Paulo Vinícius de Souza Nascimento (born 12 August 1984), known as Paulo Vinícius, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a defender. He can occupy all three defensive positions. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Portugal, amassing

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, ...

totals of 126 matches and nine goals in representation of four clubs. In 2017 he signed with CFR Cluj in Romania, where he won several club and individual honours.

Club career

Portugal

Born in Cuiabá,

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

, Vinícius only played lower league football in his country. In 2006 he signed with Portuguese club Santa Clara, making his debut in the Segunda Liga on 27 August in a 1–0 away win against

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It als ...

where he played the full 90 minutes. He scored his first goal of the season on 14 January 2007, but in a 2–1 loss at Gil Vicente. Remaining in the country, Vinícius joined Leixões in the summer of 2007. His first match in the

took place on 3 November of that year, when he came on as a late substitute in the 3–0 home victory over Braga. During the 2008 January transfer window, still owned by Grêmio Anápolis, he moved to

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

. Vinícius signed for União de Leiria for 2008–09, netting twice during the campaign to help his team return to the top division after a one-year absence. In the following years he continued to be regularly used, notably scoring in a 1–0 away defeat of Sporting CP on 12 December 2009. Subsequently, and save for a short spell back in his country with amateurs Operário, Vinícius continued to compete in the Portuguese top tier, featuring regularly at Braga but also dealing with injury problems and starting at Boavista. He helped the former side win the 2012–13 edition of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

notably playing the entire semi-final against Benfica where they emerged victorious after a penalty shootout.

Apollon

In the summer of 2016, the 32-year-old Vinícius joined

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

from the Cypriot First Division. He scored a career-best six goals in his only season, also finding the net in the final of the

domestic cup A domestic cup (also known as association cup or national cup) is a type of sports tournament, particularly common in association football. This tournament type is notable for its participation by professional and amateur teams from many levels of ...

where his team defeated APOEL 1–0.

Romania

Vinícius signed for Romanian team CFR Cluj in June 2017. He scored his first goal on 14 August, helping to a 2–0 Liga I away victory over

Sepsi OSK Sepsi may refer to: *László Sepsi (born 1986), Romanian footballer of Hungarian descent *Sepsi-78, a football club from Seinäjoki, Finland *ACS Sepsi SIC ACS Sepsi SIC Sfântu Gheorghe or commonly Sepsi SIC is a women's basketball professional ...

. On 10 February 2018, he opened a 1–1 draw with title contenders FCSB, being an undisputed starter in his first year as the club won the fourth national championship in its history. Vinícius left

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

in the summer of 2021 upon the expiration of his contract, after winning the national title in every possible season as well as two

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

. On 27 July that year, aged nearly 37, he agreed to a one-year deal with FCSB. His first goal came in a 6–0 derby rout of Dinamo București on 12 September.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Braga *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Apollon Limassol * Cypriot Cup: 2016–17 * Cypriot Super Cup:

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 ...

CFR Cluj * Liga I: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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 ...

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- ...

Individual * Foreign Player of the Year in Romania (Gazeta Sporturilor): 2020 *Liga I Team of the Season: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinicius, Paulo 1984 births Living people People from Cuiabá Sportspeople from Mato Grosso Brazilian footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Association football utility players Cuiabá Esporte Clube players Operário Futebol Clube (Várzea Grande) players Mixto Esporte Clube players CE Operário Várzea-Grandense players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Santa Clara players Leixões S.C. players S.C. Olhanense players U.D. Leiria players S.C. Braga players Boavista F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Apollon Limassol FC players Liga I players CFR Cluj players FC Steaua București players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Romania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Romania