Sidnei Rechel da Silva Júnior (born 23 August 1989), known simply as Sidnei, 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

centre-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 ...

for Spanish club

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

Club career

Internacional

Born in

Alegrete Alegrete is a municipality in Rio Grande do Sul located in southern Brazil. Its medium altitude is . Its estimated population in 2020 was 73,028 inhabitants and the total area is (the largest municipality of the State and of Southern Brazil). It ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, Sidnei started playing professionally with

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A, the first divisio ...

, being part of the side that conquered the 2007 edition of the

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...

. On 24 July 2008 he signed a five-year contract with

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 ...

, who paid €5 million for 50% of his sporting rights.

Benfica

Sidnei was used intermittently during his first season in Portugal, but still managed to appear in 24

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, ...

games and score three goals in as many wins, including the 2–0

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

home win against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

on 27 September 2008. In November, Benfica bought another 50% of his rights for €2 million, and

GestiFute Gestão de Carreiras de Profissionais Desportivos, S.A., known as GestiFute, is a Portuguese company providing agent services for footballers. Unlike other football associations, Portugal allowed other parties to own part of the economic rights o ...

acquired the rights to receive 30% from any future transfer. He played only five league matches the following campaign – ten competitive appearances – as the club won the national championship after a five-year wait. After spending the first half of

2010–11 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 ...

on the bench, Sidnei was propelled to the starting XI after

David Luiz David Luiz Moreira Marinho (born 22 April 1987) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Flamengo. Primarily a centre back, he can also be deployed as a defensive midfielder. After starting out at Vitoria, David Luiz moved to Ben ...

moved to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

. On 21 February 2011, he was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a league game at Sporting but his team still managed to win it 2–0 and, later the following month, he renewed his contract for a further three seasons until 2016; however, due to poor performances, he lost his starting place to Jardel. In early June 2011,

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (), also known simply as Beşiktaş (), is a Turkish sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

agreed with Benfica on a one-year loan, with the option to make the move permanent. On 19 September he scored a brace for the first in his career, helping to a 3–1

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

home victory over

MKE Ankaragücü MKE Ankaragücü or fully Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü (), is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Ankara. The football team wears a yellow and navy kit and plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium following the closure of th ...

. As the Turkish club opted against exercising its option, Sidnei returned to Portugal and found himself demoted to

the B team The B Team is a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. It advocates for business practices that are more centered on humanity and the climate. History In 2013, a group of leaders came together following ...

. On 29 July 2013, he and Pizzi were loaned to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

on a one-year deal.

Deportivo

On 1 September 2014, Sidnei moved to fellow league side

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

also on loan. After making 32 appearances to help his team avoid relegation, his loan was extended for a further year. Sidnei had a contract running until 2018, with the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance l ...

sharing his rights with Benfica and GestiFute. He scored his first goal in the Spanish top division on 5 December 2016, helping the hosts rout

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

5–1. On 19 July 2018, Deportivo announced they had reached an agreement with

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

over the transfer of Sidnei. The deal was called off two days later, however, with the player having been unable to agree terms.

Betis

In August 2018, Sidnei joined

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

also from the Spanish top flight on a four-year contract. On 31 August 2021, after 64 official matches, the 32-year-old terminated his contract with the club.

Cruzeiro and Goiás

On 13 December 2021, Sidnei returned to his home country after nearly 14 years, signing for

Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (), known simply as Cruzeiro, is a Brazilian sports club based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Cruzeiro is mostly known for its association football team. It plays ...

. The following 25 March he terminated his contract and joined

Goiás Esporte Clube Goiás Esporte Clube is a Brazilian sports club, best known for its association football team, located in the city of Goiânia, capital city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. Goiás has won Brazilian's second tier Série B twice, also 28 Camp ...

, but also left the latter on 5 July having totalled just seven appearances for both sides.

Las Palmas

Sidnei returned to Spain in July 2022, agreeing to a one-year deal at second-tier

Career statistics

Honours

Internacional *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

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 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Benfica *

: 2009–10 *

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 ...

: 2008–09,

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sidnei 1989 births Living people People from Alegrete Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian footballers Association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Sport Club Internacional players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Goiás Esporte Clube players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players Süper Lig players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers La Liga players RCD Espanyol footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Real Betis players UD Las Palmas players Brazil youth international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain