Lucas de Deus Santos (born 9 October 1982), known as Cacá, 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 for

Esporte Clube Santo André Esporte Clube Santo André, commonly referred to as simply Santo André, is a Brazilian association football club in Santo André, São Paulo. They currently play in the Série D, the fourth tier of Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeo ...

as a

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 boundarie ...

Club career

Born in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, Cacá started his career with hometown's

Clube Atlético Mineiro Clube Atlético Mineiro (), commonly known as Atlético Mineiro or Atlético, and colloquially as Galo (, "Rooster"), is the largest professional football club based in the city of Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mi ...

. During his spell with the ''

Galo Galo may refer to: People * Galo Blanco (born 1976), Spanish tennis player * Galo Chiriboga, Ecuadorian lawyer, politician and administrator * Galo Galecio (1906–1993), Ecuadorian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and printmaker * Galo Ocampo (19 ...

'', he was also loaned twice: in the 2003–04 season he played with

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...

in the German second division, being sparingly used as the club finished in seventh position. In early 2006, Cacá signed with

AaB Fodbold AaB, (full name: ''Aalborg Boldspilklub'', ) internationally referred to as Aalborg BK, or sometimes also known as AaB Aalborg, is a professional football team located in Aalborg. The club is represented in the Danish Superliga and has won four ...

from

Clube de Regatas Brasil Clube de Regatas Brasil, commonly referred to as CRB, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Maceió, Alagoas. It competes in the Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeonato Alagoano, the top fligh ...

. He only appeared in two

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

games in his third year due to injury, as the

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

side won the national championship after a nine-year wait. Back to full fitness in 2008–09, he helped it reach the final in the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

; additionally, on 25 November 2008, he scored the 1–1 equalizer 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 competit ...

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

contest against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, in an eventual 2–1 win which saw the hosts leapfrog the Scots for the third place in Group E, with the subsequent

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. On 5 July 2009, Cacá moved clubs but stayed in Denmark, signing a three-year contract with

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

for around 4 million Danish kroner. In his only full season with the team he contributed with 17 starts and three goals to an eventual second position, which qualified to the Europa League. Cacá and Odense mutually terminated the player's contract on 14 January 2011. In the last day of 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 ...

he signed with

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

in Portugal, joining a host of compatriots at the top division side.

International career

Cacá played all the games for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, scoring in the quarterfinals against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

(4–1 win) as the national team won the tournament.

Personal life

Cacá's older brothers, Dedé and Leandro, were also footballers. Both shared teams at Atlético Mineiro and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

, with very different individual fates however.

References

External links

*
Danish Superliga player statistics
at danskfodbold.com * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caca 1982 births Living people Footballers from Belo Horizonte Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Sport Club do Recife players Clube de Regatas Brasil players Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul players Comercial Futebol Clube (Ribeirão Preto) players Esporte Clube Santo André players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players 2. Bundesliga players MSV Duisburg players Danish Superliga players AaB Fodbold players Odense Boldklub players Primeira Liga players U.D. Leiria players Brazil men's youth international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal