Cássio José de Abreu Oliveira (born 8 January 1980), simply known as Cássio, is a former

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 ...

ian-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n professional

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 ...

player who last played for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

in the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

. He is currently running his own academy, called "Academia de Futebol by Cássio".

Biography

Cássio began playing as a left back with local 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 ...

. After missing a penalty kick in the

2001 Copa Mercosur The Copa Mercosur 2001 was the 4th and last season of the Copa Mercosur, CONMEBOL's club tournament. The competition started on 21 July 2001 and concluded on 24 January 2002 with San Lorenzo beating Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo ...

final, his career with Flamengo was effectively over and he was loaned to Internacional and

Mexican Primera División Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

side

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in 2002 and 2003. While at Internacional, Cássio won the 2002

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

and scored the club's 1000th goal in Brazilian competitions. He played in Série B with

Marília Marília () is a Brazilian municipality in the midwestern region of the state of São Paulo. Its distance from the state capital São Paulo is by highway, by railway and in a straight line. It is located at an altitude of 675 meters. The popul ...

during the first half of 2004, before joining Primera División Paraguaya side Olimpia in July 2004. He had a brief spell with the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

, making only three appearances before being released midway through the 2005 season. Cassio's arrival at Adelaide United came after all of the club's options at left-back ( Matthew Kemp, Adam van Dommele and Aaron Goulding) were either released or transferred at the end of the

2006–07 A-League The 2006–07 A-League was the 30th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the second season of the A-League since its establishment the previous season. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the first season an ...

season. Although failing to score during his debut

campaign, his 3 assists, and contribution of 14 shots on target, revealed how dangerous Cassio was as an attacking force. For his significant contributions on the field for the 2007–08 season, he was given three end of season awards, including the Club Champion award. Despite a slow start to the 2008–2009 A-League season due to injury, Cassio proved just how valuable he had become to the club when he set up all three of Adelaide United's goals against

FC Bunyodkor Football Club Bunyodkor () is an Uzbek professional football club based in Tashkent that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. Bunyodkor, a relatively unknown club at the time, made international headlines when it claimed to be close to sig ...

in the first leg semi-final of the 2008

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

. On 15 October 2008 Cassio signed a new two-year deal with United despite interest from rival A-League clubs with the Brazilian stating that although they offered more money Adelaide was "like a second home" for the player. Despite coming to Adelaide with a reputation of a goal scorer Cassio's first goal came midway through his second season with the club; a brilliant free kick against

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

in late October. In December, Cassio scored a brace in Adelaide's 6–1 demolishing of

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

with both goals coming from unstoppable drives after he cut in from the left channel. On 3 January 2009, Cassio scored his fourth goal for Adelaide United against in the annual

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

clash at

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

. Adelaide went on to win the game 2–0. In the

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

second leg against Melbourne Victory, Cassio was sent off by referee Matthew Breeze, and made a

gesture A gesture is a form of nonverbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or othe ...

toward the Melbourne crowd as he departed down the tunnel. In the 2009/10 season Cassio scored two goals, one from a free kick against

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

and goal of the season-contender against

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

to level the match at 1–1. On 12 September 2011, Cassio revealed a desire to become an Australian citizen and play for the Socceroos. Cassio and his family became Australian citizens at a ceremony at Hindmarsh Stadium on 7 September 2012. As a result, he is eligible to represent

at international level. He also does not require a visa to play for Adelaide United, thus enabling the club to import another player on visa. However Cassio eventually did not get to play for Australia after taking citizenship, and was not called up by the Socceroos to play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, hosted by his birth country. On 21 November 2012 he signed a two-year contract extension keeping him at the club until the end of 2014-15 A-League season. 2014 saw a return from injury for Cassio as he featured in a friendly against local side Eastern United FC On 18 December 2014, Cassio was branded as "disrespectful" by Adelaide United manager

Josep Gombau Josep Gombau Balague (born 5 June 1976) is a Spanish professional football manager. He is a former Barcelona youth team coach and has held multiple positions at the club's youth academy. Career Born in Amposta, Tarragona, Catalonia, Gombau w ...

for refusing to turn up to the

2014 FFA Cup Final The 2014 FFA Cup Final was the inaugural final of the FFA Cup, the premier soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. The match was an all A-League affair, contested between Adelaide United and Perth Glory at Coopers Stadium on 16 Decembe ...

to support his teammates, before or after the match, stating that he would not be selecting Cassio to play again, whilst refusing to rule out releasing him in January. Five days later, Cassio was released by Adelaide United. He leaves the Reds as a two time Player of the Year, and as Adelaide's longest serving player. After having announced retirement from his professional playing career, Cassio is currently running his own academy called "Academia de Futebol by Cassio" Adelaide-based football academy which focuses on training and developing the skills of juniors and young players. In 2015, Cassio has coached Pembroke School's First XI Soccer team. Cassio is currently taking over the Soccer program at Nazareth Catholic College High School.

Career statistics

(''Correct as of 1 February 2011'') ¹ – includes

final series statistics
² – includes

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

statistics;

statistics are included in season commencing after group stages (i.e. 2008 ACL in 2008–09 A-League season etc.)

Honours

Personal honours: *

Club Champion: 2007–08,

2010–11 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 ...

Player's Player of the Year: 2007–08

References

External links

Adelaide United profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassio 1980 births Living people Brazilian expatriate men's footballers New England Revolution players A-League Men players Adelaide United FC players SC Internacional players Atlas F.C. footballers Grêmio FBPA players CR Flamengo footballers Marília Atlético Clube players Club Olimpia footballers Santa Cruz Futebol Clube players Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Paraguay Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players Brazilian emigrants to Australia Naturalised soccer players of Australia Men's association football fullbacks FK Beograd (Australia) managers 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen