André Gonçalves Dias, or simply André Dias (born 15 May 1979) is a retired Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

São Bernardo do Campo São Bernardo do Campo () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 810,729 (2022 census) in an area of . According to 2021 data from ...

, André Dias first entered senior football in the 1999

Copa São Paulo de Juniores Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parli ...

, when he played for Palestra de São Bernardo. In the same year, Dias was signed by

Paraná Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology * Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city * Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province In Brazil *Paraná (state), a state ...

, where he played for a year before moving to a bigger side,

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

. Dias stayed with Flamengo only for a short time, making ten appearances before moving again, this time to

Paysandu Sport Club Paysandu Sport Club, commonly referred to as Paysandu, is a Brazilian professional club based in Belém, Pará founded on 2 February 1914. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, as well as in th ...

. Following a year at Paysandu, the defender moved to

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

, where he established himself as a strong and talented defender. In 2005, after two seasons at Goiás, Dias moved to play for

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. He remained there until the end of the 2009 season.

Lazio

Dias secured a move to Europe on 1 February 2010, when he signed for Italian club

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

for €2.63 million. He made 12

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

appearances with them in his first season and scored two quality goals.Career stats at Soccerway
/ref> 2011–12 was the season that consolidated Dias as a pivotal part of the Lazio defence. The Brazilian centre back coupled with Biava and Diakite and guided Lazio's defence to good success and also scored 2 goals in this season. 2012–13 season has seen Dias once again as one of the protagonists of Lazio's surge to the top positions of the table. Under new Lazio coach Vladimir Petkovic, Dias has become a backbone of the squad and together with Biava and Ciani, has formed a formidable defence, being one of the best in Serie A. In December 2013, after almost four years playing in Italy, Dias, under permission of Lazio, can accept proposals from Brazil. Thus, the defender, in some months – Besides of this, his contract with Italians also finishes in July 2014 – can come back to his country. Dias desires to play again in Brazil to staying close to his family, and said that he does not have a preferred club to continue his career, even having a great identification with his former team

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

International career

In 2009, Dias was called up to the Brazilian national side by the manager

Dunga Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri (born 31 October 1963), known as Dunga (), is a Brazilian football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Under his captaincy, Brazil won the 1994 FIFA World Cup and he lifte ...

, to face

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

in a 2010 World Cup qualifier. He did not make his debut, however.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;São Paulo * Brazilian League:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

;Lazio *

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual

* Bola de Prata: 2008, 2009 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dias, Andre 1979 births Living people Footballers from São Bernardo do Campo Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players São Paulo FC players Paraná Clube players CR Flamengo footballers Paysandu Sport Club players Goiás Esporte Clube players SS Lazio players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy ar:اندريه دياز