Élton José Xavier Gomes: the smallest professional footballer of all time.
Elton Gomes is the smallest pro footballer ever
The School of Football is back with a smaller bang than usual! But none the less still as powerful as ever, with the story of Elton Gomes, the shortest footballer on record.
At 1.54m (5 ft 1 in) It is widely regarded that Élton Gomes is the shortest footballer on record in the history of the game. That is 4 inches shorter than Maradona and just 0.3cm taller than Ariana Grande.
Ariana Grande: Living up to her name by being taller than Gomes
Early years in Brazil
Born in Palmeira, Brazil in 1986 Élton began his professional career playing for Brazilian side Corinthians making his debut for the club in 2004. He spent 3 years at the club making a handful of appearances earning him the nickname, ‘Élton Maradoninha’ when he was part of the Corinthians side that won the League title in 2005.
Europe beckons
At the age of 21, the attacking midfielder moved to Europe to join Romanian heavyweights Steaua Bucuresti. He scored on his debut against FC Arges and he quickly became a major part of their side. Despite staying there for just one season, he was voted into the Steaua Bucuresti team of the decade by the fans.
Finding a home in the Middle East
In 2007 he signed for Saudi side Al Nassr where he scored 5 goals in 20 games before moving back to Brazil in 2009 when he signed for Fortaleza. He played just 14 games for Fortaleza scoring one goal.
In the next two years, Élton played for 4 different clubs starting with Dubai Cultural Sports Club, which was followed by a loan move to fellow UAE aids Al Wasl, then a switch back to Brazil with Sport Recife and finally in 2011 he signed for Saudi Arabian side Al Fateh.
At Fateh Élton played 121 times scoring 48 goals. In the 2012/13 season, he scored 11 goals to help them win their first-ever league title. In the same season, he scored an extra-time winner against Al Ittihad to make it 3-2, which was enough to win them the Saudi Super Cup. After 5 incredibly successful years he moved to league rivals Al Qadisiyah in 2017.
Élton scored 13 goals in 60 games before he left in 2019 to join Brazilian side CRB. He returned to the UAE to play for Al Wehda in 2020 and just recently the 34-year-old joined the 13th club of his 16-year career when he signed for Al Hamriyah.
The man who is below the average height of a 14-year-old has formulated an extraordinary career for himself so far, playing over 240 career games and scoring 59 goals in the process.
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