Biography of the Hulk
The Hulk is one of those football players whose name almost never disappears from the headlines. He is strong and fast, his strikes are aimed and accurate. Watching him on the field, it seems that he is the perfect striker. He appeared at the heart of the St. Petersburg “Zenith” and the Brazilian national team. But is this all you need to know about a football player? What kind of person is the Hulk and how did his career develop on the football field? This topic is fascinating and intriguing. That is why today we decided to slightly open the veil of secrecy.
Childhood and youth of the Hulk
The future famous footballer was born into a large family and became the only boy among the seven children of Jovan and Maria de Souza. His family did not live well. In many ways, this is why he always felt responsible for the life and health of his loved ones. Even in early childhood, the boy began to help his parents, who kept a butcher’s shop in the market. He was strong and hardy, and therefore there was always plenty of work for him.
As the football player himself admitted, he never liked working in a butcher shop and in order to diversify his day a little, he imagined himself as the Hulk, his favorite comic book character, thus mixing work with the game. The boy was strong and strong, which again made him related to a fantastic superhero. Having learned about his son’s addiction to a muscular and slightly ferocious comic book character, the father of the future football player began to call him the Hulk.
Givanildo Vieira de Sousa got the nickname Hulk from his father
Zhivanildu did not mind, and therefore the new nickname very soon stuck to the young football player. It is worth noting that the habit of playing under false names is very popular among Brazilian players (Kaka, Paulinho, Fred, etc.). Therefore, the nickname Hulk for many years became the second name for Givanildu de Souza.
Hulk’s first steps in football
It seems impossible to live in Brazil and not love football. The Hulk was no exception to this rule. At the age of 12, she began studying at the children’s academy “Ze do Egito”. It was followed by other youth teams – Vilanovense, Sao Paulo, Vitoria (Salvador).
At the age of sixteen, the football player signed a contract with his first “adult” club and began to play for the first team of the Brazilian Vitoria. It is noteworthy that in this team, the Hulk initially played on the edge of defense, then in the support zone, and only after that he began to advance to the attack.
The club from Salvador set itself ambitious goals, and therefore young players were not always given a chance to prove themselves. Hulk participated in a number of friendly matches and once entered the field in a Brazilian championship match. After that, the young player ended up in the reserve for a long time and did not even always get into the application for matches.
Hulk started playing football at the age of 12
In such conditions, the offer of the Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale to buy the player seemed like a real salvation.
Career in Japan
The Hulk moved to Japan in 2005. He made his local J-League debut on April 17 against the Nagoya Grampus. On July 2, Hulk, who was playing at the time as an attacking midfielder, scored his first goal. By the end of the season, there were only three accurate shots in the Hulk’s asset, however, despite this, the Japanese team offered him a new contract.
The following year, the Kawasaki Frontale added a number of new players, and Hulk began to lose his place in the team. In 2006, he was loaned to second division club Consadole Sapporo. Here the player began to receive stable playing practice and began to constantly play at the position of a center forward. In the second most powerful Japanese division, Hulk scored 25 goals in 38 matches in a year and took second place in the combined scorer rating.
Hulk is a positive person
Hulk spent the following year on loan at yet another second division club, Tokyo Verdi. Scoring 37 goals in 42 matches, Givanildo de Souza helped the team to rise to the top division and became the club’s top scorer. Soon, the footballer returned to the Kawasaki Frontale club, which owned the rights to the player. However, in this team, he again lingered for a short time. On April 1, 2008, the Hulk was bought by the Tokyo Verdi club for 5.5 billion Japanese yen.
Playing for his “new old” club, he scored seven goals in thirteen matches in Japan’s top league. Immediately after that, the Hulk moved to Europe.
The rise of the Hulk’s career
In the summer of 2008, Hulk signed a contract with Porto. As the footballer himself notes, the Portuguese superclub had been eyeing him for a long time before offering a contract. Breeders watched numerous games with the participation of the player, European specialists specially came to the matches of the Japanese championship, who personally watched the performance of the striker.
Buying a young and unknown player from the underdog team of the Japanese league seemed like a risky gamble. However, in the end, the Portuguese superclub did not fail, and the 5.5 million euros invested in the acquisition of the player returned a hundredfold.
In the team of Jesualdo Ferreira, the then coach of Porto, Hulk began to play on the edge of the attack. The ramming striker with his very appearance inspired fear in the opponent’s defenders, and very soon moved to the leading roles in Porto. Together with the Portuguese superclub Hulk won the championship, cup and supercup of Portugal three times. In 2011, Porto, led on the attack by a formidable striker, became the triumphant of the Europa League.
Such successes did not go unnoticed by the coaches of the Brazilian national team, and since 2009 Hulk has been regularly involved in the games of the main team of his country.
The hunt for the striker began many of the leading clubs in Europe. Rumors regularly appeared in the press about the possible transfer of the striker to one or another superclub. However, in September 2012, the Hulk was in the St. Petersburg “Zenith”. In total, the Russian club laid out a “tidy” sum of 60 million euros for the transfer of the Brazilian striker. Hulk became one of the highest paid players in the Russian Championship and today he regularly plays in the main team of his team.
Hulk with his wife and children
Hulk’s personal life
While still performing in Japan, Hulk met his future wife, Iran. In the marriage of a famous player, two children were born – Ian and Thiago. Today, the entire football player’s family lives in St. Petersburg.
Football player Hulk now
In the summer of 2016, Hulk signed with Chinese football club Shanghai SIPG. In the season preceding the sale, the player took part in 27 matches, scoring 17 goals (7 from penalties) and making 16 assists. It was reported that the cost of the transfer of Hulk will cost Shanghai FC 55 million euros – a record amount for Russian players. Hulk himself was promised a contract with a “salary” of 20 million euros per year.