Quick Facts
Biography
Maxwell Scherrer Cabelino Andrade (born 27 August 1981), commonly known as Maxwell, is a former Brazilian professional footballer who last played as a left-back for French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. At the time of his retirement, he was the most decorated active footballer in Europe.
Club career
Early career
Born in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Espírito Santo, Maxwell started his career at Cruzeiro. In June 2001, he signed a 5-year contract with AFC Ajax. Maxwell played his best season for Ajax in the 2003–04 season, only missinged three games for the Eredivisie champions that season due to international duty, and becoming the Dutch Footballer of the Year. He was seriously injured in April 2005 and never played again for Ajax.
Internazionale
Maxwell's contract with Ajax was restructured to expire early, on 2 January 2006, in order to facilitate his move to Internazionale on a free transfer. Due to non-EU player registration quota per year, however, he was signed by Empoli until the end of season before being officially transferred to Inter, a deal similar to that of Júlio César's move to Chievo. Maxwell, however, did not make any appearances for Empoli.
In July 2006, Inter officially announced the signing of Maxwell on a four-year contract as a domestic transfer. Maxwell impressed during his first season in Serie A, most notably against Parma at San Siro when he scored a fine solo effort after a defender struck him which was voted Inter's thunder goal of the season by Inter channel viewers.
Initially playing at left-back, the 2007–08 season saw him move further up the field, with Cristian Chivu replacing him at left-back while Maxwell played a left midfield role. This became very effective as Maxwell adapted well to the winger role which made use of his blistering pace. In that season, he won his second consecutive Scudetto with Inter. In the 2008–09 season, he suffered a serious injury that took him out of competition for six weeks. He returned to action and was a constant fixture in the starting XI and showed his impressive old form before the injury. He scored his second goal for Inter on 14 December against Chievo, which Inter won 4–2, after an assist from Dejan Stanković.
Barcelona
On 15 July 2009, it was announced that Barcelona and Inter had reached an agreement, with Maxwell joining the Catalan club for €4.5 million plus €500,000. Two days later, Maxwell signed a five-year contract and was presented as a new Barça player. He made his debut for the club in the second leg of the 2009 Supercopa de España, playing all 90 minutes. He had an important role in the second part of the season when Éric Abidal was injured and helped Barcelona win La Liga.
Maxwell started Barcelona's first competitive match of the 2010–11 season, the first leg of the 2010 Supercopa de España, in an advanced left-wing position; he assisted the opening goal for Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Paris Saint-Germain
On 12 January 2012, Maxwell penned a three-year deal at Paris Saint-Germain after passing his medical examination. PSG paid €3.5 million for the player. For the 2013–14 season, he was the starting left-back, replacing Siaka Tiéné, who left the club for Montpellier. On 28 February 2014, Maxwell extended his contract until June 2015.
On 4 February 2015, Maxwell scored the only goal as PSG defeated Lille away to reach the Coupe de la Ligue Final.
Passport controversy
It was alleged that Maxwell registered as an EU player during 2006 to 2009 with Inter, but he was signed by Barcelona as a non-EU player (Brazil), as Maxwell did not present a passport from a European country. UEFA started to investigate the case in August 2010, but in fact Inter signed him as a domestic transfer and he arrived in Italy as a non-EU player for Empoli, and had not violated Italian Football Federation (FIGC) regulations. FIGC only restricted Italian football clubs from signing non-EU players from abroad, except 1 quota (2 as of the 2011–2012 season) is given to Serie A clubs per season if the club released or sold abroad the non-EU player, or the player himself got an EU nationality.
On 25 August 2010, Inter declared that Maxwell was always a non-EU player with the club.
International career
Maxwell was capped for 2004 CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament with the Brazil under-23 squad in January 2004. In October 2004, he received his first call-up to the senior team for the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches, but did not make any appearances.
Maxwell earned his first full senior international cap on 14 August 2013, coming on as a substitute in a friendly match versus Switzerland.
Maxwell was included in Brazil's squad for the 2014 World Cup and made his only appearance in the third-place play-off, starting at left-back as Brazil were defeated 3–0 by the Netherlands; he played full 90 minutes in his final international match.
Personal life
Maxwell is known to be one of Zlatan Ibrahimović's closest friends; they were teammates at Ajax, Internazionale, Barcelona and PSG. There are several anecdotes about him in Ibrahimović's autobiography, I am Zlatan.Maxwell will be remembered for his calm nature and gentle style of play.
Club statistics
- As of 30 June 2017
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Ajax | |||||||||
| 2001–02 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 | |
| 2002–03 | 30 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 41 | 4 | |
| 2003–04 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 40 | 2 | |
| 2004–05 | 29 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 38 | 3 | |
| 2005–06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 114 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 147 | 9 | |
| Internazionale | |||||||||
| 2006–07 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 1 | |
| 2007–08 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 39 | 0 | |
| 2008–09 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 1 | |
| Total | 79 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 92 | 2 | |
| Barcelona | |||||||||
| 2009–10 | 25 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 36 | 0 | |
| 2010–11 | 25 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 41 | 1 | |
| 2011–12 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 1 | |
| Total | 57 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 89 | 2 | |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 2011–12 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| 2012–13 | 33 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 48 | 3 | |
| 2013–14 | 24 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 36 | 3 | |
| 2014–15 | 26 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 36 | 4 | |
| 2015–16 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 34 | 3 | |
| 2016–17 | 20 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 0 | |
| Total | 145 | 12 | 22 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 202 | 14 | |
| Career Total | 395 | 23 | 46 | 3 | 84 | 1 | 525 | 27 | |
Honours
Club
- Ajax
- Eredivisie (2): 2001–02, 2003–04
- KNVB Cup (1): 2001–02
- Johan Cruyff Shield (1): 2002
- Internazionale
- Serie A (3): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
- Supercoppa Italiana (1): 2008
- Barcelona
- La Liga (2): 2009–10, 2010–11
- Copa del Rey (1): 2011-12
- Supercopa de España (2): 2009, 2010
- UEFA Champions League (1): 2010–11
- UEFA Super Cup (1): 2009
- FIFA Club World Cup (2): 2009, 2011
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Ligue 1 (4): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
- Coupe de France (3): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17
- Coupe de la Ligue (4): 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17
- Trophée des champions (3): 2013, 2015, 2016
Individual
- Dutch Footballer of the Year (1): 2003–04
- Dutch Golden Shoe (1): 2003–04
- Ligue 1 Team of the Year (3): 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16