Aílton Delfino (born 1 September 1968) is a retired 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 lea ...

who played as a striker.

Career

Born in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

, Aílton is a youth product of

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, making his debut in 1987, and taking part in the conquest of three

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

, in 1988, 1989 and 1991, and one

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL () was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contest, similar to the ...

. In 1993, Aílton joined Benfica, as the alternative for

Adolfo Valencia Adolfo José Valencia Mosquera (born 6 February 1968) is a Colombian retired footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''El tren'' (train) due to his powerful physique, he played in seven countries – having one-year spells in Germany and ...

after negotiations with the Colombian failed. He made his debut on a friendly against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

on 18 August 1993, scoring the 2–1 in the 73rd minute. His first season in Portugal was a success, as he help the Lisbon-side win the league title, scoring 14 goals in 33 games, notably the first against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

on 6 February 1994. In his second season, Artur Jorge made several changes in the squad, with Aílton being loaned out to

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 ...

until June 1995. He returned to Portugal for a six-month spell in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, without much success, moving permanently to São Paulo in January 1996. At São Paulo, he won the Copa Master de CONMEBOL, scoring one goal in the semifinal against

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. He then passed through five more clubs, notably helping São Caetano finish runner-up in the Série A in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, plus starting both games of the 2002 Copa Libertadores Finals.

Honours

Atlético Mineiro *

: 1988, 1989, 1991 *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Benfica *

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 ...

: 1993–94 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 1995–96 São Paulo * Copa Master de CONMEBOL: 1996 Cruzeiro *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

References

External links

* 1968 births Living people Footballers from Belo Horizonte Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Atlético Minero footballers S.L. Benfica footballers São Paulo FC players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players Esporte Clube Santo André players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Primeira Liga players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Copa Libertadores–winning players 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal {{Brazil-footy-forward-1960s-stub