Marcelo dos Santos (born 17 May 1975), known as Marcelinho Paraíba or simply Marcelinho, is a Brazilian former 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 played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

, and is manager of Treze. In Brazil, he is also known as Marcelinho ''Paraíba'', which refers to the state in which he was born, as a means to distinguish himself from other players also called "Marcelinho". He was one of the best

playmakers ''Playmakers'' is an American drama series that aired on ESPN from August 26 to November 11, 2003. It depicted the lives of the Cougars, a fictional professional football team in an unidentified city. The show starred Omar Gooding, Marcello Thed ...

in the

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 ...

because of his extravagant skills that include his visionary passing, abundance of tricks, and his world-class technique.

Career

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 ...

, Marcelinho Paraíba began his career in Campinense, where he won two league titles there. Between 1994 and 1995, he played for Santos. Two years later, however, he made his breakthrough at

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, where he won two Paulistões before being sold to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

. He only spent a year in France, and in 2001 he returned to Brazil to play for Grêmio, where he began to experience the pinnacle of his career. At that time, Marcelinho Paraiba was called "Marcelinho Paraúcho" by Gremistas, because of his passage in the team. He became champion and top scorer of the Campeonato Gaúcho, and champion of the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de ...

, where he scored a goal in the second game in the final against Corinthians, but did not play in the league that year because before the tournament, he signed a five-year contract with

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

. Marcelinho played for Hertha from 2001 to 2006. He is ranked among the most important players in the association's history and there Marcelinho was known as a technically talented player, serving as a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

and leader while performing in both the midfield and forward area. In addition, he carried the responsibility of executing the free kicks,

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

s, and

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s of the club. The personal trademarks of this extravagant football player are his usually remarkable shoes and his often multicolored hair. He was capped fives times for the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team ( pt, Seleção Brasileira de Futebol), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' (‘Canary Squad’, after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international football and is administered by the B ...

, for which he scored once. At the beginning of the 2006–07 season, he arbitrarily extended his off-season vacation by nine days, which led to some slight tension with the Hertha association management. After Marcelinho had expressed himself, in the following the days, contradictory statements as to whether he wanted to remain at Hertha or not, he ended his term with them, signing a three-year contract with

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

for approximately 2.5 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s. In August 2008, Marcelinho Paraíba returned to Brazil to play for

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

. On 6 March 2009,

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 ...

signed the forward on a free transfer until the end of the year, as Marcelinho terminated his contract with Flamengo. After the relegation of Coritiba, he re-signed for São Paulo on 18 December 2009. On 9 August 2010, he was loaned to

Sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

till the end of the 2010 season and his contract was extended to the end of the 2011 season. Marcelinho subsequently represented Sport, Boa Esporte,

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

, Internacional de Lages (two stints),

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

, Oeste, Ypiranga de Erechim Treze and Portuguesa.

Retirement and return

On 15 March 2020, he announced his retirement as a professional player, playing for Perilima against

Centro Sportivo Paraibano Centro Sportivo Paraibano, commonly known as CSP, is a Brazilian football club based in João Pessoa, Paraíba state. History The club was founded on April 8, 1996. CSP won the Campeonato Paraibano Second Level in 2010. Achievements * Camp ...

in the eighth round of the

2020 Campeonato Paraibano The 2020 Campeonato Paraibano de Futebol was the 110th edition of Paraíba's top professional football league. The competition began on 21 January and ended on 15 August. Botafogo-PB were defending champions, after winning the 2019 final against ...

; however, eight months later, he changed his mind and rejoined Treze in an effort to help them avoid relegation. He made his first appearance since returning from retirement on 28 November as a half-time substitute in a 1–1 draw with Vila Nova, being substituted himself in the 78th minute.

International goals

Managerial career

On 10 December 2020, after Treze suffered relegation from the

2020 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C The 2020 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C was a football competition held in Brazil, equivalent to the third division. The competition was originally scheduled to begin on 3 May and end on 8 November, however due to COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, COVI ...

, Marcelinho was appointed manager of the club for the 2021 campaign. Despite a promising start in the

2021 Copa do Nordeste The 2021 Copa do Nordeste was the 18th edition of the main football tournament featuring teams from the Brazilian Northeast Region. The competition featured 16 clubs, with Bahia, Ceará and Pernambuco having two seeds each, and Rio Grande do Nort ...

, he couldn't arrest a drop in performance which saw his side finish fourth in the first stage of the

2021 Campeonato Paraibano The 2021 Campeonato Paraibano de Futebol was the 111th edition of Paraíba's top professional football league. The competition was originally scheduled to begin on 17 March and end on 26 May, but the start was first postponed to 31 March due to ...

, and on 24 May 2021 he was dismissed. He joined Sport-PB as manager in September 2021. He was in role for only 15 days before resigning due to off-field problems. In late October 2021 he was announced as the coach of Oeirense for the 2022 season. He was sacked in February 2022, after six games of the season, following a heavy defeat. On 11 March 2022 he was announced as coach of Treze for a second time.

Honours

Club

Campinense *

Campeonato Paraibano The Campeonato Paraibano is the football league of the state of Paraíba, Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At a ...

: 1991, 1993 São Paulo *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

: 1998, 2000 Grêmio *

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

: 2001 *

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Hertha BSC *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous ...

: 2001, 2002 Boa Esporte *

Taça Minas Gerais The Taça Minas Gerais is a traditional football tournament played in the Minas Gerais state in Brazil. From 1973 through 1977 it was played as a separate tournament, but from 1979 through 1986, it was played as one of the phases in the Campeonato ...

: 2012

Individual

*''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

Team of the Season: 2002–03, 2004–05

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paraiba, Marcelinho 1975 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Santos FC players Rio Branco Esporte Clube players São Paulo FC players Olympique de Marseille players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Hertha BSC players Trabzonspor footballers Süper Lig players VfL Wolfsburg players CR Flamengo footballers Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Sport Club do Recife players Grêmio Barueri Futebol players Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Esporte Clube Internacional de Lages players Joinville Esporte Clube players Oeste Futebol Clube players Ypiranga Futebol Clube players Treze Futebol Clube players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Brazil international footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Bundesliga players Association football midfielders Ligue 1 players People from Campina Grande Brazilian football managers Treze Futebol Clube managers Sportspeople from Paraíba