João José

Joao Jose (194cm) is the star of Portugal’s national team. For a long time volleyball did not play a role in Joao Jose’s life. He was born in Portimao and only at the age of 16 a friend persuaded him “to experiment” - eventually he started his career in 1994 and joined Che-Lagoense the club of his hometown. In the following years he changed clubs several times within Portugal. The World Championship 2002 in Argentina was a major turning point for him. With his impressive jumping ability Joao Jose was named best blocker of the tournament which raised the interest in him on an international level. In fact, the things that then happened to him were to have a decisive effect on his future life: in 2004 he joined the German model club Friedrichshafen and soon became one of the stabilizing figures in the team. “We were really lucky to get Joao”, says Friedrichshafen coach Stelian Moculescu, “if he were ten centimetres taller he would have been far too expensive for us and thus would not be playing for us today.” In 2007 Portugal’s sports journalists voted him “International Athlete of the Year”, an award which he shared with another, not really unknown colleague: football star Cristiano Ronaldo. He won the German title seven consecutive times, seized the German cup four times and celebrated the victory in the CEV Champions League in 2007 with his team Friedrichshafen. By now he does not only wear the captain’s armband in the Portuguese national team but also in his German club. Jose in season 2013/14 will play in Fonte do Bastardo (Portugal).

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