Julio Cesar Biography

Julio Cesar is a retired football goalkeeper who in his prime was the best goalkeeper in the world. Cesar was the replacement of Dida in Brazil's goal.

is now Brazil's first goalkeeper who has similarities with Cesar in the style of play. Julio Cesar's life story started in Rio de Janeiro and peaked in Milan. Estádio Maracanã is the place that was once a cradle of

Julio Cesar career

, but Mineirão happened and he had a tragic farewell to Brazilian football.

Almost half of his professional appearances were in

, where he reached the age of glory. Cesar and Adriano were two key players for Inter; both came from

to Italy and made great memories for Nerazzurri fans around the world. During his career, he competed against great goalkeepers like Dida and Toldo to gain his place in the starting lineup.

All You Need to Know About Julio Cesar Biography

Brazilian footballers are best known for unique techniques and offensive players. There are a few goalkeepers who became a big star among the legends like Ronaldo and Pele. Despite being Brazil's goalkeeper for years, Cesar is known for his time in

, where he had a glittering career at the highest level of the game, having won the UEFA Champions League with Inter in 2010. He retired from football at the age of 38 in his hometown team, Flamengo.

Julio Cesar Information

The Brazilian was arguably a commanding and courageous goalkeeper. Cesar was known for his agility, positional sense, and game reading ability, as well as his fast rush for a loose ball or in one on one situations. Read on to find out more about

Julio Cesar life story

.

Julio Cesar Bio

• Full name: Julio Cesar Soares de Espíndola

• Nickname: Julio Cesar

• Profession: Professional Football Player

Julio Cesar Physical Stats

• Height: 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)

• Weight: 79 kg

• Eye Color: Dark Brown

• Hair Color: Black

Julio Cesar Football Information

• Foot: left-footed

• Playing Position: Goalkeeper

• Jersey Number: 12, 1

• Professional Debut: the 1997–1998 season

Julio Cesar Date of Birth and Personal Information

• Date of birth: September 3, 1979 (1979-09-03)

• Place of birth: Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Wife: Susana Werner (M. 2002)

• Father: Genis Espíndola

• Mother: Fátima Espíndola

• Siblings: Janderson Soares de Espíndola, Jenis Espíndola Júnior

• Children: Giulia Werner Espíndola, Cauet Werner Espíndola

• Religion: Roman Catholic

Julio Cesar Early Life

Talking about

Julio Cesar bio

, it should be mentioned that he was born on September 3, 1979, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Julio Cesar's childhood

was near the Guanabara Bay in Duque de Caxias. All time Brazilian league's top scorer, Roberto Dinamite, was born in the same city. The city is the third most populous in Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area. In 1994, when the teenager Julio Cesar was watching the FIFA World Cup on television, he saw the main idol of his career.

In the final match of the tournament, Brazil faced Italy. Italy, under Arrigo Sacchi as a coach, was aiming for the title. They had the best player in the world, Roberto Baggio and Inter Milan's goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca. The Brazilian side had Romario, Bebeto, and Dunga, but their star in the final was Cláudio Taffarel in the goal. It was an unusual final — it was held in the sunlight because the United States was the host. It was also the first time the World Cup would be decided on penalties.

"When I was young, I remember very well when we beat Italy in penalty kicks, and I remember going around the streets screaming a lot. When I saw Taffarel, watched Taffarel save the penalty against [Italian forward Daniele] Massaro, I started to think, 'imagine if that was me.'" Julio Cesar said on MLS official website "When we [Brazil] beat Italy in’94 in the World Cup final, [goalkeeper] Claudio Taffarel was my idol. My whole life, he is my reference."

Many young Brazilians seek the hope of being a professional football player and Cesar was one of the best of his generation.

Julio Cesar Profile

Julio Cesar is one of the best footballers in 2000s. Besides the Brazil national team, also known as Seleção, Cesar caped for Flamengo, Inter, QPR, Toronto FC, and Benfica. Let's find out more about Julio Cesar bio.

Flamengo

Julio Cesar career started in 1997 in his hometown, Rio. He joined Clube de Regatas do Flamengo or simply Flamengo. He made his debut for Flamengo in the same year on 17 May. The game between Flamengo and cross-city rival

is called Clássico Fla-Flu. Julio Cesar made his debut in the Rio derby, where he saved a penalty kick. That was the first step for young Julio to become a Taffarel sized hero. His mentor at Fluminense was Clemer who scored his first career goal in 1997 from the penalty spot. Julio replaced him in low priority games.

In the first three years of Julio Cesar professional career, he only had one appearance in the

. At the beginning of the new millennium, Cesar made his way to the starting lineup. His performances in Flamengo led to calling up his name for the national team in 2002. He already had been with youth teams in a couple of tournaments. Cesar won a considerable number of titles in Flamengo, including Campeonato Carioca for four times before leaving for Italy.

Inter

In January 2005, while the Brazilian league was over and the European leagues were in the winter transfer window, Cesar transferred to Italian Serie A. Inter wanted Julio Cesar but due to Non European player limit in Serie A, they couldn't sign him in. After an agreement between Chievo and Inter, Cesar initially moved to Chievo and at the end of the season could join Nerazzurri. Inter used this strategy again for the transfer of Maxwell from Brazil.

Inter already had an ex Flamengo player on their squad named Adriano. Cesar had to compete with Francesco Toldo to get to the starting lineup. Julio Cesar received number 12, while Toldo was number one. In the previous season, Inter showed promising under the new coach, Roberto Mancini. Cesar won his first title in Italy in August 2005. Supercoppa Italiana was held between

and Inter. Inter won the match with a goal from Veron.

Soon, Roberto Mancini gave Cesar a crucial role in the lineup, and this decision was paid off by Julio Cesar's stunning performances. At the end of the season, Inter crowned as the Italian champion while Juventus was leading on the table. Juventus' scudetto was stripped due to match fixing and illegal activities, and Inter received the title. Cesar also played in both legs of the Coppa Italia final against

, which led to winning another prestigious title for Cesar and Inter.

The next season's Scudetto was for Inter, without any challenges. Cesar completely surpassed Toldo in the line-up. He kept Nerazzurri's goal safe and only once they were defeated the entire whole season. Almost half of the fixtures ended with clean sheets from Cesar and Nerazzurri showed no mercy to other Serie A teams. Inter kept winning domestic trophies, but it was not enough for president Moratti. He replaced Mancini with José Mourinho in order to make the team Champions League material.

The 2008–09 Serie A under Mourinho was the same for Inter winning the Scudetto. In the UEFA Champions League, they were beaten by

in the knockout round. In the 2009–10 season, Cesar made more than fifty appearances for Inter.

Cesar showed amazing performances, including in the Derby della Madonnina versus

, he saved a penalty of Ronaldinho and Champions League semi finals against

where he kept saving shots from Messi. Eventually Inter reached the final while they won both domestic titles. In the final, Cesar made magnificent saves against

strikers especially Robben and Muller. Inter won the match with a brace from Milito and a clean sheet from Cesar to become the only Italian treble winners. Cesar won several individual awards, including UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year.

The next season started with some changes. Mourinho left for

and Toldo retired, so Cesar received the number one. Despite the winning of the FIFA Club World Cup and the  Coppa Italia, Inter lost the Scudetto to Milan. Inter started declining after the treble season and Cesar was no exception. The 2011–12 season was the last one for Cesar in Inter. Samir Handanovic came from

to replace him and he had an emotional farewell with Nerazzurri fans.

Queens Park Rangers

In 2012,

had a very busy summer, signing many players and some of them were big stars like Park Ji-sung, Loïc Rémy, and of course, Julio Cesar. The season started terribly for QPR and Cesar. In the first 16 Premier League fixtures, they defeated nine times without any win. The first win came after changing manager in November, Harry Redknapp replaced Mark Hughes. The new manager couldn't help with the results too and in the end, they were relegated to the EFL Championship.

Despite the relegation, Cesar didn't leave QPR, but they had to loan him out because he needed to play for preparing for the upcoming World Cup. He was loaned to MLS team

. Cesar's spell in the United States was short and he only had seven caps there. Queens Park Rangers released him by mutual consent.

Benfica

Things didn't work out after leaving Inter and the World Cup was a nightmare for Cesar. He needed redemption and

came up with an offer. Cesar signed a contract with Portugal champions. Cesar helped the Eagles defend their Primeira Liga's title in his debut season. His performance was once again splendid and he set some records during his spell in Benfica.

In 2015, Cesar won the Best Goalkeeper award, which was awarded to former Benfica goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, in the previous season. Benfica won three consecutive Primeira Liga with Cesar. After Benfica transferred Cesar's compatriot Ederson, he became the second choice but a trustworthy bench for Ederson. In 2018, he returned to Flamengo to have a symbolic retirement in his childhood team.

International

Julio Cesar nationality

was a blessing because he could always be in a strong squad for international tournaments. He was a part of Seleção from U-17 and his first major competition was the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship. He did a great job there and before the final match he conceded one goal. The final was against

and Brazil lost the match 3–2. In the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, Cesar was called up, but he didn't make any appearances, and they were eliminated by their classic rival,

.

The first tournament Cesar was called for by the senior team was the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. Seleção was participating as the 2002 World Cup champion. The tournament was a failure for Brazil. While Dida was on the goal, they didn't advance from the group stage and stand on the third behind

and

.

Julio Cesar's national debut was in 2004 Copa América. He was the main keeper in the tournament and he helped Seleção reached the final and their nemesis was the other side of the final. Match ended with a 2–2 tie and the penalty shootout was the tiebreaker. Cesar saved the first penalty by Andrés D'Alessandro and Gabriel Heinze lost the second one while all Brazilian scored their shots. Julio Cesar won his first major trophy with Brazil and he was included in the team of the tournament.

For the 2006 FIFA World, Dida became once again the number one, and Cesar didn't make any caps. Brazil was eliminated in the quarter-final by

and after that Dida announced his national team retirement. Dunga became the manager of Brazil and he made many controversial choices. Cesar became the fourth choice of Carlos Dunga and missed lots of fixtures. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, Dunga eventually had to put Cesar on the goal.

Cesar showed everyone his worth by breaking many national clean-sheet records, including the longest run without conceding a goal with 581 minutes. The previous record was owned by Taffarel with 491 minutes. In 2009, one year before the World Cup Confederations Cup was held in

. Cesar was the number one man in the line-up and they won the title again.

Despite previous success for Dunga's team, he was constantly criticized for his selections. His team failed to advance further than quarter finals. He remained the keeper of Seleção except for a period in 2012. In 2013, Luiz Felipe Scolari included his name in the squad again. The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was a success for César and Brazil as they claimed their 4th title.

The next year was great hope for Brazil to win the World Cup on home soil. It was going well until the semi-final match against

. Germany thrashed Brazil 7–1, which was one of the most humiliating results in the World Cup history. César retired from the national team after that.

Julio Cesar Personal Life

In 2002, Julio married to the Brazilian model and actress Susana Werner in the Candelária Church. Susana was born in 1977 in Rio de Janeiro. She had a relationship with the Brazilian football legend Ronaldo between 1997 and 1999. During 1997, Susana met Ronaldo on the set of Brazilian telenovela Malhação when they acted together in three episodes. Ronaldo was an Inter player at the time, so Susana lived with him in Milan.

Julio and Susana have two children. Cauet is their first child. He was born in the first year of their marriage. Julio Cesar's son is a footballer, too. He plays for F.C. Alverca youth team in Portugal. The team has a history that acted as feeder club to Benfica. Giulia is Julio Cesar's daughter. She was born in 2005, while his father played for Inter Milan.

Julio Cesar Honors

As a professional goalkeeper, Cesar has broken many records and received a lot of club and individual awards. When he entered the Brazilian Serie A, Flamengo won four Campeonato Carioca titles from 1999 to 2004 and three of them were consecutive. In 1997 they got a Copa dos Campeoes Mundiais and in 1999 they won the Copa Mercosul. Cesar became the first option for a goalkeeper from 2000. They won a 2001 Copa dos Campeoes too. 

After Flamengo, he won five consecutive Serie A titles with Inter from the 2005–06 season to 2009–10 season. Also, they won three Coppa Italia titles and four Supercoppa Italiana cups. During these years in Inter, he won the Serie A goalkeeper of the year award in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. In the 2009–10 season, Inter became the UEFA champion and Cesar won the UEFA club goalkeeper of the year award, the IFFHS world’s best goalkeeper bronze ball, and his name was on the list of ESM team of the year. He broke the record of most clean sheets in a single Serie A season for Inter with 17, which was shared with Samir Handanovic. 

As the Brazilian goalkeeper with the most penalty saves (10 from 26 attempts) and most clean sheets (101 in 228 matches) in Serie A, in 2010, he got the Pirata d'Oro (Internazionale Player Of The Year) award. Also, he got the IFFHS world’s best goalkeeper silver ball this time. In the same year, Inter won the FIFA club world cup with Cesar. 

As a Brazil national team record holder for most minutes without conceding a goal (581 minutes), he won two FIFA Confederations Cups, in 2009 and 2013 with the team, and in addition to the FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Glove award, he was in the FIFA confederations Cup dream team, too. He was one of the three Brazilian goalkeepers to be nominated for Ballon d’Or, shared with Dida and Allison. 

In Benfica, they won three consecutive Primeira Liga titles from 2014 to 2016. Also in 2014, they won the Taca de Liga. In 2016, they won a Supertaca Candido de Oliveira and Taca de Portugal titles. 

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