Maycon Vinicius Ferreira da Cruz (born 29 July 1992), commonly known as Nikão, 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 an attacking midfielder for São Paulo.

Personal life

Born in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Nikão did not know his father and lost his mother due to a cancer at the age of nine. He was raised by his grandmother, and after impressing in a local amateur team at the age of 12, he was brought up to Mirassol, São Paulo for a trial period. At the age of 16, he also lost his grandmother, and two years later, his brother Thiago also died.

Club career

Early career

Nikão began his career with Mirassol's youth setup, and subsequently had trials at CSKA Moscow and PSV Eindhoven; despite impressing, he was unable to stay at those clubs after not having a legal representative in those countries. In 2009, after a brief period at

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

, he moved to Santos.

Atlético Mineiro

On 16 April 2010, as Santos did not exercise the buyout clause on his loan contract, Nikão sigend for Atlético Mineiro. He made his Série A debut on 10 October, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Renan Oliveira Renan Henrique Oliveira Vieira (born December 29, 1989 in Itabira), or simply Renan Oliveira, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Remo, as an attacking midfielder. He made his professional debut in a 2–3 home defeat to Guarani-MG on Apr ...

in a 0–1 away loss against Internacional. After appearing rarely, Nikão was loaned to Série B side Vitória on 9 February 2011. He scored nine goals in only 12 appearances in the 2011

Campeonato Baiano The Campeonato Baiano is the football league of the state of Bahia, Brazil. The championship has been played since 1905 without interruption. 2020 format First stage: 10 teams are included in one group, playing once only against all teams in ...

, as his side lost the title to Bahia de Feira. On 25 May 2011, Nikão moved to Bahia in the top tier, on loan until December. He subsequently served another loan deals at Ponte Preta,

América Mineiro The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Linense and

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

Athletico Paranaense

On 14 January 2015 Nikão signed a three-year deal with

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

. He made his club debut on 26 February by playing the last 20 minutes of a 0–1

Campeonato Paranaense Campeonato Paranaense, which has been contested since 1915, is the top-flight football league of the state of Paraná, Brazil. Format The format has changed in 2014. 12 teams are together in a single group. They play against each other once, ...

home loss against Foz do Iguaçu, and scored his first goal on 2 May by netting the third of 5–0 home routing of Nacional-PR. On 6 June 2017, Nikão played his 100th match for ''Furacão''. On 14 July 2019, he reached his 200th match. On 10 October 2021, Nikão completed 300 matches for Athletico.

Career statistics

Honours

Atlético Mineiro *

Campeonato Mineiro Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF (Federação Mineira de Futebol). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: befor ...

: 2010 Ceará *

Copa do Nordeste Copa do Nordeste (''Cup of the North-East''), also known as Campeonato do Nordeste (''Championship of the North-East'') or Copa Nordeste (''Northeastern Cup''), and sometimes informally referred as Lampions League – in reference to the UEFA Ch ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Athletico Paranaense *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

* J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* Copa do Brasil:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nikao 1992 births Living people People from Montes Claros Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Esporte Clube Vitória players Esporte Clube Bahia players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Clube Atlético Linense players Ceará Sporting Club players Club Athletico Paranaense players Copa Sudamericana-winning players São Paulo FC players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Footballers from Minas Gerais