Clóvis Bento da Cruz (born 25 June 1970) 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 lea ...

who played as a striker.

Career

Born in

Barra do Garças Barra do Garças is a city with a population of 61,135 located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, around from the capital city of Cuiabá. It was founded on 13 June 1924, but it became politically independent on 15 September 1948. Nowadays, B ...

, Clóvis is a youth prospect of

América (SP) The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, from where he became a professional footballer, competing for club in the second level of the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

. After moving to Guarani, he scored 13 goals in the

1993 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 1993 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 37th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Overview It was contested by 32 teams, and Palmeiras won the championship. Format The first phase of the season had the 32 teams divided into four ...

, finishing one shy of top-scorer, Guga. In 1994, he joined Benfica, debuting on 20 August 1994 in a home win against

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Ave ...

, scoring the second goal. Three days later he played the first leg of the

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

, but was soon sidelined by manager Artur Jorge, who claimed he need time to adapt to Portugal, with Clóvis requesting to be loaned out. He briefly joined

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

in the second half of 1994–95. Clóvis returned to Brazil in 1995, to play for

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

, where he would reunite with former teammate

Paulão Paulão is a Portuguese nickname derived from Paulo, meaning "Great Paul" or "Big Paul". Notable people known as Paulão include: * Paulão (born 1963), Brazilian volleyball player born ''Paulo André Jukoski da Silva'' *Paulão (footballer, born 1 ...

, and future Benfica striker,

Valdir Valdir is a given name, most commonly used in Brazil. It may refer to: * Valdir Azevedo (1923–1980), Brazilian conductor * Valdir (footballer, born 1937), Brazilian footballer * Valdir (footballer, born 1943), Brazilian football defender * Va ...

. He was the club top-scorer in the 1995 edition of the

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

and third overall. On 6 October 1995, he was loaned to

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

. After a successful year in Vasco, Clóvis became a constant traveller, passing through 15 different clubs in ten years, retiring in 2005 at age 35 due to heart problems.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clovis 1970 births Living people Footballers from Mato Grosso Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Vitória F.C. players América Futebol Clube (SP) players CR Vasco da Gama players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Santos FC players Club Athletico Paranaense players Grêmio FBPA players Club Deportivo Palestino footballers Chilean Primera División players Primeira Liga players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Barcelona S.C. footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Venezuela Expatriate men's footballers in Venezuela Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Associação Atlética Francana players Mogi Mirim Esporte Clube players Mirassol Futebol Clube players América Futebol Clube (RN) players Associação Atlética Caldense players Men's association football forwards People from Barra do Garças