Born and raised in poverty in the Brazilian municipality of Lagoa da Prata, Gilberto joined the youth academy at local club América Mineiro, where he made his senior debut as a centre-back in 1998.

[3] After starring the following season, where he helped gain the club promotion into the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, he joined city rivals Atlético Mineiro.

During his time at Atlético, Gilberto transitioned into a defensive midfielder under head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, and flourished in his new role, gaining a call-up to the Brazil national team for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where he featured prominently as his country won the tournament.

[4] As a result of his World Cup performances, Gilberto garnered a move to the Premier League to sign for Arsenal that summer for a fee of £4.5 million.

[6] He would feature as a member of the Invincibles, where he captured his first top-flight league title as his team went undefeated the whole season, as well as winning two FA Cups.

After retaining the Confederations Cup in 2009, Gilberto expressed his desire to prolong his club career, which coincided with limited playing time for Brazil.

Despite financial hardship, causing his sisters and him to share a single room, he had a relatively carefree childhood: he describes it as "[a time when] I had no responsibility in my life, I played football on the street with cousins and friends, and we never had any contact with drugs or violence".

Because of the low wage at América Mineiro, he was forced to quit football to take various jobs as a labourer, a carpenter, and a worker in a sweet factory.

[14] In his second season, he was moved by the manager Carlos Alberto Parreira from central defence to a defensive midfield role where he flourished.

However, complications arose when a transfer embargo was placed on Atlético Mineiro due to unpaid wages to some players at the club, including Gilberto.

On 11 August 2002 he made his Arsenal debut as a substitute against Liverpool in the second half of the FA Community Shield game in which he scored the winning goal.

After two substitute appearances, Gilberto finally broke into the starting eleven on 27 August, helping Arsenal to a 5–2 win against West Bromwich Albion.

His next season started equally impressively, as he scored the first goal in Arsenal's 3–1 Community Shield win over Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium.

Lichtenstein's lawyer argued that he and his informal partner, Ronny Rosenthal, never received an allegedly agreed 10% commission from Gilberto's £4.5 million transfer to Arsenal from Atlético Mineiro in July 2002.

Mr Justice Jack, who on 29 June ruled against Lichtenstein, and ordered the claimants pay Atletico Minéiro £94,000 in legal costs.

[36] A year later, the case could have caused problems for Arsenal, when former player Ashley Cole criticised the club for "hypocrisy and double standards" in the way they approached Gilberto.

[38] Although Gilberto had a period of bad form during the winter months of the season, his good defensive performances during the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League (in particular, games against Real Madrid,[39] Juventus[40][41] and Villarreal[42]) gained him praise.

[citation needed] Following the departure of defender Sol Campbell and retirement of striker Dennis Bergkamp in the summer of 2006, Gilberto was announced as Arsenal's vice-captain for the 2006–07 season.

His good form continued for Arsenal as he scored several league goals, garnering praise for his performances as stand-in captain while Thierry Henry was injured.

[47][48] The explanation for his unusually high tally is the fact that Henry suffered two lengthy injury spells, in which Gilberto stepped up as captain to take penalties.

[55] In August, after returning to Arsenal's pre-season training late due to his involvement in the Copa América tournament (and thus missing the start of the season),[56] Gilberto then lost his place in the first team to young midfielder Mathieu Flamini.

In Gilberto's final home game for Panathinaikos on 23 May 2011, he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over PAOK, for the Greek UEFA Champions League playoffs.

[85] On 9 December 2012, Gilberto was welcomed at Aeroporto dos Confins by fans of Atlético Mineiro, returning to the Belo Horizonte side after 11 years away.

[87] In October 2001, his good performances from that year earned Gilberto a call up to the Brazil national team ("A Seleção") by Luiz Felipe Scolari for the 2002 World Cup qualification games.

On the back of his good Champions League form, Gilberto was selected for the Brazil national football team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

[103] Gilberto is good at helping to defend against opponents who play a long ball game because he often man marks the opposition's attacking target-man.

[106] According to ProZone (a data analysis system used by football managers) figures cited by The Sunday Times in January 2007, Gilberto was, together with Paul Scholes of Manchester United and Frank Lampard of Chelsea, one of the few midfielders in England to attain "the elite Champions League level" of performance.

[107] Gilberto is a patron of The Street League, a UK based charity which organises football matches for homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers.

"[110] During the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, he served as a studio analyst for ESPN on ABC alongside former Dutch international Ruud van Nistelrooy.

[111] Gilberto later worked on an expert panel during BBC's coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, he featured alongside Jürgen Klinsmann, Vincent Kompany, Didier Drogba, Laura Georges, Pablo Zabaleta and Mark Schwarzer.