Diogo Luís Santo (born 26 May 1987), known simply as Diogo, is a Brazilian 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 le ...

as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. After starting out at Portuguesa, he spent most of his professional career in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

– having signed in 2008 – and in the

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

with

Buriram United Buriram United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลบุรีรัมย์ ยูไนเต็ด) is a professional football club based in Buriram, Thailand. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the ...

Club career

Brazil

Born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Diogo started his football career at

Associação Portuguesa de Desportos Associação Portuguesa de Desportos, commonly referred to as Portuguesa, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the district of Pari, São Paulo, that competes in the Campeonato Paulista, the top tier of the São Paulo state foo ...

. He quickly made a name for himself at the club, breaking into the first team in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and contributing largely to a promotion to the Série A, scoring 18 goals in 28 games – season's best – and being voted the competition's best player. It was this form which initially prompted Brazilian under-20 coach Nélson Rodrigues to include Diogo in his team (he had already played in previous national youth sides). In

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; ...

he had his first taste of top-flight football with Portuguesa, and showed early good form with six goals in 13 matches. Early in the same year, president Manuel da Lupa said he was as good as if not better than

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

's teenage sensation

Alexandre Pato Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva (; born 2 September 1989), commonly known as Alexandre Pato () or just Pato, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Pato began his career as a youth player for Internacional in 2000, maki ...

; he added that the player had only shown 50% of his capability due to consistent injuries. In July 2008, several teams had been attracted to Diogo's talents, and the player revealed his desire to play his trade in Europe after longtime admirers

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

were joined by

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

in bidding for his services. He had been monitored by the former's scouting department for more than two years, and offers included a £9,000,000 one, promptly rejected by Portuguesa; Arsenal manager

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

also publicly stated that he had tried to sign him once, as a 16-year-old.

Olympiacos

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP ('' ...

also became interested and, in a widely documented and somewhat controversial period of negotiation, Diogo finally signed for the Greek club in August 2008, for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

9 million and 70% of the player's rights. Arriving in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

on the 19th he passed his medical the following day and, on 21 August, signed a five-year contract. Diogo made his first appearance in the season's opener, against

Asteras Tripolis F.C. Asteras Tripolis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Αστέρας Τρίπολης), commonly referred to as Asteras Tripolis (meaning "Star of Tripoli"), is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, G ...

on 30 August 2008. On 6 September he scored from the

penalty spot The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. Wit ...

against

Ionikos FC Ionikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Ιωνικός) or Ionikos Nikaia is a Greek professional football club based in Nikaia, Piraeus, Greece, currently competing in the Super League Greece, the top-tier of the Greek football league system. Fr ...

, in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

. In the second round, he netted the game's only goal at

Skoda Xanthi FC Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xa ...

. During his first campaign he also showcased his good heading ability by scoring many of his goals from headers, being at one point the player with more goals with that specific body part at four. In that year's

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

, Diogo scored twice in the 5–0 home victory over

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 ...

on 2 October, adding two more in a 5–1 defeat of

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 ...

the following month, also in the group stage and at

Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Καραϊσκάκη, ), is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the ...

. Hence, heightened rumours of a big-money transfer to Europe's elite – and again to England – surfaced, whilst the player was ranked seventh (out of 50) in

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

's list of ''Footballers Transfer Target List''; eventually, the

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

team won the double. Further interest arose in October 2008, now from three other

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

sides,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. The latter's coach,

Rafa Benítez Rafa is a masculine given name, mostly as a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Rafael. It may refer to: People * Rafael Nadal (born 1986), Spanish tennis player * Rafa (footballer, born 1985), Spanish footballer Rafael López Gómez * Rafael Ben� ...

, again declared interest in the player in March of the following year, preparing to offer £12 million to acquire his services.

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

scouts had been said to have checked on him, seeing him as a perfect replacement for departed

Robbie Keane Robert David Keane (born 8 July 1980) is an Irish professional Association football, football coach and former Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Keane served as Captain (association football ...

; Benítez then loaned

Sebastián Leto Sebastián Eduardo Leto (born 30 August 1986) is a former Argentine professional footballer who played as a winger or forward.He is now assistant manager at Al-Gharafa SC. Club career Lanús Born in Alejandro Korn, Leto began his career wit ...

to Olympiacos, further fueling rumours that the player would be included in a swap deal, but nothing came to fruition, with Leto instead moving to

Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', "All-Athenian ...

. Diogo's second season was disastrous for both him and the team, suffering several injuries which limited to just slightly more than half of the games, scoring just two goals and losing his place in the starting lineup to Kostantinos Mitroglou. He started

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. I ...

by netting twice against

Besa Kavajë Besa or BESA may refer to: Arts & entertainment * ''Besa'' (newspaper), a newspaper published in Albania * ''Besa'' (TV series), a Serbian-British television series produced by Adrenalin and Red Planet Pictures * ''The Besa'', a novel by Albanian ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in a 5–0 away win (11–1 on aggregate) in the Europa League. In the competition's next round, however, against

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Maccabi World Union, Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי תל אביב; ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Tel Aviv'') is an Israeli association football, football club from Tel Aviv and part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv, ...

, he was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

after punching opposing

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Liran Strauber Liran Strauber (or Shtrauber, he, לירן שטראובר; born 20 August 1974) is a former Israeli association footballer who played as a goalkeeper. At international level, Strauber was capped at under-17 and under-21, and played eight time ...

, in a 1–0 away loss that also meant the Greeks' elimination on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

Back to Brazil

Diogo returned to Brazil on 19 August 2010, being loaned to

Clube de Regatas do 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 ...

. Six months later he joined

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

also on loan, failing to perform overall and returning to Olympiakos in January 2012, being excluded from the first team later that year. On 6 March 2013, Diogo returned to his first club Portuguesa.

Buriram United

On 31 December 2014, Diogo signed a two-year contract with

Buriram United F.C. Buriram United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลบุรีรัมย์ ยูไนเต็ด) is a professional football club based in Buriram, Thailand. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the ...

from the

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

. He scored in his debut on 24 January 2015, helping his new team defeat

Bangkok Glass F.C. BG Pathum United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลบีจี ปทุม ยูไนเต็ด) is a Thai professional football club based in Pathum Thani province and is managed by BG Sports Company Limited which is a ...

1–0 in the

Kor Royal Cup Kor Royal Cup ( th, ถ้วยพระราชทาน ก. ; ถ้วย ก.), known as the Yai Cup ( th, ถ้วยใหญ่) until 1963, was the highest level of club football competition which competed in the tournament in Thailand ...

. Diogo scored 45 goals in 51 games in his first season all competitions comprised, as Buriram became the first Asian club to win five titles in one year.

Johor Darul Ta'zim

On 3 January 2019,

Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Supe ...

announced the signing of Diogo for an approximate fee of €1.5 million, the highest ever paid by a Malaysian club.

Club statistics

Honours

Olympiacos *

: 2008–09, 2011–12,

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 ...

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: 2008–09, 2011–12 Santos *

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 ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

Buriram United *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Thai FA Cup The Thai FA Cup ( th, ไทยเอฟเอคัพ), known officially as The Football Association of Thailand Cup, is a football cup competition in Thailand. Thai FA Cup is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic ...

Thai League Cup The League Cup ( th, ไทยลีกคัพ) is a football cup competition in Thailand. It is also known as Toyota League Cup for sponsorship reasons. It was re-formed during the 2010 domestic football league season in Thailand and runs alon ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Thailand Champions Cup The Thailand Champions Cup (continuing Kor Royal Cup, a different competition from the Thai Super Cup) is a single-game competition between the winners of previous Thai League 1 and Thai FA Cup, organised by the Football Association of Thailand. ...

Mekong Club Championship The Mekong Club Championship was an ASEAN club competition for men's association football clubs. Five teams entered as respective domestic league winners from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The championship was sponsored by Toyota ...

Toyota Premier Cup The Toyota Premier Cup was a single-game cup competition organized by the Toyota and Football Association of Thailand and was first played in 2011. It features the winners of the Thai League Cup and an invited team from the J1 League. The competit ...

Johor Darul Ta'zim *

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual association football, football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popular ...

Piala Sumbangsih Piala Sumbangsih (English: Malaysia Charity Cup), also known as Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah ( en, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup), is the Malaysian super cup competition. It is the curtain raiser match to the new Malaysian football season, pitting ...

BG Pathum United *Thai League 1:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

*Thailand Champions Cup:

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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual *Thai League 1 Top Scorer/MVP:

* Best Foreign Player – Malaysia National Football Awards:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diogo 1987 births Living people Brazilian footballers Footballers from São Paulo Association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players CR Flamengo footballers Santos FC players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Thai League 1 players Buriram United F.C. players BG Pathum United F.C. players Malaysia Super League players Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Thailand Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia