Ester Aparecida dos Santos (born 9 December 1982), commonly known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

as Ester, is a Brazilian former

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 ...

. She played as a " volante" (

defensive 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 boundari ...

) for clubs including

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 ...

of the English FA WSL and

BV Cloppenburg BV Cloppenburg is a German association football club located in Cloppenburg, Lower Saxony. History The club was founded after World War I in 1919 as the successor to SV Cloppenburg 1911. Through the 1950s they played in the Amateurliga Niede ...

of the German Frauen-Bundesliga. Ester was part of the

Brazil women's national football team The Brazil women's national football team ( Portuguese: ''Seleção Brasileira Feminina de futebol'') represents Brazil in international women's football and is run by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It has participated in eight ed ...

who finished as runners-up in the 2007 World Cup and 2008 Summer Olympics.

Career

Ester began playing as a child in her neighbourhood near the

São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport 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 ...

. She was signed for

Clube Atlético Juventus Clube Atlético Juventus (Latin for ''Youth''), commonly referred to as Juventus da Mooca or simply Juventus, is a Brazilian professional football club in the district of Mooca, São Paulo, that competes in Campeonato Paulista Série A2, the ...

after a trial, then moved on to

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

. In 2007 Ester played for CEPE-Caxias in Rio de Janeiro. She rejoined Santos in January 2008, following her successful season away. In the

2008 WPS International Draft The 2008 WPS International Draft took place on September 24, 2008. It was the first international draft held by Women's Professional Soccer to assign the WPS rights of international players to the American-based teams. For the 2009 season, teams ...

, Ester was selected by

Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...

alongside compatriot Rosana, but did not join the team. Instead Ester found success in the

Copa Libertadores Femenina The CONMEBOL Libertadores Femenina, named as "Copa Libertadores Femenina" ( pt, Copa Libertadores Feminina or Taça Libertadores Feminina) is an annual international women's association football club competition in South America. It is organized by ...

with Santos in 2009 and 2010. Ester was part of a Brazilian contingent at Russian champions

WFC Rossiyanka WFC Rossiyanka was a Russian women's football club from Khimki. History The team was founded in 1990 as Nadezhda Krasnoarmeysk, being initially a futsal club. Futsal was played until 1998, when the club left it to concentrate in association fo ...

in 2012, playing in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

defeat to

Turbine Potsdam 1. Frauenfußballclub Turbine Potsdam 71 e. V., commonly known as 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (or Turbine Potsdam outside of Germany), is a German women's football club located in Potsdam, Brandenburg. They are one of the most successful women's footb ...

. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Ester made a total of 10 FA WSL appearances for

, before departing for newly promoted Bundesliga club

in September 2013 with three games of the English season remaining. Chelsea

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager. She is currently the manager of FA WSL club Chelsea Women. She previously served as the head coach and director of football operations for Chicago Red Stars o ...

sold

Sofia Jakobsson Eva Sofia Jakobsson (born 23 April 1990) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays for San Diego Wave in the National Women's Soccer League. She made her debut for the Sweden women's national football team in 2011 and won her 100th cap in ...

to the German team at the same time, saying: "We received an offer from Cloppenburg which we feIt was good business for the club." When Vasco da Gama relaunched again in 2016, Ester was signed to provide experience to the team's younger players. After her retirement from football Ester settled in

Arapongas Arapongas is a municipality within the state of Paraná, South Region, Brazil. It is located in the Metropolitan area of Londrina, Microregion Apucarana and Mesoregion North Central Paranaense, being located at a distance of 386 km from the ...

and worked as a businesswoman.

International

Ester was called up to the

in 2003. She had been on the fringes of the squad, until winning her place in midfield during Brazil's

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic C ...

campaign. She maintained her position as the team's defensive midfielder for the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

. She played in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, which Brazil lost 2–0 to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Ester played in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup as well as the

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; ...

and 2012 Summer Olympics. At the beginning of the 2012 tournament in London, she had 56

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and one goal for the national team.

References

External links

* 1982 births Living people People from Guarulhos Brazilian women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Olympic footballers of Brazil Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic medalists in football Santos FC (women) players Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Brazil women's international footballers Brazilian expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Russia Brazilian expatriates in Russia WFC Rossiyanka players Chelsea F.C. Women players Women's Super League players Expatriate women's footballers in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Footballers from São Paulo (state) Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games medalists in football 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2003 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games São José Esporte Clube (women) players Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games São Paulo FC (women) players CR Vasco da Gama (women) players {{Brazil-women-footy-bio-stub

Career

International

See also

References

External links