Childhood & Early Life
Edinson Cavani was born on February 14, 1987, in Salto, Uruguay, to Luis Cavani and Berta Gómez. He was the youngest of the three children of his parents. There were times when the family struggled to bring food on the table every evening.
His family had inherent love for football, and Edinson’s father, a former footballer, taught him some basic tips. This led to Edinson developing a keen interest in football, and he turned into a competent “street player” before he turned 10. Both his older brothers too made their careers in football.
Edinson loved football and played for hours at a stretch, as there was no pressure from his parents to pursue anything else. By the time he was 9 years old, he was already playing with boys much older than him. He got roughed up most of the time, but he did not stop playing and grew up as a strong, determined, and talented young kid.
When he entered his teenage years, he started trying to enter the city’s youth football program. He succeeded and proved his mettle in his first few months with the youth academy.
His father too had played some football back in his youth and so had his older brother. With the guidance of both, Edinson surpassed many hurdles to make it to the youth team of ‘Danubio’ in 2006.
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Career
Playing for ‘Danubio,’ he was selected for the national ‘Under-20’ team that competed in the 2007 ‘South American Youth Championship.’ Cavani finished as the top goal-scorer in the tournament, with seven goals in his nine games for the club. His team reached the semi-finals and qualified for the 2017 ‘Under-20 FIFA World Cup.’
Cavani’s performance was noticed by all and several big South American and European teams, such as ‘Milan’ and ‘Juventus,’ lined up to acquire him. Italian football club ‘Palermo’ succeeded in getting him onboard with them. In the 2008–2009 season, Edinson scored 14 goals for the club, earning the nickname ‘El Matador.’
In the 2009–2010 season, ‘Palermo’ performed like champions in the ‘Serie A,’ and the team qualified for the ‘UEFA Champions League.’ In 2010, ‘Palermo’ offered another contract to Edinson. The contract was valid till 2014, but he was loaned to ‘Napoli’ in July 2010. In the ‘Serie A,’ Cavani played for ‘Napoli’ and scored in the first four matches. He shared the honor of being the lead scorer of the tournament with Samuel Eto’o.
In the ‘UEFA Europa League,’ he scored two hat-tricks in the month of January. By the end of the season, he emerged as the leading scorer for his team, with 25 goals. In May 2011, he signed another deal with ‘Napoli,’ which meant he would be with the team till 2016.
At the beginning of the 2011–2012 season, he scored a hat-trick against ‘Milan’ and finished the league season with 23 goals in total, attaining the third spot in the top goal-scorers’ list. In 2012, he scored on a penalty in the finals of the ‘Coppa Italia’ against ‘Juventus’ and ensured a win for his team.
In the 2012–2013 season, he scored all four goals against ‘Roma’ in a ‘Europa League’ game. ‘Roma’ were the reigning champions and knocking them out almost meant ‘Napoli’ would win the tournament, but that did not happen. Edinson, although, emerged as the top scorer in the ‘Serie A,’ with 29 goals in total.
By the end of the 2012–2013 season, rumors had started claiming that Edinson would quit ‘Napoli,’ as several European teams were in the race to acquire him. Despite the rumors, Edinson stated that he had grown both as a man and a player with ‘Napoli’ and that ‘Napoli’ would remain his top preference.
In July 2013, however, ‘Napoli’ signed a contact with ‘PSG’ to transfer Edinson to them for five years. This transfer, worth €64 million, was the sixth-biggest deal in the history of the game and the most expensive deal the French club had ever made. In the 2014 ‘Coupe de la Ligue’ finals against ‘Lyon,’ Edinson scored two goals to ensure his team a victory. He scored 25 goals in his 43 games for ‘PSG’ in his first season with the club.
In 2015, he played magnificently to secure another ‘Coupe de la Ligue’ final victory. He performed well to help his team win the ‘Ligue 1’ finals and the ‘Coupe de France’ too, thereby making ‘PSG’ win all three tournaments for the second year in a row.
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In the 2016–17 ‘Ligue’ season, he scored 14 goals in 14 matches, and in the ‘UEFA Champions League,’ he scored 8 goals in his 8 matches for his club. In April 2017, he helped his team in scoring a ‘Coupe de la Ligue’ victory, and with 35 goals to his credit, he was named the ‘Ligue 1 Player of the Year.’
Edinson made his debut for the national Uruguayan team in 2008. In October 2010, he scored his first international hat-trick, in a friendly match against Indonesia. He secured the 2011 ‘Copa America,’ making Uruguay the champions for the 15th time in a row.
He helped his team reach the 2013 ‘FIFA Confederations Cup’ semi-finals, and with 10 goals in total, he was the lead scorer in the 2018 ‘FIFA World Cup Qualification’ (CONMEBOL) tournament.
Personal Life
Edinson Cavani was married to his childhood girlfriend, Maria Soledad, and had two sons with her. Edinson would often take both his sons to his victory celebrations.
In 2014, however, Edinson announced that things were not too good between the couple, and they split soon after. It was later revealed that Edinson was having an affair with Maria Rosaria. The separation was followed by divorce proceedings, and his wife won the battle in court, securing an alimony amount of €25 thousand every month.
Following his bitter divorce, Edinson began a new relationship with Jocelyn Burgardt, a model and dancer from Uruguay.
Edinson loves hunting in his free time.
