Nilmar
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nilmar Honorato da Silva | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Sport Club Internacional | ||
| Number | 7 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 00:00, 18 August 2004 (UTC) | |||
Nilmar Honorato da Silva (born 14 July 1984 in Bandeirantes, Paraná) is a Brazilian footballer, currently playing for Sport Club Internacional.
Background
After coming from the Internacional youth teams, Nilmar was signed for just over £5 million by Lyon initially as cover for the now ex-Lyon player Giovanni Elber. He signed with a clause in his contract that stated that he could be loaned back to Internacional once Elber was fit.
However, he was very impressive, scoring two debut goals as a substitute against Rennes. He did not score any more goals in Ligue 1 that season, and with the impending signing of Fred, Lyon were forced to loan him (this time to Corinthians) to stay within the limit of non-EU players.
Lyon already had four established forwards anyway: Fred, Sylvain Wiltord, Milan Baros, and Sidney Govou. Since he was very impressive at Corinthians, the wealthy South American club eventually bought him outright for a fee that could rise to £6.8 million.
At Corinthians the young striker hit the target on his debut against São Paulo Futebol Clube with almost his first touch of the ball and he continued to impress fans and critics alike throughout his first season. His skill, speed and mazy dribbles helped win him a place in the Brazilian League all-star team for the 2005 season.
On August 17, 2007, the Justiça do Trabalho (literally, court of employment) cancelled Nilmar's contract because Sport Club Corinthians Paulista owed the player two million euros. Nilmar could then sign for any club for free, while Sport Club Corinthians Paulista must still pay the eight million euros they owed to Olympique Lyonnais for Nilmar's original transfer in 2005. (FIFA could threaten to relegate the Brazilian club and block future transfers if the debt was not paid).
In the following month, Nilmar returned to Internacional. He made his new debut for the Porto Alegre team on 04 November 2007, when Inter beat Vasco da Gama 2-1.
National team
Nilmar has been capped five times for the Brazil national football team. Nilmar's debut was against Mexico in the Gold Cup on July 13 2003. His first and only goal came against Haiti on August 18 2004.
Honors and awards
- Campeonato Gaúcho, winner: 2003,2004
- FIFA World Youth Championship, winner: 2003
- Campeonato Paulista, top goalscorer: 2006
- Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, winner: 2005
- French Super Cup, winner: 2005
- French Championship, winner: 2005