Jéferson Rodrigues Gonçalves (born 15 July 1984), simply Jéferson (), is a Brazilian former

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 played as an attacking midfielder.

Career

Early career

Born in Brasília, Distrito Federal, Jéferson debuted as a professional for Brasiliense. He spent four years at the club after being loaned out to

Atlético Goianiense Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. During his short stay with Atlético Goianiense, Jéferson helped the club gain promotion by winning the Campeonato Goiano da Segunda Divisão. He later spent time with Guarani, a São Paulo based club, after being transferred to Santo André, where he began the ascent of his playing career and leading the squad to a Campeonato Paulista Série A2 championship and runners-up in the

2008 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, namely the second level of Brazilian football league system, was contested by 20 teams in 2008. Giants Corinthians played Série B for the first time after its poor season in Série A in 2007. Also, former Séri ...

campaign.

Vasco da Gama

Jéferson's role as a playmaker for Santo André caught the attention of more notable Brazilian clubs, in particular,

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

, who signed him a year later in 2009. Early on, he struggled to find his place in the squad, due to the bevy of high caliber midfielders at Vasco da Gama. While with Vasco Jéferson enjoyed his best run of form during the

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 ...

, where he made 32 appearances and scored 5 goals.

Avaí

After struggling to win a starting role, he was subsequently loaned to Avaí, a Brazilian club based in

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...

, in 2010. He impressed scoring four goals in his first eight appearances during his short stay with the club.

Sporting Kansas City

On July 17, 2011, Jéferson signed a loan deal with MLS side

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

. The loan deal also stated that he would be signed under the league's Designated Player Rule making him Sporting KC's second Designated Player alongside

Omar Bravo Omar Bravo Tordecillas (born 4 March 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is Guadalajara's all-time leading scorer in all matches. Club career Club Deportivo Guadalajara Omar Bravo has scored 132 goals ...

. He was waived by the club on November 23, 2011.

Honours

;Brasiliense * Campeonato Brasiliense:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

;Atlético Goianiense *Campeonato Goiano da Segunda Divisão: 2005 ;Santo André *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B is commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B (Série B), and until 2022 was officially called Brasileirão Sportingbet by sponsorship reasons. It is the second tier of the Brazilian football league system ...

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; ...

* Campeonato Paulista Série A2:

;Vasco da Gama *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

* Copa do Brasil:

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 ...

;Avaí * Campeonato Catarinense:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

Sporting KC profile
*

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeferson Living people 1984 births Footballers from Brasília Brazilian footballers Association football midfielders Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States CR Vasco da Gama players Avaí FC players Sporting Kansas City players Esporte Clube Bahia players Atlético Clube Goianiense players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Major League Soccer players Designated Players (MLS)