Vinicius "Vini" Helder dos Anjos Dantas (born 14 September 1989) is a Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

striker who plays for

Florida Tropics SC Florida Tropics SC is a professional soccer club based in Lakeland, Florida. They are owned by Central Florida Sports Ventures, LLC, led by Dr. Panos Iakovidis, and former USL commissioner and Rochester Rhinos owner Chris Economides. The orga ...

of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

Career

Dantas grew up in

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

in Brazil, predominantly playing

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 ...

. He moved to the United States at age 18 to attend

Azusa Pacific University Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private, evangelical Christian university in Azusa, California. The university was founded in 1899, with classes opening on March 3, 1900, in Whittier, California, and began offering degrees in 1939. The uni ...

on a football scholarship. In 2011, he was spotted by former

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

player

Jason McAteer Jason Wynne McAteer (born 18 June 1971) is a former professional footballer. His primary position was in centre midfield, though he was also an able right winger and full-back. During his professional career from 1992 to 2007, McAteer played ...

who took him to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

, where he was offered a contract. However, he was not granted a work permit in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and the contract could not be fulfilled. In August 2011, he signed for the Norwegian club

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to ...

, and on 17 September 2011 he made his

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

debut when he replaced Daniel Chima in the 65th minute against

Fredrikstad FK Fredrikstad Fotballklubb (also known as Fredrikstad or FFK) is a Norwegian association football, football club from the town of Fredrikstad. With nine league championships and eleven Norwegian Football Cup, Norwegian Cup wins, FFK is one of the ...

. Dantas scored his first goal for Molde in the club's 3-1 victory over

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the ...

on 20 November 2011. Molde won the league title in his first season, qualifying for the

2012–13 UEFA Champions League The 2012–13 UEFA Champions League was the 58th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 21st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was p ...

in the process. Dantas made one appearance for Molde during its qualifying rounds, coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute against

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but h ...

on 24 July 2012. During the 2012 season, Dantas played only one match for Molde but played regularly for Molde's reserve team in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

where he scored 15 goals in 12 matches in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. In total, Dantas made six first team league appearances for Molde, scoring one goal. On 31 August 2012, Dantas joined the First Division side Bodø/Glimt of the

on a free transfer. Dantas stayed at the club for one season, scoring six goals in 13 matches. In March 2013, Dantas left Norway and signed a 1-year contract for Finnish team

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (''Veikkausliiga'') after placing first in the Finnish First Division (''Ykkönen'') during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lah ...

of the

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

, the top flight of Finnish football. In 2014, Dantas joined the Canadian club

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were diss ...

in the NASL, and made history by scoring the first-ever goal in franchise history. Dantas went on to score two goals for Ottawa in 26 matches during the 2014 season. However, it was announced on November 26, 2014 that he would not be resigned by the club. Following his release from Ottawa, Dantas began playing

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

for the

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with t ...

of the

. Following the season, he was named a part of the All-Rookie Team after scoring 16 goals for the team and advancing to the championship series. On March 16, 2015, Dantas signed with

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

club

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...

. Dantas debuted for the Riverhounds on 28 March 2015 in the club's opening match of the 2015 season, a 5-2 victory over the

Harrisburg City Islanders Penn FC (formerly the Harrisburg City Islanders) was an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the United States soccer ...

. Dantas came on as a substitute for

Miroslav Čabrilo Miroslav Čabrilo (born 6 June 1992) is a Serbian soccer player currently playing with BGH City in the Canadian Soccer League. Career College and Amateur Čabrilo played fours years of college soccer at Robert Morris University between 2010 and ...

at the start of the second half and provided an assist on

Rob Vincent Rob Vincent (born 26 October 1990) is a former English footballer. He is also a coach at the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Academy. Career Youth Vincent spent time with Everton and Crewe Alexandra as a youth from 1997–2000 and 2000–2005, resp ...

's second goal in the 90th minute. Dantas scored his first goal for the club on the third matchday of the season, the game-tying goal of a 1–1 draw with

Saint Louis FC Saint Louis FC was an American professional soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded in May 2014, and competed in the USL Championship. The team played their matches at West Community Stadium, a venue inside the World Wide ...

on 11 April 2015. In March 2022, Dantas rejoined the

. On July 13, 2022, Dantas signed with

on a two-year deal.

Career statistics

Honours

;

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dantas, Vini 1989 births Living people Association football forwards Brazilian footballers Molde FK players FK Bodø/Glimt players FC Lahti players Ottawa Fury FC players Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Veikkausliiga players North American Soccer League players USL Championship players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Norway Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate footballers in Finland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate soccer players in Canada Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major Arena Soccer League players Baltimore Blast players Footballers from São Paulo Azusa Pacific Cougars men's soccer players Florida Tropics SC players