About Cláudio Taffarel
Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈklawdʒu tafaˈɾɛw]; born 8 May 1966) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who is the goalkeeping coach of the Brazil national team. A goalkeeper, Taffarel began his senior career in 1985 with Internacional in his native Brazil and then played in Parma, Reggiana, Atlético Mineiro and Galatasaray. He retired in 2003 after a second spell at Parma. The recipient of more than 100 international caps, Taffarel played a key role in Brazil's victorious 1994 World Cup campaign and also appeared in eight other major international tournaments over the course of one full decade, most notably winning two Copa América titles in 1989 and 1997, as well as a World Cup runners-up finish in 1998. He also won a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea. == Club career == Born in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul with Italian Brazilian ancestry, Taffarel began his career playing for Internacional but only appeared in 14 Série A games during his five-year spell, being however awarded the Golden Ball award for the 1988 season. In 1990, he played for Parma in Italy, a club which had just been promoted to Serie A for the first time in their history; according to a 2003 article by Andrea Schianchi of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Taffarel's move to Parma was also carried out for commercial reasons, as at the time, Calisto Tanzi, the then–owner of Parmalat – the company that owned the club –, was looking to have the Brazilian goalkeeper become the face of the corporation's new advertising campaign following its recent expansion into Brazil. Taffarel became the first non–Italian goalkeeper to play in Serie A, and proceeded to appear in all 34 league games in the following campaign under manager Nevio Scala, as the Emilia-Romagna side finished in sixth position and qualified to the UEFA Cup. He won the Coppa Italia in 1992 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1993 during his first spell with the club, although following a series of unconvincing performances, and the regulations at the time that only allowed three non–Italian players in the team's starting XI (with Faustino Asprilla, Tomas Brolin, and Georges Grün usually being selected to start by Scala), he was relegated to the bench over the course of the next two seasons, initially behind Marco Ballotta and later Luca Bucci. In 1993, Taffarel, now only a back-up at Parma, signed for fellow Serie A team Reggiana, where he was first-choice throughout the following season in a narrow escape from relegation.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.