Chayene Medeiros Oliveira Santos (born 29 September 1990), commonly known as Chay, 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 ...

who plays as a forward for Ceará, on loan from

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...

Early life

Named after the character from the Sergio Leone spaghetti western

Once Upon a Time in the West ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) the West") is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone ...

, Chay was born in

Maceió Maceió (), formerly sometimes Anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an Indigenous term for a spring. Most maceiós flow to the sea, but some get trapped and form l ...

Alagoas Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. ...

, and moved to Niterói,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

at the age of 4. Upon arriving at the new city, he started a treatment for a number of allergies, and started in

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

after a recommendation from a doctor.

Club career

Chay began his senior career with Canto do Rio in 2008, playing in the Campeonato Carioca Série C, before joining Bonsucesso, where he featured mainly for the under-20 side. He then moved abroad to Thailand in 2009, where he notably scored 17 goals in the

2011 Thai Division 1 League 2011 Thai League Division 1 is the 14th season of the League since its establishment in 1997. It is the feeder league for the Thai Premier League. A total of 18 teams will compete in the league. League expansion It was announced at the end of the ...

for Songkhla. In 2013, Chay switched to Malaysia and signed for

Kedah FA Kedah Darul Aman Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bola Sepak Kedah Darul Aman) is a football club based in Alor Setar, Kedah, that competes in the Malaysia Super League. They are the only team in the history of Malaysian football to have won two treb ...

; back to Brazil during a holiday period, he was hit by a stray bullet. Allegedly "unsettled" at the club, he returned to his home country and started to play

seven-a-side football Seven-a-side football is one of the minifootball variations of football, which is played among seven players in each team. In the game consists of one goalkeeper and six outfield players. The pitch of seven-a-side football is bigger than the fi ...

, featuring for the likes of

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

and

. In 2018, he was called up to the Brazil seven-a-side national team, winning the ''Copa América de Seleções'' and being named the best seven-a-side player in South America. Chay also returned to association football in 2017, with Bela Vista. On 15 January 2018, he moved to Mogi Mirim, but left the club after nine goalless appearances and signed for on 22 May. On 16 January 2019, Chay was announced as new signing of Rio Branco-AC. He returned to the Rio de Janeiro state on 23 April, after agreeing to a contract with America-RJ. Chay moved to Portuguesa-RJ for the 2020 sesason, being a regular starter in the club's Campeonato Carioca and Série D campaigns. He was a spotlight in the 2021 Carioca after scoring five times in only thirteen matches. On 25 May 2021, Chay was announced at Série B side

, on loan until the end of the year. On 31 August, after scoring eight goals, he signed a permanent deal with the club until 2024; Portuguesa retained 50% of his economic rights.

Career statistics

Honours

;Botafogo * Campeonato Brasileiro Série B:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

Chayene Santos
at Goal.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Chay 1990 births Living people People from Maceió Brazilian footballers Association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Canto do Rio Football Club players Mogi Mirim Esporte Clube players Rio Branco Football Club players America Football Club (RJ) players Associação Atlética Portuguesa (RJ) players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Songkhla F.C. players Muangthong United F.C. players Buriram F.C. players Sisaket F.C. players Kedah Darul Aman F.C. players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate footballers in Thailand Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Sportspeople from Alagoas