Luciano Amaral da Silva Alves (born 20 October 1982), known as Amaral, 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

left 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 ...

Club career

Amaral was born in

Campina Grande Campina Grande is the second most populous Brazilian city in the State of Paraíba after João Pessoa, the capital. It is considered to be the most important city of the Northeastern Brazilian subregion called '' agreste''. It is considered one ...

Paraíba Paraíba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'íba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba ...

. After playing with a host of smaller clubs early in his career, he started appearing professionally for

Avaí Futebol Clube Avaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in 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 milli ...

in 2006, moving to

Associação Atlética Caldense Associação Atlética Caldense, commonly known as Caldense, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais. The team plays in Série D, the fourth tier of the Brazilian football league system, as ...

that same year. In 2007, Amaral was signed by

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

of Portugal from Villa Rio Esporte Clube, as the Minho side had just returned from the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He contributed sparingly 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, ...

as they overachieved for a final third place, ahead of

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

for a

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

to the

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 competit ...

. Towards the end of his second season, Amaral was suspended by Vitória and eventually released, returning to his country with

América Futebol Clube (RN) América Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as América de Natal, is a Brazilian professional club based in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte founded on 14 July 1915. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian foot ...

, still owned by Villa Rio. After two years with

Coritiba Foot Ball Club 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 ...

he returned to Portugal also on loan, 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 Liga. ...

in late May 2010.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amaral, Luciano 1982 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Criciúma Esporte Clube players Joinville Esporte Clube players Esporte Clube Bahia players Avaí FC players Clube de Regatas Brasil players Villa Rio Esporte Clube players América Futebol Clube (RN) players Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Treze Futebol Clube players Esporte Clube Internacional (SC) players ABC Futebol Clube players Veranópolis Esporte Clube Recreativo e Cultural players Primeira Liga players Vitória S.C. players C.S. Marítimo players Gil Vicente F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Apollon Limassol FC players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Footballers from Paraíba Sportspeople from Campina Grande