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 lea ...

who plays as either a winger or a forward for

Botafogo-SP Botafogo Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Botafogo-SP or Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto is a Brazilian association football club in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. They currently play in the Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, as ...

Club career

Brazil

Born in

Piracicaba Piracicaba ( ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality located in the Interior of São Paulo, interior of São Paulo (state), São Paulo state, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. It serves as the main city ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Cafú graduated from Rio Claro'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 (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

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 club competes in the Série D, the fourth tier of the Brazilian football league sys ...

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), as his side returned to Série A at first attempt. On 14 January 2015, he signed a three-year deal with

, for a R$ 3 million fee.

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 27 July 2015, Jonathan Cafú moved abroad to Europe to join Bulgarian side

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

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 Vereya () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Vereya, Naro-Fominsky District, Moscow Oblast, a town in Naro-Fominsky District of Moscow Oblast ;Rural localities * Vereya, Orekhovo-Zuyevsky District, Moscow O ...

of the B Group. 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. 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 Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

, 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 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 concentr ...

of the tournament, the Brazilian scored the only goal against

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

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 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 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

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

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

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

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, which had left the team in danger of relegation from

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

. Coach Jocelyn Gourvennec was subsequently sacked.

Loan to Red Star Belgrade

Cafu joined

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 The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

on a three-year contract.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Ludogorets * Bulgarian First Professional League (2): 2015–16, 2016–17 Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

: 2018–19 Cuiabá *

Campeonato Mato-Grossense The Campeonato Mato-Grossense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is run by the Mato Grosso Football Federation (FMF). List of champions Following is the list with the champions of Ca ...

: 2021, 2023, 2024

Individual

* Best foreign player in the

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

: 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 Botafogo Futebol Clube (SP) 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 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen