent history, such as
Hernanes,
Kaká and
Luís Fabiano were responsible for welcoming him. Starting his journey in São Paulo FC at Morumbi stadium, Alves commented: Alves received the
number 10 shirt upon his arrival. He made his debut on 18 August 2019, scoring the only goal in a 1–0
league win over
Ceará at the
Morumbi. Despite being a right-back throughout his career, he generally played in central midfield during his time at São Paulo, mainly during
Fernando Diniz's tenure between 2019 and 2021. He was also made first team captain at the time of his arrival. In 2021, new manager
Hernán Crespo made Alves return to a more defensive role, playing him as a right-sided wingback. At the same time, he gave the captain's armband to
Miranda, who was returning to the club after a decade. In May, he won his only title with the club and the 42nd of his career, the
Campeonato Paulista, which also ended São Paulo's 8-year trophyless period. On 10 September 2021, Alves' representatives communicated to São Paulo that he would no longer return to training and subsequently play for the club following a dispute over unpaid image rights. His contract was terminated six days later. São Paulo FC's footballing director Carlos Belmonte stated: Since then, São Paulo has agreed, in the same month, to pay Alves
R$400,000 monthly over the next 5 years starting from January 2022. This is being done to cover the R$18 million debt at the time of the breakup, owing to the contract agreed in 2019, who São Paulo FC were increasingly unable to pay him then.
Return to Barcelona On 12 November 2021,
Barcelona announced an agreement in principle to sign Alves on a deal until the end of the season. He only became available for the team's official matches starting January 2022. In December 2021, he made his second debut for the
Blaugrana in a friendly, honoring
Diego Maradona, match against
Boca Juniors, and made his debut in official matches for the
Blaugrana on 5 January 2022, in a
Copa del Rey 2–1 win over
Linares Deportivo. On 6 February 2022, he scored for the first time since returning, in
Barça's 4–2 home win over
Atlético Madrid in the
league; he also provided an assist for
Jordi Alba and was sent off for a foul on
Yannick Carrasco in the same match. On 15 June 2022, Alves announced via a post on his Instagram account that he would leave Barcelona for the second time, having made 408 competitive appearances for the club in total, the second most by a player from abroad, with only Lionel Messi having played more.
UNAM On 23 July 2022, Alves signed a one-year contract with
Liga MX club
UNAM. For the
2022–23 Torneo Clausura, Alves decided to change his shirt number from 33 to 77. On 20 January 2023, following his arrest for sexual assault allegation, UNAM decided to end Alves' contract with the club. == International career ==