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 C club Botafogo-PB. As of 2025, he is the oldest player to score in a Série A match, having set this record on 21 August 2025 at 44 years and 32 days old. He is also one of a few players in football with more than 1,100 official appearances.

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. 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.

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.

On 27 January 2003, Nenê signed for defending Série A champions Santos. Mainly a backup option to Robinho and Ricardo Oliveira, he still scored three goals during the team's Copa Libertadores run, and also appeared in both legs of the finals as a substitute.

Spain

In 2003–04, Nenê moved to Spain, first with RCD Mallorca – making his La Liga debut on 14 September 2003 in a 0–4 away loss against Athletic Bilbao– and then Deportivo Alavés. With the Basque side he put up two extraordinary individual seasons, with 21 goals in the league alone, playing his first year in the second division and achieving promotion.

After being relegated from the top level with Alavés in 2006, Nenê met the same fate with RC Celta de Vigo, 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. 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, 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,; ESPN Soccernet, 24 October 2009 as he led the scoring charts for a lengthy period of time.

Paris Saint-Germain

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".Nene seals PSG switch; ESPN Soccernet, 13 July 2010 He scored in his first official appearance, a 3–1 home win against AS Saint-Étienne,; ESPN Soccernet, 7 August 2010 adding two on 11 September against newly promoted AC Arles-Avignon (4–0, home).; ESPN Soccernet, 11 September 2010 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,PSG-OM: Nene, le nouveau Ronaldinho, sauve le "Clasico" du "Soporifico" (PSG-OM: Nene, the new Ronaldinho, saves the "Clasico" from "Soporifico") ; Sport 24, 7 November 2010 (in French) 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.Official: Paris Saint-Germain signs Jeremy Menez and Blaise Matuidi ; Goal, 25 July 2011 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. 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.; ESPN Soccernet, 29 October 2011

Nenê scored his first hat-trick with PSG on 13 May 2012, netting all of the game's goals in the home fixture against Rennes in only 18 minutes of play.; ESPN Soccernet, 13 May 2012 He finished the campaign as the league's second top scorer, helping his side to second and direct qualification to the UEFA Champions League.

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.Nenê officiellement au Qatar (Nenê officially in Qatar) ; Planète PSG, 15 January 2013 (in French) In March, he was suspended for nine games and fined €67,000 for fighting with Houssine Kharja,Fight with Nene: the Moroccan Kharja severely punished! ; Modern Ghana, 26 March 2013Nene, Kharja and others hit with suspensions, hefty fines following football scuffle ; Doha News, 27 March 2013 being eventually released in late January of the following year.

West Ham United

On 18 February 2015, free agent Nenê signed for West Ham United until the end of the campaign. He made his debut ten days later in a 1–3 home defeat by Crystal Palace by coming on as a 61st minute substitute for Alex Song, and was released at the end of the season following an unsuccessful stint at the Hammers.

São Paulo On 26 January 2018, the 36-year-old Nenê agreed to a two-year contract with São Paulo. In an interview held the previous December, he claimed to have been a supporter of the club as a child. He scored his first goal for his new team on 7 February, in a 1–0 win over Bragantino for the Campeonato Paulista.

Fluminense After being released, on 15 July 2019, Nenê joined Fluminense until the end of the 2020 season. In the first two months of that year, he scored seven goals across all competitions.

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. He scored again the following August to further extend his record.

Botafogo-PB On 10 January 2026, Nenê moved to Série C club Botafogo-PB, signing a one-year contract.

Personal life In October 2012, Nenê was named an ambassador in France for the game FIFA 13, alongside Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi. In 2010, he signed a deal with Adidas.

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.

Career statistics

+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueState leagueNational cupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsPaulista2000Série C—2001Série C—2002Série B0000——156156Total—7226Palmeiras2002Série A245—00—63308Santos200325830—133—4111Mallorca2003–04La Liga292—2060—372Alavés2004–05Segunda División4012—00——40122005–06La Liga389—00——389Total7821—00——7821Celta2006–07La Liga388—1091—489Monaco2007–08Ligue 1285—10—223172008–0910—00——102009–103414—61—104115Total6319—71—327322Espanyol (loan)2008–09La Liga354—40——394Paris Saint-Germain2010–11Ligue 13514—52942051202011–123521—44721047272012–1391—004010141Total7936—962064011248Al-Gharafa2012–13QSL63—0072321672013–142310—31—3029112014–15147—00——147Total4320—3172625925West Ham United2014–15Premier League80—00——80Vasco da Gama2015Série A209—30——2392016Série B311317771——55212017Série A31515333——4982018002100——21Total82273411134——12939São Paulo2018Série A3581224240—55122019201102020—170Total3782326260007212Fluminense2019Série A253000020—27320203181366620—522020211517151102—375Total71122071171420011628Vasco da Gama2021Série B1440000——144202233710520——45122023Série A009121——112Total47111964100007018Juventude2023Série B287————2872024Série A2835030——3632025Série A2536010——323Total81131104000009613Botafogo-PB2026Série C16711310—102910Career total756201121296522751435131109299

Honours Paulista Campeonato Brasileiro Série C: 2001 Campeonato Paulista Série A2: 2001

Paris Saint-Germain Ligue 1: 2012–13

Vasco da Gama Campeonato Carioca: 2016

Fluminense Taça Rio: 2020

Individual Ligue 1 Best Foreign Player: 2009–10 Ligue 1 Top Scorer: 2011–12 (joint) UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2010–11, 2011–12 Campeonato Carioca Best Player: 2016 Campeonato Carioca Team of the Year: 2020

See also List of men's footballers with 1,000 or more official appearances

References

External links

French League profile