Júlio César Santos Correa (; born 18 November 1978), known as Júlio César, is a Brazilian retired 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 ...

who played mainly as a

central defender 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 ...

, and a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. During a professional career that spanned two decades, he played for 16 clubs in 12 countries, but never in Brazil. In the Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

, he amassed totals of 125 matches and six goals over six seasons, winning the Champions League with Real Madrid in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Playing career

Early years

Júlio César was born

São Luís, Maranhão São Luís (, ''Saint Louis'') is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on Upaon-açu Island (Big Island, in Tupi Language) or Ilha de São Luís (''Saint Louis' Island''), in the Baía de São ...

. He played youth football in Mexico with Club América, and made his professional debut in Honduras with

C.D. Marathón Club Deportivo Marathón is a Honduran professional association football, football club based in San Pedro Sula. Founded on 25 November 1925, Marathón currently plays in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras. History Club Deport ...

. Aged 17, Júlio César signed with Spanish side

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club c ...

. He immediately began playing regularly (25

matches in his first season, helping his team finish seventh and qualify for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

), and attracting interest from bigger clubs.

Real Madrid

Júlio César was bought by Real Madrid in the summer of 1999, appearing regularly in his first year for a team which also included established stoppers

Iván Helguera Iván Helguera Bujía (; born 28 March 1975) is a Spanish former professional footballer. Playing as either a central defender or defensive midfielder, with both good defensive and offensive skills, he represented five clubs during his professi ...

Fernando Hierro Fernando Ruiz Hierro (; born 23 March 1968) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, sweeper or defensive midfielder. He is the current sporting director of Liga MX club C.D. Guadalajara. He won five L ...

and

Aitor Karanka Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (Basque and ; born 18 September 1973) is a Spanish football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Segunda División club Granada. Save for a brief spell in the United States at age 32, Karanka ...

, as well as

Iván Campo Iván Campo Ramos (born 21 February 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer. Originally a centre-back, he featured in a defensive midfield role in the later years of his career. He played for Real Madrid and four other teams in his c ...

. He helped them to win the season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, although he did not make the list of 18 for

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

itself. After being loaned to

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

in October 2000, Júlio César quickly left the Italians unsettled, and he returned to Spain with Real Sociedad also on loan. The following off-season, he joined

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

on yet another loan.

Bolton

After a one-year spell with

FK Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mos ...

, Júlio César returned to Valladolid in 2003, again being a starter but seeing the Castile and León side be relegated to Segunda División. He then moved to England's

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, signing with Bolton Wanderers. Júlio César's debut came on 14 August 2004 in a 4–1 home victory over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

. However, after the next game, a 0–2 away defeat to Fulham, he found himself dropped from the starting line-up in favour of Tunisian international

Radhi Jaïdi Radhi Ben Abdelmajid Jaïdi ( ar, راضي بن عبد المجيد الجعايدي; born 30 August 1975) is a Tunisian former footballer who played as a centre back. He was previously head coach of the under-23 team at Southampton, head coach ...

; he also sustained a broken foot against Manchester United at Old Trafford, on Boxing Day, which was his last appearance of the season. Júlio César's transfer was one of those about which the Stevens enquiry report in June 2007 expressed concerns, because of the apparent conflict of interest between agent

Craig Allardyce Craig Samuel Allardyce (born 9 June 1975) is a retired footballer and a football agent. He is the son of former player and current manager, Sam Allardyce. He was the manager of non-League club Turton from 2007 to 2009. Footballing career ...

, his father

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football Lea ...

– the Trotters' manager – and the club itself.

Professional journeyman

Júlio César joined

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Found ...

in 2005, and quickly became a key in the Mexican team's defense in both the Liga MX and the Copa Libertadores. He scored in the match dubbed "Aztecazo", a 4–1 turn-around win against Club América after a 1–3 home loss for the 2005 ''

Apertura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is divi ...

''. In July 2006, Júlio César moved to

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP ('' ...

on a three-year contract. He scored five times from 27 appearances in his first year, being essential to the conquest of the Superleague Greece championship. On 31 October 2006, he scored in a 1–1 away draw against

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

for Champions League group stage, but his team eventually ranked last. In the following years, Júlio César represented FC Dinamo București (Romania) and

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

(Turkey). Before agreeing to a one-and-a-half-year deal with the latter, he spoke with compatriot and former Real Madrid teammate

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...

, then at Fenerbahçe SK, asking him for information about 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 ...

Sporting Kansas City

On 14 March 2011, after only a few weeks in Portugal with

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Lig ...

, 32-year-old Júlio César signed for Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City. The terms of the contract were unknown, but

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Peter Vermes Peter Joseph Vermes (; born November 21, 1966) is an American professional soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer. As of 2022, Vermes is currently the longest-tenured head c ...

stated that the seasoned veteran would be "a very nice addition to the back line this season". César was released by Kansas City on 19 November 2012.

Toronto FC

On 14 January 2013, Júlio César joined

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

. He was released two months later, after only appearing in one pre-season game; during his spell in North America, he was deployed mainly as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

Coaching career

After retiring, Júlio César obtained his UEFA Pro licence as a manager. He also worked as an ambassador for the Real Madrid Foundation in Brazil. In January 2019, Julio César was appointed head coach of Spanish amateurs

CD Cristo Atlético The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

in Palencia.

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1999–2000 Austria Wien * Austrian Football Bundesliga: 2002–03 Tigres *

InterLiga The InterLiga was a football competition from 2004 to 2010 between Mexican clubs to determine qualifying spots for that country in South America's premier club competition, the Copa Libertadores. Prior to the 2004 Copa Libertadores, Mexican cl ...

: 2006 Olympiacos * Superleague Greece: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most imp ...

: 2007–08 Sporting Kansas City * U.S. Open Cup:

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 gat ...

References

External links