Jonathan Renato Barbosa (born 10 July 1991), known as Jonathan Cafú or simply Cafú, 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 ...

who plays as either a winger or a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Cuiabá.

Club career

Brazil

Born in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Cafú graduated from

Rio Claro Rio Claro (Portuguese and Spanish for "clear river" or "clean river") may refer to: Cities *Rio Claro, Trinidad and Tobago, the largest town in southeastern Trinidad and Tobago *Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian municipality in the state of R ...

's youth setup. He made his senior debuts with Desportivo Brasil in 2009, appearing regularly. In 2011 Cafú signed for Boavista, but appeared in only one match for the club during his spell (a 1–1

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

home draw against América-RJ on 19 January). He moved to

XV de Piracicaba Esporte Clube XV de Novembro, commonly referred to as XV de Piracicaba, is a professional association football club based in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The team competes in Campeonato Paulista Série A2, the second tier of the São Paulo st ...

in the following year, only being regularly used in 2014, after a short loan period at Capivariano. In April 2014, although being linked to Italian and Japanese clubs, Cafú joined Série B side Ponte Preta. He made his debut for the club on 21 May, starting in a 1–0 home win against Vila Nova. Cafú appeared in 32 matches for ''Macaca'', scoring six goals (his first being on 31 May, the winner against

Boa Esporte Boa Esporte Clube, commonly known as just Boa Esporte or Boa, is a Brazilian football club from Varginha, Minas Gerais state. The club was formerly known as Ituiutaba Esporte Clube. History The club was founded on 30 April 1947, in Ituiuta ...

), as his side returned to Série A at first attempt. On 14 January 2015, he signed a three-year deal with São Paulo, for a R$ 3 million fee.

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 27 July 2015, Jonathan Cafú moved abroad to Europe to join Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad for a record club fee of €2.2 million. On 8 August, Cafú played full 90 minutes for Ludogorets's reserve team in a league fixture against Vereya of the

B Group The Bulgarian Second Professional Football League ( bg, Втора професионална футболна лига, Vtora Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as Second League ( bg, Втора Лига) or Vtora liga, is the second level ...

. He made his first team debut on 12 September 2015, coming on as a first half substitute in a 0–0 away draw against

Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

. Cafú eventually appeared in 24 matches for Ludogorets during the season and contributed with 8 goals for the club's 2015-16 A Group title. In the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, Cafú scored two goals in the 6–4 overall win against Red Star Belgrade, that propelled Ludogorets into the play-offs of the tournament, the second of which came after a remarkable solo effort in the away match, as Cafú overcame five players of the Serbian team to equalize for 1–1. In the group stage of the tournament, the Brazilian scored the only goal against Basel in the first away match that finished in a 1–1 draw. His good performances continued as he scored a goal and provided an assist to

Claudiu Keșerü Claudiu Andrei Keșerü (; born 2 December 1986) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays mainly as a striker for Liga I club UTA Arad. After starting out at hometown side FC Oradea, he soon moved to Nantes in 2003. Over the course of n ...

to give his team a 2–0 lead in the home match against

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 ...

, which Ludogorets eventually lost by 2–3. He finished the season scoring 10 goals in 30 league appearances.

Girondins Bordeaux

In August 2017, Cafú moved to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club Bordeaux for a reported fee of €7.5 million. He was given the number 22 shirt. In January 2018, Cafu along with teammates Malcom and

Otávio Henrique Santos Otávio is a Portuguese masculine given name, the equivalent of English Octavian, Octavius or Italian Ottavio. The Portuguese long form Octávio occurs more rarely. The Portuguese diminutive form is Otavinho. Given name *Otávio (footballer, born ...

faced disciplinary sanctions from the team management after a video was uploaded to

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

by Malcom. The video had been uploaded shortly after a loss to

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

. Coach

Jocelyn Gourvennec Jocelyn François Gourvennec (born 22 March 1972) is a French professional football manager and former player who most recently was the head coach of Ligue 1 club Lille. He played as a midfielder for clubs such as Lorient, Rennes, Nantes, Marseil ...

was subsequently sacked.

Loan to Red Star Belgrade

Cafu joined Red Star Belgrade on a one-year loan deal in August 2018. On 15 September 2018, he scored his first goal for Red Star in a 6–0 home victory against Radnik Surdulica.

Loan to Al-Hazem

On 28 January 2020, Jonathan Cafú joined Al-Hazem on loan from Bordeaux.

Corinthians

In the autumn of 2020 Cafú rescinded his contract with Bourdeaux and joined Corinthians on a three-year contract.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Ludogorets *

Bulgarian First Professional League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

(2): 2015–16, 2016–17 Red Star Belgrade * Serbian SuperLiga: 2018–19 Cuiabá *

Campeonato Mato-Grossense Campeonato Mato-Grossense is the football league of the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. It is organized by the Mato Grosso State Football Federation. Format First Division 2006 First stage: *The teams are divided in two groups of six teams. *Dou ...

: 2021, 2023

Individual

* Best foreign player in the

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

: 2016 Най-желаният от Първа лига е чужденец номер 1
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References

External links

São Paulo official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cafu, Jonathan 1991 births Living people Footballers from Piracicaba Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ligue 1 players Serbian SuperLiga players Saudi Pro League players Desportivo Brasil players Boavista Sport Club players Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Piracicaba) players Capivariano Futebol Clube players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players São Paulo FC players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Red Star Belgrade footballers Al-Hazem F.C. players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Cuiabá Esporte Clube players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia