José Carlos Tofolo Júnior, commonly known as Alemão (born 2 March 1989), is a Brazilian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Maringá Maringá () is a municipality in southern Brazil founded on 10 May 1947 as a planned urban area. It is the third largest city in the state of Paraná, with 385,753 inhabitants in the city proper, and 764,906 in the metropolitan area (IBGE 2013). ...

. He also holds Italian nationality.

Club career

Early career

Alemão started his career at Santos, and signed a professional contract with club in 2005. He made his first team debut on 31 January 2008, starting in a 1–2

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

loss against Grêmio Barueri, due to

Kléber Pereira Kléber João Boas Pereira (or simply Kléber Boas or Kléber Pereira or Kléber Banguela in Brazil; born 13 August 1975 in Peri Mirim-MA, Brazil) is a retired Brazilian footballer who last played for Moto Club. A tall and gangly player with a ...

's injury. Alemão scored his first goal for ''Peixe'' four days later, in a 1–1 draw against

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...

Udinese/Varese and loans

In July 2008 he was signed by

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club Udinese on a reported free transfer, with performance based fees. However, Alemão was not registered in

Lega Calcio The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for National Professionals League), commonly known as Lega Calcio (Football League), was the governing body that ran the two highest football divisions in Italy, namely Serie A and Serie B, from 1946 to ...

as the club did not have an extra non-EU signing quota (Udinese signed

Ricardo Chará Ricardo Chará Lerma (born 24 May 1990) is a Colombian footballer who plays as a defender, and who is currently a free agent. Club career Early career Chara started his youth career with his hometown club Cali. He then made his first team debu ...

Dušan Basta Dušan Basta ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Баста, ; born 18 August 1984) is a Serbian former professional right-sided full-back who played most recently for Italian club Lazio. He made his national team debut for Serbia in 2005. He was in the squad ...

, Alexis Sánchez and Odion Ighalo that season but only the last 2 were officially registered in the League Office). Santos also submitted a new contract to

Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation ( pt, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country ...

BID-E system to document a new contract which last until 2011 on 28 July. Alemão was only officially signed for Udinese in June 2009, and never appeared for Santos neither in

2008 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2008 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 52nd edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. It began on May 8 and ended on December 7. For the first time, one club has won the championship three times in a row. Also, São Paulo has been cro ...

nor

2009 Campeonato Paulista The 2009 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Profissional da Primeira Divisão - Série A1 was the 108th season of São Paulo's top-flight professional football league. The season began on January 21 and ended on May 3. Corinthians were crowned the lea ...

, due to a dispute with the club's board. With Udinese, Alemão played for its Primavera under-20 team as an overage player. In July 2010 he was sold to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

in co-ownership deal, for €400,000. Alemão made his debut abroad on 20 August 2010, replacing

Alain Baclet Alain-Pierre Baclet (born 26 May 1986) is a French footballer who plays as a striker for Italian Eccellenza amateurs Promosport. Career Baclet played on Lille OSC's youth teams from 2001 to 2004, then moved to Italy to begin his professional ...

in the 66th minute of a 0–2

loss against

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

. On 31 January 2011, he was swapped with

Marco Cellini Marco Cellini (born 19 May 1981) is an Italian former footballer who played as a forward, and current head coach of Promozione amateurs Grassina. Playing career Born in the ''Campo di Marte'' Florence neighbourhood, next to the local Artemio ...

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

. In June 2011 Udinese gave up the remain 50% registration rights for free.

Back to Brazil

In January 2012 Alemão returned to Brazil, signing a temporary deal with Grêmio Catanduvense. He moved to

Guaratinguetá Guaratinguetá is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 122,505 (2020 est.) in an area of 752.64 km2. It is located in the region of ...

until December in mid-2012. After scoring regularly he moved to neighbouring Ponte Preta. After only appearing sparingly in 2013 Série A, Alemão was loaned to fellow league team Vitória. He subsequently was loaned to Chapecoense and Portuguesa in the following year, he scored 8 goals in total in Serie league and State league.

Cruz Azul

On 12 December 2014 Alemão signed for

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

side Cruz Azul. He got 3 goals and 4 assists during 14 games but

Figueirense Figueirense Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Figueirense, is a Brazilian professional club based in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina founded on 12 June 1921. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian ...

wants him to play in the club

Second Return to Brazil

In 2015, he returned to Brazil again for

. He then signed by

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and Ribeirão Preto based

Botafogo-SP Botafogo Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Botafogo-SP, Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto or simply Botafogo, is a Brazilian association football club in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. They currently play in the Série B, the second tier of Braz ...

FC Eindhoven

In 2016, he moved to Europe again for Dutch club

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one bei ...

References

External links

Football.it Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alemao, footballer, 1989 1989 births Living people People from Valinhos Brazilian footballers Association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Santos FC players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Esporte Clube Vitória players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Figueirense FC players Serie B players Udinese Calcio players L.R. Vicenza players Cruz Azul footballers ABC Futebol Clube players Botafogo Futebol Clube (SP) players FC Eindhoven players Eerste Divisie players Paraná Clube players Busan IPark players K League 2 players Centro Sportivo Alagoano players Ituano FC players America Football Club (RJ) players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Mexico Footballers from São Paulo (state)