Carlos Tevez is an international football striker who was born on February 5, 1984 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He got his nickname “Apache” as he was raised in the neighbourhood of Ejercito de Los Andes, which is better known as ‘Fuerte Apache’. He is married to Vanesa and they have a daughter named Florencia.
Carlos Tevez shot into the limelight at the international level when he played for Argentina Under-17 (U-17) team in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) U-17 World Championship. He won a gold medal with the senior national team at the 2004 Olympic Games and also finished as the top scorer of the competition, with eight goals in six matches. He was the second highest goal scorer of 2004 in international football with sixteen goals, one less than Iranian Ali Daei. For his outstanding performance in 2004, Carlos Tevez was named Futbolista latinoamericano más destacado (“Most notable Latin American footballer”) by Latin American Fox Sports. In addition, the Argentine Football Writers chose him as Footballer of the Year and Sportsman of the Year. In 2005, Carlos Tevez was given the CBF Campeonato Brasileiro Best Player, Placar Bola de Ouro and South American Footballer of the Year awards.
He played a stellar role for Argentina at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where in a game against Serbia and Montenegro, he scored a goal and assisted another, to win it by 6-0 for Argentina. In Argentina’s final Group C match against Netherlands, he played through the 90 minutes and also earned the Man of the Match title. Argentinean legend Diego Maradona once described Carlos Tevez as the “Argentine prophet for the 21st century”.
In 1997, when he was 13 years old, he joined the youth ranks of Boca Juniors and progressed to its senior team. He played his first senior competitive match for the club against Talleres de Cordoba on October 21, 2001. He won the Argentine Championship, Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup in 2003 as well as the Copa Sudamericana in 2004 with Boca, before leaving the club in 2004. In December that year, Carlos Tevez was signed by the Sport Club Corinthians Paulista on a five-year contract. He soon became the captain of the side and led the club to the 2005 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A title to become a favourite among the fans. At the end of the 2004-05 season, the Brazilian football federation honoured Carlos Tevez with Best Player of the Tournament award, making him the first non-Brazilian player to win that award since 1976.
On August 31, 2006, Carlos Tevez revealed on his website that he had signed a permanent deal with West Ham United for £12 million. He made his first start for the club on January 6, 2007 against the Brighton and Hove Albion football club in the Football Association (FA) Cup third round, under the new manager Alan Curbishley. Carlos Tevez played a part in all of West Ham’s goals in that match, which ended 3-0, and on March 4, 2007 he scored his first goal for West Ham against Tottenham Hotspur. He scored his second goal in West Ham’s 2-0 win over Middlesbrough after having assisted the first goal, and rightly earned the Man of the Match title. In April 2007, Hammers News, the club magazine, gave Carlos Tevez the Player of the Year award and the club itself honoured him with the Hammer of the Year award. By scoring a winner in West Ham’s final game of the season against Manchester United, which ended 1-0 in favour of the Hammers, he saved the club from relegation.
Manchester United was interested in signing Carlos Tevez, but West Ham claimed that he is a registered West Ham player, whose contract is due till 2010. However, West Ham released Carlos Tevez from his contract following the payment of £2 million from Media Sports Investment (MSI) and on August 10, 2007 Manchester signed him on a two-year loan deal. Five days later, he played his first game for the Red Devils in the 1-1 draw against Portsmouth, in which he assisted Paul Scholes’ goal. His first goal for Manchester United came on September 23, 2007 in the club’s 2-0 home win over Chelsea. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed that he wanted to sign him on a permanent deal, saying that Carlos Tevez would score important goals for the club. Carlos Tevez scored five goals during the Red Devils’ successful 2007-08 season, during which they won the Premiership title, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League and the 2008 FA Community Shield.
Apart from football, Carlos Tevez also performs as a front man for the band Piola Vago, along with his brother Diego.
