Dionatan do Nascimento Teixeira (24 July 1992 – 5 November 2017) was a
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 ...
ian-born
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
n 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
centre-back.
Teixeira began playing football with local side
Londrina EC in Brazil before he was given the opportunity to play in Europe with
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
n side
MFK Košice in 2008. He played in the youth teams at Košice and went on trials with a number of clubs in England. A failure to gain a work permit ended any chances of him joining an English club, and after playing on loan for
Slovan Bratislava in 2011–12 he was released by Košice.
After briefly playing amateur football he moved on to
Baník Ružiná and then to
Slovak Super Liga
The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, he ...
side
Dukla Banská Bystrica. In 2013 Teixeira was granted Slovak citizenship and after impressing
Stoke City whilst on trial he joined them on a three-year contract in June 2014. However, he failed to make any impact at Stoke and left in January 2017 and later joined Moldovan side
Sheriff Tiraspol
Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnis ...
.
Career
Early career
Teixeira began his career with local team
Londrina EC in his native Brazil.
At the age of 16 he decided to move into European football and earned a youth contract with Slovak side
MFK Košice.
In 2009, Teixeria went on trial with a number of English teams including
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 ...
,
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
,
Newcastle United and
Manchester City.
He returned to Košice in April 2009 and made his first team debut on 18 April 2009 against
MFK Dubnica
FK Dubnica is a Slovak football club, playing in the city of Dubnica nad Váhom.
History
FK Dubnica was founded in 1926 and spent much of its early years playing in the regional Czechoslovakian leagues until 1977 where they were finally pro ...
.
After a lack of opportunity at Košice he went on loan to
Slovan Bratislava for the 2011–12 season but spent his time in
Bratislava playing in the B team.
He left Košice in the summer of 2012 and after spending time playing for local amateur side Slovan Čeľadice he joined
2. Liga side
Baník Ružiná.
In March 2013 he joined
Slovak Super Liga
The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, he ...
side
Dukla Banská Bystrica.
In January 2014, Teixeira had a trial at
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
and at
Stoke City in March 2014.
Stoke City
On 11 June 2014, he signed a three-year contract with
Stoke City, with Chief Executive Tony Scholes saying — "We have been following Dionatan's progress for some time and we're delighted to have secured his services because there's no doubt he's a talented player with a great deal of potential." Stoke manager
Mark Hughes
Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City.
During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...
stated that whilst on trial Teixeira reminded him of
Ryan Nelsen
Ryan William Nelsen (born 18 October 1977) is a former New Zealand professional football player and former head coach of Major League Soccer side Toronto FC.
Nelsen commonly played as a defender, and his professional career began in 1995. He ...
who played for Hughes at
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
. —"Dionatan came in on trial and I've done that before with the likes of Chris Samba and Ryan Nelsen, who we had the opportunity to bring in at Blackburn. When you can look at players close up you get a better impression of what their capabilities are. We did it with Dionatan and he looked really good".
Teixeira's start to his Stoke City career was hampered after he broke his foot in training which ruled him out for most of the
2014–15 season. He made his
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 Fo ...
debut for Stoke on 21 February 2015, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 victory against
Aston Villa.
On 3 October 2015, he joined
League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
side
Fleetwood Town on loan. He spent three months with the club making ten appearances before returning to Stoke. Teixeira again featured just once as a substitute for Stoke in
2015–16, away at
Bournemouth in February 2016. In May 2016 he had a trial at MLS side
Orlando City.
Teixeira's contract with Stoke was terminated in January 2017 after making just two appearances as substitute.
Sheriff Tiraspol
On 17 February 2017, Teixeira signed for Moldovan club
Sheriff Tiraspol
Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnis ...
.
Death
On 5 November 2017, Teixeira suffered a fatal
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
in
Londrina
Londrina (, literally "Little London") is a city located in the north of the state of Paraná, South Region, Brazil, and is away from the state capital, Curitiba. It is the second largest city in the state and fourth largest in the southern regi ...
, Brazil.
International career
Teixeira gained a Slovak passport in August 2013. After that he was a regular member of the
Slovak U21 team.
Personal life
His younger brother
Marcão also became a professional footballer.
Career statistics
Source:
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teixeira, Dionatan
1992 births
2017 deaths
Sportspeople from Londrina
Slovak footballers
Slovakia youth international footballers
Brazilian footballers
Brazilian expatriate footballers
Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England
Association football defenders
Londrina Esporte Clube players
FC VSS Košice players
ŠK Slovan Bratislava players
TJ Baník Ružiná players
FK Dukla Banská Bystrica players
Stoke City F.C. players
Fleetwood Town F.C. players
Slovak Super Liga players
2. Liga (Slovakia) players
Expatriate footballers in Slovakia
Slovak people of Brazilian descent
Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England
Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Moldova
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in Moldova
Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia
Premier League players
English Football League players
Moldovan Super Liga players
FC Sheriff Tiraspol players
Naturalized citizens of Slovakia