Uilson de Souza Paula Júnior (born 27 April 1989), commonly known as Júnior Caiçara, is a Brazilian

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 last played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Santos.

Career

Santo André and loans

Caiçara's first professional club is

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwadwo ...

. In 2009, after making his senior debut with their B-team in the previous year's

Copa Paulista The Copa Paulista de Futebol, formerly known as Copa FPF, also sometimes called Copa Federação Paulista de Futebol or, in English, São Paulo State Cup, is a tournament organized by Federação Paulista de Futebol Company every second half of ...

, he was loaned out to Brazilian team

CSA CSA may refer to: Arts and media * Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television * Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics * Crime Syndicate of Amer ...

. Back to Santo André in May 2009, Júnior Caiçara made his Série A debut on 16 May, starting and being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 4–2 away win over

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...

. In 2010, he was sent on loan to América-SP, where he featured in four

Campeonato Paulista Série A2 Campeonato Paulista Série A2 is the second level of the São Paulo state professional football championship, one of the Brazilian state championships. This tournament is played by 16 teams, in which the two best teams are promoted to Série A1 ...

matches before being released on 10 February. In June 2010, Caiçara goes to Portugal team

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

again on loan from Santo André. He made his debut on 29 August against Trofense in the second Portugal league. He helped his team to gain promotion in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

and played with the team in their return in Primeira Liga.

Ludogorets Razgrad

After playing two seasons for

in Portugal, Júnior Caiçara joined Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad on 5 June 2012. He signed a three-year contract and was given the number 80 jersey. On 11 July, Caiçara marked his debut for Ludogorets with a goal and first trophy. He opened the scoring in the

2012 Bulgarian Supercup The 2012 Bulgarian Supercup was the tenth Bulgarian Supercup match, a football match which was contested between the "A" professional football group champion, Ludogorets, and the runner-up of the Bulgarian Cup, Lokomotiv Plovdiv. As the Bulgaria ...

against

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...

, the match ended 3–1 to Ludogorets. On 18 July, he made his European debut against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Then he made his Bulgarian A Group debut, playing full 90 minutes in a 3–0 away win over

Cherno More Varna Cherno More ( bg, Черно Море) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on March 3, 1913, as an assoc ...

on 11 August. Caiçara quickly established himself as Ludogorets's first choice right-back, making 28 league appearances during his debut campaign in Bulgaria. He collected his first A group title winner's medal at the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. On 21 August 2013, Caiçara was sent off against

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

in a 4–2 home defeat in the play-off round of the Champions League, his first red card in a Ludogorets shirt. On 12 December 2014, Ludogorets announced that Caiçara had extended his contract with a new two-year deal that will keep him at the club until 2017.

Schalke 04

On 25 June 2015, Caiçara signed with German club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

on a three-year deal for a fee of €4.5 million. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut in a 1–1 draw with

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Sp ...

İstanbul Başakşehir

On 16 January 2017, Caiçara signed with Turkish club

İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. İstanbul Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü () is a Turkish professional football club based in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul. The club is better known simply as İstanbul Başakşehir or, due to sponsorship, Medipol Başakşehir (). The club ...

on a 3.5-year deal for an undisclosed fee. Three days later he made his debut for the team in the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

coming as a substitute in the 61 minute in a match against

Yeni Amasyaspor Yeni can refer to: * Yeni, Acıpayam, Turkey * Yeni, Bago Yeni ( my, ရေနီ; also known as Yay Ni) is a city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, located from Yangon, towards the northern end of the division, with mountain ranges to both east and ...

. On 22 January, he completed his debut for the team coming as a substitute again in a match against Fenerbahçe in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

. On 19 February 2023, Caiçara terminated his contract with the club.

Santos

On 21 August 2023, Caiçara returned to his home country after signing a contract with Santos in the top tier until the end of the year.

International career

Caicara is eligible for both

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 ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

since on 1 July 2014 he got a

Bulgarian passport A Bulgarian passport ( bg, Български паспорт, Bŭlgarski pasport) is an international travel document issued to nationals of Bulgaria, and may also serve as proof of Bulgarian nationality law, Bulgarian citizenship. Besides enabl ...

and became able to play for Bulgaria from 2017. He said that he would be happy to represent Bulgaria on the international level. On 25 February 2017, he mentioned again that he would represent Bulgaria if he got an invite since the old manager,

Ivaylo Petev Ivaylo Bogdanov Petev ( bg, Ивайло Богданов Петев; born 9 July 1975) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He spent his whole career ...

, wanted him, and he is waiting for a call from

Petar Hubchev Petar Kanchev Hubchev ( bg, Петър Кънчев Хубчев; born 26 February 1964) is a Bulgarian football manager and former player who played for Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga. Considered one of the great ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Gil Vicente *

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

Runner-up: 2011–12 Ludogorets Razgrad * Bulgarian A Group:

, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

: 2013–14 *

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup ( bg, Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

İstanbul Başakşehir *

: 2019–20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caicara, Junior 1989 births Living people Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Esporte Clube Santo André players Centro Sportivo Alagoano players América Futebol Clube (SP) players Gil Vicente F.C. players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players FC Schalke 04 players İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. players Santos FC players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Men's association football defenders Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Brazilian emigrants to Bulgaria Naturalised citizens of Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey