Edinson Cavani

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 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.

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.