Player Profile

Having previously had a job selling dustbin liners on the streets of Sao Paulo and not turning professional until the age of 22, Grafite is celebrating a spectacular Indian summer to his career.

A journeyman striker who had previously plied his trade at clubs such as Santa Cruz, Goias Esporte Clube and Anyang LG Cheetahs in South Korea, it was only when he arrived at German club Wolfsburg in 2007 that the goals really began to flow.

Forming a lethal partnership with Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko, he finished as the league’s top goal-scorer in the 2008/09 season as Wolfsburg won the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.

In September 2009, in the club’s first ever Champions League match, he became the only the sixth player to score a hat-trick on his Champions League debut.

Previously, the best spell of his career had come at his home town club of Sao Paulo, where he played a part in their Copa Libertadores and Fifa Club World Cup wins in 2005.

Although he received international recognition and scored on his Brazil debut in a friendly against Guatemala in 2005, he did not feature in a squad again for nearly five years until he appeared in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland last year.

His real name is Edinaldo Batista Libano, but he was given his nickname (which means graphite) by a former coach. He had previously known a player called Grafite, who the striker resembled due their similar imposing physical builds, so the name stuck.

He was a goalkeeper up to the age of 12 until an opponent kicked a ball directly between his legs, and he swore never to play in goal again.