Paulo Almeida Santos (born 20 April 1981), known as Paulo Almeida, is a Brazilian retired

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 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 ...

. A

known for his leadership, he was the captain of the Santos team, dubbed ''Meninos da Vila'', that won the 2002 Brasileirão, their first since

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

. After representing Santos in their first Copa Libertadores Finals in forty years, Almeida had an unsuccessful spell at Benfica between 2004 and 2006. Afterwards, he represented a dozen others teams in Brazil. He was called up to represent Brazil U23 at the

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the association football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean ( CONCACAF). For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one ...

, amassing five caps as Brazil finished runners-up.

Club career

Born in

Itarantim Itarantim is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Bahia This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Bahia (BA), located in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Bahia ...

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

, Almeida career started in the regional

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

leagues, eventually leading to a seven-month spell at Cruzeiro in 1997. After being released by Cruzeiro, he returned to futsal and had an impressive performance in a regional tournament. Luciano Lacerda saw him and brought him to Santos. In 2000, the 19-year old made his professional debut in a match against Guarani, and went on establish himself in the first team, replacing

Freddy Rincón Freddy Eusebio Rincón Valencia (; 14 August 1966 – 13 April 2022) was a Colombian professional footballer who played 84 games for the Colombia national team between 1990 and 2001. A versatile midfielder, he was capable of playing on the lef ...

in the starting eleven. He was described by Pelé as having the same spirit as Zito: "It's always war for him, it's a guy that does not miss a training session because he always wants to be the best. It is funny, how they are coinciding at Santos. He was proven to be a player with future, with lots of personality". At age 20, he was named captain and in the following year, Almeida and others like

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. ...

Robinho Robson de Souza ( or , born 25 January 1984), known as Robinho (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. In 1999, at 15 years of age, Robinho was picked by Brazil legend Pelé as his heir apparent and, in 2002 ...

Renato Renatus is a first name of Latin origin which means " born again" (natus = born). In Italian, Portuguese and Spanish it exists in masculine and feminine forms: Renato and Renata. In French they have been translated to René and Renée. Renata is ...

and

Elano Elano Blumer (born 14 June 1981), known as Elano, is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. Known for his accurate passing and precise set pieces, Elano started his senior career at Santos, and sp ...

, known as ''Meninos da Vila'', helped Santos win their first Brasileirão since

. He remained a team regular in 2003, helping Santos reach their first Copa Libertadores Finals since

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

, losing it to Boca Juniors. In January 2004, Santos tried to renew his contract but Almeida refused. Three months later it was announced that he would move to Benfica on a free transfer when his contract expired. Although he still competed in the early stages of the Brasileirão, in early June,

Vanderlei Luxemburgo Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva (born 10 May 1952) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player. He is currently a free agent. A left wingback, Luxemburgo represented Flamengo, Internacional and Botafogo before retiring in 1980. ...

officially released him. He made his debut for Benfica in a

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 ...

qualifying match with Anderlecht. Despite his recognition in Brazil, Almeida struggled to adjust to the tempo of European football, and by November it was speculated that he would be loaned out. He was offered back to Santos in an unsuccessful bid from Benfica to Robinho, and as the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

progressed, he slipped down the pecking order and was demoted to the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. After not finding a team in the summer of 2005, Almeida remained with the B-team and competed in the third tier, until he opted to terminate his contract with Benfica in April 2006. Almeida returned to Brazil and in June, he signed with

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

, reuniting with

Émerson Leão Émerson Leão (; born 11 July 1949) is a Brazilian former footballer and manager. He is regarded by pundits as one of best Brazilian goalkeepers of all time. A documentary video produced by FIFA, ''FIFA Fever'', called him the third-most im ...

. He debuted on 5 August against Clube Atlético Paranaense, and represented the team until July 2007, when he rescinded his contract. His next club was Náutico which he played for between December 2007 and August 2008. subsequently moving to

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in the later part of 2008. Almeida then changed clubs almost every six months, passing through

União Esporte Clube União Esporte Clube, commonly referred to as União Rondonópolis, is a Brazilian professional club based in Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso founded on 6 June 1973. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série D, the fourth tier of Brazilian foo ...

Goianésia Goianésia () is a municipality in the state of Goiás, Brazil. It is a large producer of sugarcane for production of alcohol used as a source of fuel. Location Goianésia is located almost due north of Anápolis (150 km), 54 km from th ...

, Rio Branco,

Itumbiara Itumbiara is a municipality in the extreme south of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Its population in 2020 was of 105,809 in a total area of 2,461,3 km2 (2020). Itumbiara is one of the most prosperous cities in Goiás and is a major producer ...

, among others.

International career

Almeida represented his national team five times, all of them in the

, where Brazil sent their under-23 team, because their main team was competing in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. Nevertheless, all the appearances and goals in this tournament were recognized by FIFA as full international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

. Almeida played with teammates, Robinho and Diego, plus others like Kaká and

Nilmar Nilmar Honorato da Silva (born 14 July 1984), commonly known as Nilmar, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He won club and personal honours with Internacional and Corinthians in Brazil, and also played in ...

, with Brazil reaching the final, where they lost one-nil with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Honours

Santos * Copa Libertadores: runner-up 2003 * Brasileirão: 2002, 2004 Benfica * Primeira Liga: 2004–05 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

: runner-up 2004 Brazil *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

: runner-up 2003

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida, Paulo 1981 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Santos FC players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Clube Náutico Capibaribe players Saba players Rio Branco Football Club players Itumbiara Esporte Clube players Mixto Esporte Clube players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Primeira Liga players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Iran 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Association football midfielders União Esporte Clube players Brazil international footballers