About Mário Jardel
Mário Jardel de Almeida Ribeiro (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈmaɾiu ʒaʁˈdɛw]; born 18 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was most noted for his positioning on the field and his heading ability. In spite of only representing Grêmio on loan for a single season, he is highly regarded by the club's fanbase for playing a major part in the squad that won the 1995 Copa Libertadores. With his exceptional positioning ability, he was able to become one of Europe's most prolific strikers during his time at Porto, Galatasaray, and Sporting CP, scoring 206 goals in 274 matches for those clubs. He won two European Golden Shoes, remaining the only Brazilian to do so. After leaving Sporting CP in 2003 at age 29, Jardel had a succession of brief and unsuccessful stints at clubs in England, Italy, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Argentina and Australia. He then played for several smaller clubs in Brazil before retiring in 2011. Jardel made his debut for the Brazil national team in 1996, making a total of 10 appearances and being selected for the 2001 Copa América. Expectations were high, and Jardel quickly lived up to them with a prolific scoring record during his lone season at the club. Although he was top scorer three times, due to the use of coefficients based on each European league's standards, he only won twice, the 1998–99 and 2001–02 European Golden Boots.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.