Alípio Duarte Brandão (born 7 June 1992), known simply as Alípio, is a Brazilian

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 lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Early years

Born in

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

, Distrito Federal, Alípio left

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

at the age of 14. An

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

, he moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

with his legal guardian Helber Damião, co-owner of the football school ''Dois Toques''. His first footballing rights were split between Damião, his original club in his homeland,

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Bras ...

, and the team to where he moved, Rio Ave FC.

Club career

In November 2008, Alípio joined

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

for roughly €1.4 million, without having made one single first-team appearance with Rio Ave. He scored two goals on his debut for the C-team which operated in

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

, and played his second game against CF Rayo Majadahonda in a 2–0 home win, as they eventually finished in eighth position; he played most of his first two years, however, with the ''Juvenil'' side. After scoring in a training match against the Real Madrid first team on 11 February 2009, Alípio made his official debut for Real Madrid Castilla four days later, against Águilas CF, as an 87th-minute substitute for Miguel Palanca. Thus, he became the youngest player ever to appear for the reserves; during the ten minutes he played, he impressed spectators and his coaches alike with his ball skills. In the 2010–11 season, aged 18, Alípio returned to Portugal, being sold to S.L. Benfica and signing a five-year contract with the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club. In his first year in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

he played for the under-19s but, late into it, was loaned to Série C team América Futebol Clube (RN). Alípio returned to Benfica shortly after due to bureaucratic problems and was again loaned, now to Al-Sharjah SCC in the UAE Arabian Gulf League. After two years away from professional football he went on trial with

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also Romanization of Greek, transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional multi-sport club, esta ...

, who later signed him to a permanent deal; he made his debut for his new club on 23 October, against Nikos & Sokratis Erimis for the campaign's

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

. Three days later he first appeared in the First Division, coming from the bench to provide two assists in the 6–0 away routing of Doxa Katokopias FC.

Personal life

Alípio idolized Ronaldo while he was growing up. His compatriot also played professionally for Real Madrid, winning the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

with

.Alipio: "He hablado con Pepe y me ha dado su apoyo" (Alipio: "I have talked with Pepe and he has given me his support")

Diario AS ''Diario AS'' () (sometime stylized as ''AS'' or ''As''; ) is a Spanish daily sports newspaper that concentrates particularly on association football. Profile ''Diario AS'' is part of PRISA which also owns ''El País'' and ''Cinco Días''. The ...

, 10 November 2008 (Spanish)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alipio 1992 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Figueirense FC players América Futebol Clube (RN) players Luverdense Esporte Clube players Esporte Clube Vitória players Atlético Clube Goianiense players Vila Nova Futebol Clube players Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Sharjah FC players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players Football League (Greece) players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Tombense Futebol Clube players Uberlândia Esporte Clube players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Footballers from Brasília 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen