Elane dos Santos Rego (born 4 June 1968), commonly known as Elane, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a central defender for the Brazil women's national football team.

Elane
Personal information
Full name Elane dos Santos Rego
Date of birth (1968-06-04) 4 June 1968 (age 56)
Place of birth Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8+12 in)[1]
Position(s) Central defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Radar
Euroexport
Uberlândia Football Club
International career
Brazil
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:52, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:52, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

She represented Brazil at the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991, 1995 and 1999; as well as in the inaugural Olympic women's football tournament in 1996.

Career

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Elane was part of the EC Radar club team who represented Brazil at the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament in Guangdong and finished in third place.[2]

At the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup Elane played in all three Group B games and scored Brazil's first ever World Cup goal in their 1–0 opening match win over Japan.[3]

An aggressive central defender, Elane remained a key player for Brazil at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, by which time she was playing for São Paulo FC.[4] A tournament preview on the SoccerTimes.com website described her as a strong tackler with modest speed.[5] At the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup in Sweden, English journalist Pete Davies, covering the tournament for The Independent, caricatured Elane's committed approach:[6]

At the back, they [Brazil] had a clogger named Elane who'd kick anything – waiters, bus conductors, passing dogs, no one was safe, in another game she even managed to get herself booked after the final whistle.

At club level Elane also played for São Cristóvão, Bonsucesso, Portuguesa, EC Radar, Santos, Corinthians, São Paulo and Saad Esporte Clube, ending her career in 2001 with Barra de Teresópolis (RJ).[7][8][9]

After her football career Elane worked as a bus driver in her native Rio.[10] She was named equal seventh (with Meg) in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) South America's best Women's Footballer of the Century list.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Elane". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  2. ^ Fernandes, Andréa Karl. "A história do futebol feminino" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Sindicato dos Treinsdores de Futebol Profissional do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  3. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup China '91 – Technical Report & Statistics" (PDF). FIFA. p. 79. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  4. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup 1999 squads". FIFA. 1999. Archived from the original (TXT) on 17 December 2000. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  5. ^ "USA 1999: Brazil". SoccerTimes.com. 1999. Archived from the original on 11 January 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  6. ^ Davies, Pete (1996). I Lost My Heart To The Belles. London: Mandarin. p. 315. ISBN 0-7493-2085-0.
  7. ^ "Elane" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Saad Esporte Clube. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  8. ^ Cabral, Juliana; Goellner, Silvia (15 November 2021). "30 anos depois: os relatos das pioneiras no primeiro mundial da FIFA" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Ludopédio. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  9. ^ de Oliveira, Felipe (17 May 2015). "Ex-capitã da seleção brasileira vira motorista de ônibus no Rio de Janeiro" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Futebol feminino: O golaço de Michael Jackson na vida!". Vermelho Portal (in Portuguese). 6 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  11. ^ "South America's best Women's Footballer of the Century". IFFHS. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
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