Douglas Franco Teixeira

Twente

Born in Florianópolis, Douglas began his career with Joinville at the age of 16. Douglas joined Dutch team Twente on trial prior to the 2007–08 season, playing his first match in a friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 7 September 2007, which saw Twente draw 2–2. Douglas impressed the club's management, resulting Douglas signing a three-year contract with Twente on 24 September 2007. After playing in the reserve for the first three months at the club, Douglas made his competitive Twente debut on 22 December 2007, coming on as a 90th-minute substitute in an Eredivisie match against Heerenveen. He then made his first start for the club came on 23 February 2008 against AZ Alkmaar, in a 0–0 draw. Douglas scored his first FC Twente goal two weeks later on 11 March 2008, in a 1–0 win over VVV-Venlo. Unfortunately, Douglas was sent-off in the 42nd minute against Utrecht after a second bookable offense when he suspended of elbowing Mousa Dembélé, which Twente won 1–0. Because of elbow contact, Douglas was given a three-man ban by the Dutch FA, but won via appeal and missed one game. Douglas made twelve appearances and scoring once in his first season at the club. In May 2008, his playing form attracted interest from "several bigger clubs". However, he opted to sign a contract extension until 2012. In the 2008–09 season, Douglas played in both legs of the Champions League play-offs against Arsenal, but they proved to be too strong and failed to win either leg…

Despite being born in Brazil, in September 2010 Douglas spoke of his desire to play international football for the Netherlands. However, his hopes of playing for the Netherlands was threatened by politicians, who were trying to prevent Douglas from playing the national team, citing examples of Salomon Kalou. After gaining his Netherlands citizenship in March 2011, Douglas was not eligible to play for Netherlands, having yet met the requirement of FIFA rules. On 2 November 2011, he received his Dutch passport. Douglas' passport was presented by Mayor of Enschede, Peter den Oudsten. As a result, Douglas had to revoke his Brazilian passport. Douglas' first call-up to the Netherlands national team was in October 2012. Despite being keen to play for the Netherlands in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he was not selected for the final 23-man squad.

In March 2011, Douglas passed his Dutch citizenship exams, receiving his passport in November of that year.

Twente

Eredivisie: 2009–10 KNVB Cup: 2010–11 Johan Cruijff Schaal: 2010, 2011