José Luiz Guimarães Sanabio Júnior, nicknamed Júnior Pipoca (Junior Popcorn), Diabo Loiro (Blonde Devil), or simply Júnior, (born 15 June 1976) is a Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

playing for Jacuipense of the

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 Bahia State Championship. He represented many clubs, including Derby County and Rotherham United, and has played in eight countries.

Biography

Born in

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

, Brazil, Júnior arrived in Europe and at English First Division side

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

from Brazilian side Treze at the beginning of the 2002–03 season. Júnior and

Jorge Leitão Jorge Manuel Vasconcelos Leitão (born 14 January 1974) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a striker, and is a manager. He was known for his six-year spell with Walsall in England, but he also scored 28 goals in 169 games in the P ...

formed a Portuguese speaking front-line that was envied by most clubs in the league. Between them they scored 29 goals during the course of the season, Júnior scoring 16 of them, for a side which many believe was the most talented Walsall team since the club's golden era under Bill Moore in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Despite the best efforts of Walsall manager

Colin Lee Colin Lee (born 12 June 1956) is an English football manager and former footballer. He is currently head of football at South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton, Devon along with Chris Beard. Playing career Lee began his football career ...

to sign him permanently, Júnior moved on to Derby County in August 2003; in his final game at Bescot Stadium, he had demonstrated his skills perfectly by scoring a hat-trick against the Rams. Júnior got off to a good start at Derby, forming a talented partnership up front with Charlton loanee Mathias Svensson, but Svensson was recalled by Charlton. Júnior then injured a cruciate knee ligament in September, and, when he had recovered, he did not get much of a chance to play. He moved to Rotherham United (on loan) and to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, who sold him due to a problem with legal paperwork and his apparent lack of correct personal permits. Júnior then moved to Denmark in October 2005, to

Odense Boldklub Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

. He scored 9 goals in 16 matches before being sold to Swedish club

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

on 1 July 2006. He scored 17 goals in 38 appearances for

, increasing his reputation in Sweden. On 16 April 2007, he famously scored

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

's 3000th goal in Swedish league history, when he scored the opening goal against

GAIS , neighboring_municipalities= Altstätten (SG), Appenzell (AI), Bühler (AR), Eichberg (SG), Rüte (AI), Schlatt-Haslen (AI), Trogen (AR) , twintowns= } Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden i ...

after one minute.

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

signed José Junior on 31 January 2008. He spent much of his time there on the bench because of the stiff competition from Morten Nordstrand and fellow Brazilians Aílton Almeida and

César Santin César Santin (; born 24 February 1981) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is currently working as an academy coach at Hillerød Fodbold. He is a versatile player, being able to play most of the attackin ...

. He signed with FC Nordsjælland on loan in February 2009. In May 2009, José Junior threatened not to show up for the game between FC Nordsjælland and F.C. Copenhagen, because he refused to be a substitute. FC Nordsjælland manager

Morten Wieghorst Morten Wieghorst (born 25 February 1971) is a Danish association football manager and former player. He is currently the assistant coach for the Denmark national football team. He is the former head coach of the Denmark national under-21 footba ...

subsequently announced that José Junior had played his last game for the club. On 23 November 2009, Júnior agreed with FC Copenhagen to suspend his contract. It was then supposed that Júnior should sign with Randers FC, whom he was previously loaned to, but his contract was cancelled as he had not attended the latest training sessions. He then returned to his homeland

and signed for Vitória in February 2010. Júnior helped Vitória reach the final of the

2010 Copa do Brasil The 2010 Copa do Brasil was the 22nd edition of the Copa do Brasil, starting on February 10 and ended on August 4. It was contested by 64 clubs, either qualified through their respective state championships (54) or by the CBF Rankings (10). Clubs ...

, scoring 7 goals in the competition, including one against Santos in the final's second leg. Despite scoring 8 goals for his club in

2010 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2010 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 54th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top-level of professional football in Brazil. It began on May 8 and ended on December 5. Flamengo came as the defending champion having won th ...

, Vitória were relegated, and Júnior signed for

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

for the 2011 season. In June 2011, Júnior mutually agreed with Ceará to terminate his contract, foregoing the payment due, and signed for

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

, where he remained until the end of the 2012 season. In February 2013, Júnior signed with

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, but an argument with successive coaches at the club led to him leaving in the summer. After spending the second half of 2013 without a club, Júnior signed a three-month contract with

side

Tiradentes Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (; 12 November 1746 – 21 April 1792), known as Tiradentes (), was a leading member of the colonial Brazilian revolutionary movement known as Inconfidência Mineira, whose aim was full independence from P ...

, at the end of which he signed a short-term contract with

state side Juazeirense. He again signed a short-term contract with Juazeirense in March 2015, and scored the winning goal against

Colo Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has playe ...

that guaranteed the club a third-place finish in

2015 Campeonato Baiano The 2015 Campeonato Baiano de Futebol was the 111th edition of Bahia's top professional football league. The competition began on 31 January and ended on 3 May. Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, s ...

, and access to

2016 Copa do Nordeste The 2016 Copa do Nordeste was the 14th edition of the main football tournament featuring teams from the Brazilian Northeast Region. The competition featured 20 clubs, with Bahia and Pernambuco having three seeds each, and Ceará, Rio Grande do Nor ...

. On 20 February 2016, Júnior signed for Bahia state side Jacuipense for the remaining duration of the

2016 Campeonato Baiano The 2016 Campeonato Baiano is the 112th edition of Bahia's top professional football league. The competition began on 30 January 2016. Bahia are the defending champions having won their 46th title. Teams * Bahia * Bahia de Feira * Colo Colo * Fe ...

References

External links