César Santin (; born 24 February 1981) is a Brazilian former professional

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 ...

who played as a forward. He is currently working as an academy coach at Hillerød Fodbold. He is a versatile player, being able to play most of the attacking positions in both midfield and attack. He is known as a pacey winger with an eagerness to challenge the opponents with his dribbling.

Biography

Early career

In his years in

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 ...

he started his career playing for São José, a team he would later return to play for a short brief in 2004. Meanwhile, he played for both Grêmio and Vitória, never managing to get his breakthrough in the best Brazilian league Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. His goal for Grêmio against Juventude gave qualification for semifinals in 2002 Brasileirão.

Kalmar FF

In 2004, he transferred from São José to Swedish club

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the cl ...

who the previous season was promoted from Superettan finishing 1st, and was about to play in Allsvenskan. César Santin quickly became a darling to the fans due to his hard work and good dribbles. He especially won the supporters hearts when he scored against

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

n giants

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

, which he would later transfer to, with a terrific longshot leaving Copenhagen's goalie Jesper Christiansen no chance in a

Royal League The Royal League was an annual Scandinavian football tournament held three times between teams from the three Scandinavian monarchies (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway), starting after the end of the regular domestic seasons of Norway and Sweden. De ...

match, a match Kalmar FF won 1–0. In his time in Allsvenskan, he developed into a league profile scoring 12 times in 23 appearances in the 2007 season. In the first half of the 2008 season he started out as the league topscorer helping Kalmar FF to the 1st place in the league. His strong performances had him linked with F.C. Copenhagen to whom he would later transfer to for an unknown price, however,

Ekstra Bladet ''Ekstra Bladet'' is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) ''E ...

claimed that the price was around 10 million Danish kroner.

F.C. Copenhagen

In the 2008 Danish summer transfer window,

chairman

Flemming Østergaard Flemming Ammentorp Østergaard (born 31 October 1943 in ''Det Gule Palæ'' (Danish: ''The Yellow Palace''), Ordrup) is a retired businessman, best known as long-time chairman of Parken Sport & Entertainment, who owns the football club F.C. Cop ...

promised that the club would get the best squad in the league, but as the window headed towards the end F.C. Copenhagen still had not signed any reinforcement but

Thomas Kristensen Thomas Fauerskov Kristensen (born 17 April 1983) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently working as a transition coach at Lyngby BK and as an assistant coach for the Danish U-18 national team. Kri ...

from

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

. As César Santin was signed at the end of the window, many people became sceptic and thought of him as being a panicky transfer, however, after some good performances and a goal in his fourth game for the club against

Lillestrøm SK Lillestrøm Sportsklubb is a Norwegian professional football club from the city of Lillestrøm, just outside of the capital Oslo. Lillestrøm SK is a Norwegian football club based in Lillestrøm, playing in Eliteserien. The club was founded in ...

and fifth game against league rivals

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Supe ...

he quickly became a fan favourite, and is now considered one of the most essential parts of the Copenhagen offensive play. On 6 November 2008, César Santin scored his second goal in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup group stage when he from close range equalized

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

's 1–0 lead and the match ended in a draw. He claimed after the match that he had scored many important goals, but the one against

was the most important goal in his career. On 17 December 2008, F.C. Copenhagen played their last match of the year against

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

side Club Brugge. Copenhagen won 1–0, the goalscorer was Santin, and this secured Copenhagen to play at the knock-out stages of the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup association football, football tournament. The 2009 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe S.K., Fenerbahçe, i ...

, facing English side Manchester City. A game that was drawn 2–2 after goals from Aílton Almeida and Martin Vingaard. On 24 May 2009, Santin secured F.C. Copenhagen the championship of the 2009 season, scoring on a penalty shot against

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Found ...

, the sole goal of the game. Meanwhile, Brøndby lost their game in Aarhus, giving Copenhagen a 5-point lead with one round left in the Superliga. The 2010–11 season was so far the most successful for Santin, as he was part of the historical side, that managed to progress from the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, before being knocked out by

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...

2–0 on aggregate. Also, he managed to net an impressive 17 goals in the domestic league that season, becoming the second-most scoring player in the league after teammate Dame N'Doye, who scored a total of 25. Santin was a regular starter all season in the Superliga, where F.C. Copenhagen performed very well and won with the highest margin ever. In the 2011–12 season, he appeared in 44 matches and scored 17 goals in all competitions. This time his team F.C. Copenhagen failed to win the Superliga as they finished second behind

, but they managed to win the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

after beating

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in De ...

1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Santin scored his only goal in the European competitions that season against Hannover 96 at AWD-Arena, in Copenhagen's 2–2 draw for the

of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. The next season, Santin appeared in 32

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

matches and scored 11 goals, helping F.C. Copenhagen to win the Superliga again. He also scored against Club Brugge, in his side 3–2 away win for the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of the Champions League and against Lille OSC, in Copenhagen's 1–0 home victory for the

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

of the Champions League. After being eliminated in the play-off round of the

, Copenhagen participated in the

of the

, where Santin scored one goal against

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name t ...

Aker Stadion The Aker Stadion (known as Molde Stadion for UEFA competitions and prior to sponsorship) is an all-seater football stadium located at Reknes in Molde, Norway, and is the home of Eliteserien club Molde. The stadium has a current capacity of 1 ...

, in a match which Copenhagen won by 2–1. The 2013–14 season, was Santin's sixth and final season at F.C. Copenhagen. He managed to appear in 14 matches and scored 5 goals in all competitions, before he move to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

and sign a contract with

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

in December 2013.

APOEL

On 27 December 2013, César Santin signed an 18-month contract with

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

from

. He made his debut on 4 January 2014, coming on as a 67th-minute substitute in APOEL's 2–2 home draw against

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintai ...

for the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

. He scored his first official goal for APOEL on 19 January 2014, in his team's 3–1 home win against

Nea Salamina Nea Salamis Famagusta or Nea Salamina Famagusta ( el, Νέα Σαλαμίνα Αμμοχώστου) is a Cypriot sports club based in Ammochostos (also known by its romanized name, Famagusta), Cyprus. The club is named after Salamis (or Salam ...

for the

. He won his first title with APOEL on 21 May 2014, when his team won

Ermis Aradippou Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Second Division. Ermis' greatest success came ...

2–0 in the

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 ...

final and lifted the trophy. Ten days later, Santin also won the

after APOEL's 1–0 away victory against

in the title deciding match of the competition. On 30 June 2014,

terminated Santin's contract with the club by mutual consent.

Career statistics

Honours

;

* Allsvenskan:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

: 2007 ;

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

: 2008–09, 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

: 2008–09, 2011–12 ;

: 2013–14 *

: 2013–14

Notes

References

External links

APOEL official profile
*
F.C. Copenhagen profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santin, Cesar Living people 1981 births Brazilian footballers São José Esporte Clube players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Esporte Clube Vitória players Kalmar FF players F.C. Copenhagen players APOEL FC players Clube Esportivo Aimoré players Danish Superliga players Allsvenskan players Cypriot First Division players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Sweden Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Association football forwards Fremad Valby players Footballers from Porto Alegre