Elias de Oliveira Rosa (born 8 February 1983), known as Kanú, 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 le ...

who plays as a

right winger 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 boundarie ...

Football career

Born in

Boa Esperança, Minas Gerais Boa Esperança is a Brazilian municipality from the states of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais. The municipality is located by the Serra da Boa Esperança, which became celebrated through Serra da Boa Esperança (song), song that brings its name, com ...

, Kanú started playing professionally with

Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (), known simply as Cruzeiro, is a Brazilian sports club based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Cruzeiro is mostly known for its association football team. It plays ...

, but only appeared in seven Série A games over the course of three seasons. In

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 ...

, he was loaned to Série C club

Ipatinga Esporte Clube Ipatinga Futebol Clube is a Brazilian football club based in Ipatinga, state of Minas Gerais, founded on 21 May 1998. During the 2013 season, the club played in Betim, shortly after returned to Ipatinga in 2015. On May 22, 2022, the club was a ...

. Kanú moved to Portugal for 2005–06, joining

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 ...

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, ...

. He made his debut in the competition on 18 September 2005, starting and playing 64 minutes in a 2–2 home draw against F.C. Penafiel. Precisely during that campaign, he scored a career-best eight goals (from 25 games) to help his team finish in tenth position. On 22 July 2010, Kanú contributed with one goal to a 3–2 away win over Sporting Fingal F.C. for the third qualifying round of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

(6–4 on aggregate). He left the island of

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

in late January of the following year, taking his game to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, this being interspersed with a brief spell back in his country with amateurs

Nacional Esporte Clube (MG) Nacional Esporte Clube Ltda. is a football club from the south-east Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The club, founded on 28 June 2008 in Coronel Fabriciano as Fabriciano Futebol Clube, changed its name after it moved in March 2010 to Nova Serrana ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanu 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Minas Gerais Brazilian footballers Association football wingers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Ipatinga Futebol Clube players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players C.S. Marítimo players UAE First Division League players UAE Pro League players Al-Ittihad Kalba SC players Khor Fakkan Sports Club players Al Tadhamon SC players Al Jahra SC players Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in Kuwait Expatriate footballers in Bahrain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Kuwait Premier League players