Player Profile

Goalkeepers have long been the Achilles heel of the Brazilian football team, but in Julio Cesar they look to have finally found a custodian they can rely on.

Part of the Inter Milan defence that conceded the fewest goals in Serie A this season and looked so impregnable in the latter stages of the Champions League, he is indispensible to both club and country.

In the 2008/09 season his exploits at Inter were rewarded with the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year award and he finished 21st in the voting for the Ballon d’Or.

Born in Rio, he won four Campeonato Carioca titles for Flamengo before moving to Italy and signing for Chievo, where he stayed until Inter had a free space in their squad for a non-EU player. He has won five Serie A titles, two Coppa Italias and the Champions League with the Nerazzurri.

Cesar came to prominence for Brazil during their 2004 Copa America triumph and saved a penalty against Argentina in the final.

He lost his place, though, and had to settle for a spot on the bench at the World Cup in 2006. Coach Dunga, said last year that “Julio Cesar is certainly the best in the world right now”.

He played all 18 of Brazil’s qualifiers for South Africa and conceded just 11 goals. He gave Dunga a scare when he was forced off in a friendly with Zimbabwe on 2 June after hurting his back.

Another goalkeeper to publicly criticised the Adidas ‘Jabulani’ ball that is being used at the World Cup, he says it looks like something from a “grocery store” and “they are always trying to make things difficult for the goalkeepers”.

He courted controversy in 2007 when he criticised Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had praised the Argentina team and attacked the Brazil side: “If that's what he thinks, he should become an Argentine citizen and move to Argentina,” Cesar said.

Cesar is married to actress and model Susana Werner – the former girlfriend of Ronaldo.