Early years Roberto Carlos began his professional career playing for
União São João, a football club based in
Araras in the state of São Paulo. In 1992, despite playing at what was seen as a lesser club and only being 19 years old, he was called up for the
Brazil national team. In August 1992, aged 19, he joined
Atlético Mineiro on loan and went on the club's tour of Europe. The tour consisted of the B team, as the club was prioritising the first
Copa CONMEBOL in South America at the same time. The tour served as a test for many players, and those who stood out could be integrated definitively to the main group. Roberto Carlos did not participate in the first two games in Italy but played the full match against
Lleida in Spain on 27 August in a match for the
Ciutat de Lleida Trophy. He remained in the team for the next two games, held in
Logroño, against
Logroñés and
Athletic Bilbao. Before retiring from football in 2014, Roberto Carlos thanked Atlético Mineiro for the opportunity. but his
season at Inter was unsuccessful, with the club finishing seventh in
Serie A. In an interview with
FourFourTwo in a May 2005 issue, Roberto Carlos said that the then-coach of Inter,
Roy Hodgson, wanted him to play as a
winger, but Roberto Carlos wanted to play as a
left back. Roberto Carlos spoke to Inter owner
Massimo Moratti "to see if he could sort things out and it soon became clear that the only solution was to leave".
Real Madrid Roberto Carlos joined
Real Madrid in the year 1996 close season. When newly appointed manager
Fabio Capello learned that Roberto Carlos had become transferable he barely could believe it, and he asked chairman
Lorenzo Sanz to travel to Milan immediately. An agreement had been reached 24 hours later. Roberto Carlos was given the number 3 shirt and held the position as the team's first choice left-back from the
1996–97 season until the
2006–07 season. During his 11 seasons with Madrid, he appeared in 584 matches in all competitions, scoring 71 goals. In January 2006, he became Real Madrid's most
capped foreign-born player in
La Liga with 370 appearances, breaking the previous record of 329 held by
Alfredo Di Stéfano. During his Real Madrid career, Roberto Carlos was, alongside
Milan and
Italy legend
Paolo Maldini, considered the greatest left-back in the world. As a high-profile player and one of the most influential members of the team, He won four
La Liga titles with Madrid, and played in the
1998,
2000 and
2002 UEFA Champions League finals, assisting Zinedine Zidane's winning goal in 2002, considered one of the greatest goals in
Champions League history. Roberto Carlos was named as
Club Defender of the Year and included in the
UEFA Team of the Year in 2002 and 2003. In the later part of his Real Madrid career, Roberto Carlos was named as one of the club's "three
captains" alongside
Raúl and
Guti. Renowned for getting forward from his left-back position and scoring spectacular goals, in February 1998, he scored arguably his most memorable goal for Real Madrid with a
bending volley struck with the outside of his left foot from near the
sideline in a
Copa del Rey match against
Tenerife in what was described as an "impossible goal". On the final day of the
2002–03 season, with Madrid needing to beat Athletic Bilbao to overtake
Real Sociedad and win their 29th La Liga title, Roberto Carlos scored from a free-kick in the second minute of first half
stoppage time to put
los Blancos 2–1 ahead. The team eventually ran out 3–1 winners to wrap up the title. In March 2007, in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against
Bayern Munich, Roberto Carlos failed to control the backpass when Madrid kicked off, allowing Bayern's
Hasan Salihamidžić to steal the ball and feed to
Roy Makaay, who scored the quickest goal in Champions League history at 10.12 seconds. Roberto Carlos bore the brunt of criticism for that mistake which led to the team's elimination from the Champions League, and, on 9 March 2007, he announced he would leave Real Madrid upon the expiration of his contract at the end of the
2006–07 season. His final goal for Real Madrid was a stoppage time winner against
Recreativo de Huelva with three games remaining in the
2006–07 La Liga season. The goal proved to be crucial to Real Madrid winning its 30th league title as they eventually finished level on points with Barcelona, becoming champions via the
head-to-head rule. Madrid clinched La Liga in Roberto Carlos's final match, a 3–1 win over
Mallorca at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Fenerbahçe On 19 June 2007, Roberto Carlos signed a two-year contract (with one year optional) with the Turkish
Süper Lig champions
Fenerbahçe; he was presented at the club's home ground, the
Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, in front of thousands of fans. In the first official match he played with the team, Fenerbahçe won the
Turkish Super Cup against
Beşiktaş by a score of 2–1. During a league match against
Sivasspor, he scored his first goal for Fenerbahçe on 25 August 2007 from a diving header, which was only the third headed goal of his career. He was injured during the final period of the same season and missed the title race between Fenerbahçe and rivals
Galatasaray. His team eventually lost the title to their rivals, while guaranteeing a place for themselves in
Champions League knockouts for the next season. He announced that he was unhappy about the final result and would do his best to carry the domestic trophy back to the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. On 7 October 2009, Roberto Carlos announced that he would leave Fenerbahçe when his contract expired in December 2009. He offered to return to Real Madrid and play for free, though he also said return to the Brazilian domestic leagues was a possibility, and announced his departure on 25 November. He made his last appearance for Fenerbahçe on 17 December, as a late substitute against
Sheriff Tiraspol in the
UEFA Europa League.
Corinthians After 15 years away from Brazil, Roberto Carlos returned to his country in 2010 to play for
Corinthians, joining his friend and former Real Madrid teammate
Ronaldo. On 4 June 2010, Roberto Carlos scored a goal against
Internacional and helped Corinthians to move to the top of the
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A table. The
Timão won the game 2–0. On 16 January 2011, Roberto Carlos scored an impressive goal directly from a corner kick against
Portuguesa. Concerned with his safety after being threatened by fans after the
Copa Libertadores da América defeat to Colombian club
Tolima, Roberto Carlos requested his release by the club, which was promptly facilitated by Corinthians.
Anzhi Makhachkala On 12 February 2011, after being heavily linked with a move to
Notts County, Roberto Carlos signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with
Russian Premier League club
Anzhi Makhachkala, worth approximately €10 million. Playing in a
defensive midfield position, Roberto Carlos was named captain of Anzhi on 8 March. On 25 April, he scored his first goal for Anzhi in a 2–2 draw with
Dynamo Moscow, converting a 58th minute
penalty. On 30 April, he scored his second goal, converting a penalty in a 1–0 win over
Rostov, and on 10 June, he then scored his third goal on a 20th minute in a 2–0 win over
Spartak Nalchik. On 11 September 2011, Roberto Carlos scored his fourth goal in a 2–1 win over
Volga Nizhny Novgorod. As of his first season for Anzhi, Roberto Carlos made 28 appearances and scored five goals. On 30 September, he became the caretaker coach of Anzhi following the sacking of
Gadzhi Gadzhiyev, before
Andrei Gordeyev assumed the role also in a caretaker capacity. Roberto Carlos announced his plans to retire at the end of 2012, but continued to work behind the scenes at Anzhi. In August 2012, Anzhi coach
Guus Hiddink confirmed his retirement at a news conference in Moscow, also stating, "Roberto was a world class football player. Every master's career ends at some point." In June, in a match away at
Krylia Sovetov Samara, Roberto Carlos received a pass from the goalkeeper and was about to pass it when a banana was thrown onto the pitch, landing nearby. Carlos picked it up and threw it by the sidelines, walking off the field before the final whistle and raising two fingers at the stands, indicating this was the second such incident since March.
Delhi Dynamos He ended his professional playing career with a spell as
player-manager of
Delhi Dynamos of the
Indian Super League. ==International career==