Vinícius Bergantin (born 31 July 1980) is a Brazilian professional

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 c ...

coach and former player who played as a

central defender 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 ...

Playing career

Vinícius was born in Salto. He began his career at the academy of

Ituano Futebol Clube Ituano Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as simply Ituano, is a Brazilian association football club in Itu, São Paulo. They currently play in the Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeonato Paulista Sér ...

in 1998 and signed a professional deal at the club in 2000 after impressing the coaching staff there. His first and only season at the club was very successful, as he impressed many with his ability to make forward runs and finished the season with three league goals in twenty-four appearances. This good form attracted the interest of other clubs, including

Associação Desportiva São Caetano Associação Desportiva São Caetano, commonly referred to as São Caetano, is a Brazilian professional club based in São Caetano do Sul, São Paulo founded on 4 December 1989. It competes in the Campeonato Paulista Série A2, the second tier ...

, who signed him in 2001. However Vinícius rarely featured for São Caetano, making just two league appearances and scoring once. In 2002, he was signed by Sociedade Gama. Here he regularly made appearances for the club, taking part in nineteen games in the league without scoring. He was showing a lot of potential and European clubs began to show an interest. Gama agreed to loan Vinícius out to German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

outfit

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

for the 2002–03 season. He made seventeen appearances, scoring twice during this loan spell and impressed the manager at the time. Hannover signed Vinícius for £700,000 in 2003. Vinícius had a

spinal disc herniation Spinal disc herniation is an injury to the cushioning and connective tissue between vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, and physical ...

and so he could not play from 2008 to 2010. Hannover 96 did not extend his contract because of his injury, but he is at the team to keep in shape. Three months after being without a club since his departure from Hannover, he joined the

Americana Futebol Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television *Americana (1992 TV series), ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a docume ...

in January 2011.

Coaching career

After his retirement, Bergantin started working as an assistant manager in his first club Ituano in 2017, being appointed manager later in the same year. He resigned from Ituano on 6 June 2021, after nearly four years in charge of the club. Bergantin subsequently worked at

Inter de Limeira Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

and

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwadwo ...

in his native state, before being named head coach of

CSA CSA may refer to: Arts and media * Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television * Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics * Crime Syndicate of Amer ...

on 21 February 2023. He was sacked by the latter club on 21 June.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergantin, Vinicius Living people 1980 births People from Salto, São Paulo Men's association football central defenders Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Brazilian men's footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Bundesliga players Ituano FC players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players Sociedade Esportiva do Gama players Hannover 96 players Guaratinguetá Futebol players Brazilian football managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série C managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série D managers Ituano FC managers Footballers from São Paulo (state) Associação Atlética Internacional (Limeira) managers Esporte Clube Santo André managers Centro Sportivo Alagoano managers