*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16 September 2023
Anderson Luiz de Carvalho (born 19 July 1981), known as Nenê, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Juventude. As of 2025, he is the oldest player to score in a Série A match, having set this record on 15 August 2024 at 43 years and 26 days old.
Nenê spent most of his professional career in Spain, representing four clubs and amassing 140 games and 23 goals over the course of four La Liga seasons, and France, where he made 142 Ligue 1 appearances in four and a half campaigns and scored 55 goals for Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain. He won the 2012–13 Ligue 1 title with PSG and also became the league's best foreign player in 2010 while with Monaco.[1] Nenê had brief tenures in Qatar (Al-Gharafa) and England (West Ham United) before returning to Brazil.
Club career
Early career
Born in Jundiaí, São Paulo, Nenê started playing professionally with local Etti Jundiaí at the age of 19. On 16 May 2002, he moved to Palmeiras on loan until December.[2]
Nenê made his Brasileirão Série A debut on 11 August 2002, starting and scoring the opening goal in a 1–1 home draw against Grêmio. He finished the year with five league goals, but his club suffered relegation for the first time in its history.
After being relegated from the top level with Alavés in 2006, Nenê met the same fate with RC Celta de Vigo,[8][9] again appearing in all 38 league games and totalling nearly 3,000 minutes of action for the Galicians.
Monaco
On 22 August 2007, Nenê was transferred to AS Monaco FC for an undisclosed fee.[10] A year later, having already started with the French, he joined RCD Espanyol in the last days of the summer transfer window on a one-year loan,[11] with a buying option for the Catalans at the season's end, which was finally not activated.
Back with Monaco, Nenê began the new campaign in impressive scoring fashion, scoring nine goals in his first ten matches – this included a brace against US Boulogne in a 3–1 away victory, both from long-range free kicks,[12] as he led the scoring charts for a lengthy period of time.[13]
On 11 July 2010, Nenê joined Paris Saint-Germain in a deal believed to be around €5.5 million. "I'm very happy to have signed for Paris," the player told PSG's official website, adding: "Like PSG, I'm hoping to have a big league season and to pull something off in the Europa League".[14] He scored in his first official appearance, a 3–1 home win against AS Saint-Étienne,[15] adding two on 11 September against newly promotedAC Arles-Avignon (4–0, home).[16] Halfway through the season he had already registered 13 goals, making him the third-highest scorer only behind Moussa Sow and Kevin Gameiro; his displays, free-kick ability and attacking flair earned him comparisons with Ronaldinho, a compatriot who played at the Parc des Princes earlier in the decade,[17] but he only scored one more goal until the end of the campaign, with PSG finally finishing fourth.
In the summer of 2011, Paris Saint-Germain were purchased by Qatari investors and bought several new players, including Jérémy Menez with whom Nenê had played at Monaco.[18] The Brazilian began the season hesitantly, struggling to accept that he had lost his star status in the team with the arrival of Javier Pastore.[19][20] On 29 October, however, he scored two goals (both penalties) in a 4–2 home win against Stade Malherbe Caen, putting his team three points clear at the top of the table.[21]
Nenê scored his first hat-trick with PSG on 13 May 2012, netting all of the game's goals in the home fixture against Rennez in only 18 minutes of play.[22] He finished the campaign as the league's second top scorer, helping his side to second and direct qualification to the UEFA Champions League.[23]
Al-Gharafa
On 15 January 2013, after having appeared in 112 official matches with PSG (but only nine in the league in the first half of the season), Nenê moved to Al-Gharafa SC in the Qatar Stars League.[24] In March, he was suspended for nine games and fined €67,000 for fighting with Houssine Kharja,[25][26] being eventually released in late January of the following year.[27]
On 26 January 2018, the 36-year-old Nenê agreed to a two-year contract with São Paulo.[31] In an interview held the previous December, he claimed to have been a supporter of the club as a child.[32] He scored his first goal for his new team on 7 February, in a 1–0 win over Bragantino for the Campeonato Paulista.[33]
Fluminense
After being released, on 15 July 2019, Nenê joined Fluminense until the end of the 2020 season.[34] In the first two months of that year, he scored seven goals across all competitions.[35]
Vasco and Juventude
After Fluminense, Nenê played for Vasco da Gama between September 2021 and March 2023 and then joined Juventude in April 2023. On 15 August 2024, at 43 years and 26 days old, he became the oldest player to score in the Brasileirão Série A, surpassing the record previously held by Rogério Ceni.[36][37]
Each year, Nenê organised with fellow footballer Neymar a charity match in his hometown of Jundiaí, with the purpose of raising money for food for families in need.[40]
^"Nené, ex del Mallorca, ficha por el Alavés" [Nené [sic], formerly of Mallorca, signs for Alavés]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 24 August 2004. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
^"Ancelotti se irrita com Nenê" [Ancelotti gets mad at Nenê] (in Portuguese). Goal. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
^"Nene a résilié" [Nene has been released]. L'Équipe (in French). 28 January 2015. Archived from the original on 1 September 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
^P., Quentin (5 December 2014). "Anciens: Nenê défie Neymar!" [Past player: Nenê challenges Neymar!] (in French). Le Meilleur du PSG. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
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