Alípio Duarte Brandão (born 7 June 1992), known simply as Alípio, 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 for

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 ...

as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

Early years

Born in

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

Brazilian Federal District The Federal District ( pt, Distrito Federal ) is one of 27 federative units of Brazil. Located in the Center-West Region, it is the smallest Brazilian federal unit and the only one that has no municipalities, being divided into 31 administr ...

, Alípio left

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

at the age of 14. An

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

, he moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

with his legal guardian Helber Damião, co-owner of the football school ''Dois Toques''. His first footballing rights were split between Damião, his original club in his homeland,

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A, the first divisio ...

, and the team to where he moved,

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

Club career

In November 2008, Alípio joined

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

for roughly €1.4 million, without having made one single first-team appearance with Rio Ave. He scored two goals on his debut for the C-team which operated in

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

, and played his second game against

CF Rayo Majadahonda Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish football team based in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at ''Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with ...

in a 2–0 home win, as they eventually finished in eighth position; he played most of his first two years, however, with the ''Juvenil'' side. After scoring in a training match against the Real Madrid first team on 11 February 2009, Alípio made his official debut for

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

four days later, against

Águilas CF Águilas Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team in Águilas, in the autonomous community of Murcia. Founded in 1925 and dissolved in 2010, it played its last season ( 2009–10) in Segunda División B – Group 2, holding home games a ...

, as an 87th-minute substitute for

Miguel Palanca Miguel Palanca Fernández (born 18 December 1987) is a Spanish former professional footballer. Mainly a right winger, he also operated as a forward. Club career Born in Tarragona, Catalonia, Palanca was a product of RCD Espanyol's youth academy ...

. Thus, he became the youngest player ever to appear for the reserves; during the ten minutes he played, he impressed spectators and his coaches alike with his ball skills. In the 2010–11 season, aged 18, Alípio returned to Portugal, being sold to

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

and signing a five-year contract with the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club. In his first year in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

he played for the under-19s but, late into it, was loaned to Série C team

América Futebol Clube (RN) América Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as América de Natal, is a Brazilian professional club based in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte founded on 14 July 1915. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian foot ...

. Alípio returned to Benfica shortly after due to bureaucratic problems and was again loaned, now to

Al-Sharjah SCC Sharjah Football Club ( ar, نادي الشارقة لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club based in Sharjah that competes in the UAE Pro League. Their home stadium is Sharjah Stadium. Founded in 1966, it has been the most ...

in the

UAE Arabian Gulf League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

. After two years away from professional football he went on trial with

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia ("Harmony"; also trans ...

, who later signed him to a permanent deal; he made his debut for his new club on 23 October, against

Nikos & Sokratis Erimis Nicos & Socratis Erimis ( el, Νίκος & Σωκράτης Ερήμης) is a Cypriot football club based in Erimi, Limassol. The club was founded in 1956. Since 2013 the club competes in the Cypriot Second Division. The club colors are yellow ...

for the campaign's

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

. Three days later he first appeared in the First Division, coming from the bench to provide two assists in the 6–0 away routing of

Doxa Katokopias FC Doxa Katokopias FC ( el, Δόξα Κατωκοπιάς) is a Cypriot football team from Katokopia in the Nicosia District. Since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Katokopia is under Turkish occupation, and the club moved to Peristerona, ...

Personal life

Alípio idolized

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

while he was growing up. His compatriot also played professionally for Real Madrid, winning the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

with

.Alipio: "He hablado con Pepe y me ha dado su apoyo" (Alipio: "I have talked with Pepe and he has given me his support")

Diario AS ''Diario AS'' () is a Spanish daily sports newspaper that concentrates particularly on football. Profile ''Diario AS'' is part of PRISA which also owns '' El País'' and ''Cinco Días''. The paper particularly covers news of the Community of M ...

, 10 November 2008 (Spanish)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alipio 1992 births Living people Brazilian footballers Association football midfielders Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Figueirense FC players América Futebol Clube (RN) players Luverdense Esporte Clube players Esporte Clube Vitória players Atlético Clube Goianiense players Vila Nova Futebol Clube players Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Sharjah FC players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players Football League (Greece) players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Footballers from Brasília