Madjer: A Look Back on the Career of a Superstar

João Victor Saraiva, known as Madjer, is a former beach soccer player who was an enigma for both club and country. 

Credit: ZeroZero

Madjer was born in 1977 and despite representing Portugal on the world stage, his place of birth was Luanda in the African country of Angola. His family moved to Portugal as a child and that’s when the dreams of being a professional footballer began.  

Nicknamed Madjer after his hero Algerina striker Rabah Madjer he certainly had big boots to fill.  

It was a humble beginning for the star who picked up jobs working as a barman and worked in nightclubs nine years before he even discovered the sport of beach soccer. He stumbled upon the sport in 1997 after participating in an amateur beach soccer tournament that was happening near his home.  

This tournament not only introduced him to beach soccer but grew his passion for the sport. Madjer spoke to Beach Soccer Worldwide about this tournament, stating: “At first it was strange, but after the tournament I knew that this was my sport and the national coach at that time seemed to think the same!” 

This national team call-up would only be the start of his illustrious career. While fulfilling international duty he also played at club level for numerous amount of teams around the world from Sporting CP in Portugal to Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia.  

His prolific goal record and spectacular skills are what had him named multiple times as the greatest Beach Soccer player ever. Not only was he the first beach soccer player to score 1000 goals, he collected a surplus of silverware.  

Madjer was an important clog in what was an unstoppable Portugal team winning several competitions such as the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup three times, The Euro Beach Soccer League six times  Euro Beach Soccer Cup six times and The European Games once.  

During these competitions, he also won individual awards such as top scorer awards, golden balls and MVPs highlighting his excellence as a player. He spoke about his awards to Beach Soccer Worldwide, stating: “Winning the World Cup (2015) and an Olympic gold medal (2019) are my greatest achievements. When I started I never dreamed that I could possibly win such important titles in my career.”  

Despite retiring In 2019, his impact on the Beach Soccer world is still felt to this day and he will forever be remembered as one of the greats of the game!