Diego Ângelo de Oliveira (born 17 February 1986), known as Diego Ângelo, is a Brazilian former 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

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 ...

. Having started at Santos, he all but spent his 16-year career in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

, totalling 294 appearances and 25 goals representing four clubs.

Career

Brazil

Born in

Anápolis Anápolis ( , ) is a Brazilian city in the state of Goiás. It is located between two capitals, the federal capital Brasília and state capital Goiânia. It is the third most populous city in the state, with 398,869 inhabitants according to the ...

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 ...

, Diego Ângelo started his professional career in

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 ...

with

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

. After signing a six-month contract in July 2005, he agreed to a new one-year deal in January of the following year. Diego Ângelo left for

Ituano Futebol Clube Ituano Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as simply Ituano, is a Brazilian association football club in Itu, São Paulo. They currently play in the Série C, the third tier of Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeonato Paulista Séri ...

on 1 March 2007, joining until 31 December. He played in that season's

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), ...

as well as in the Série B; he started the opening match against

Ceará Sporting Club Ceará Sporting Club, or simply Ceará, () is a Brazilian Football League Teams, Brazilian professional football club from the city of Fortaleza, capital city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Ceará. Founded on June 2, 1914, Cear ...

on 12 May, and scored a goal on 10 July in a 3–1 home win over

Paulista Futebol Clube Paulista Futebol Clube, also called as Paulista de Jundiaí or simply Paulista, is a Brazilian football team from Jundiaí, in São Paulo, founded on 17 May 1909. They currently play in the Campeonato Paulista Série A4, the fourth tier of the ...

. Diego Ângelo made his last appearance for Ituano on 28 August 2007, a 1–1 home draw against

Marília Atlético Clube Marília Atlético Clube, commonly referred to as Marília, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Marília, São Paulo. The team competes in the Campeonato Paulista Série A3, the third tier of the São Paulo state foot ...

, with his team ranking 20th and last.

Naval

On 30 August 2007, Diego Ângelo signed with

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, was a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it last played in the Division of Honour i ...

of Portugal. He made his competitive debut on 30 September in a 2–0 away loss to

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal , P ...

, and finished his first season with 22 games and four goals as the

Figueira da Foz Figueira da Foz (), officially Figueira da Foz City (), often called simply Figueira for short, is a city and a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. Practically at the midpoint of the Iberian Peninsula's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...

team managed to retain their

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 ...

status. In 2009–10, Diego Ângelo appeared in all 30 league fixtures for Naval, who finished in a best-ever eighth place. During that time period, he also signed a pre-contract with

Genoa CFC Genoa Cricket and Football Club () is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The team competes in the Serie A, the top division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

, after the Italian

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 ...

club agreed a fee with the Portuguese.

Genoa and Eskişehirspor

On 19 May 2010, Diego Ângelo was called up to Genoa's upcoming training camp in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

. He made his debut on the same day, a 2–1 friendly against

Prima Divisione Prima Divisione (''First Division'') was the name of the first level of the Italian Football Championship from 1921 to 1926. The competition was initially founded in opposition to the FIGC by the richest clubs of Northern Italy, which disagreed the ...

side AS Lucchese Libertas 1905. On 12 August he was loaned to

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish football club located in Eskişehir. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division of Turkish football for 16 years until they were relegated. After being out of the Süper Lig for 12 years the ...

, with the

club having an option to purchase him at the end of the campaign. In late May 2011, Diego Ângelo moved to the

New Eskişehir Stadium The New Eskişehir Stadium () is a stadium in Eskişehir, Turkey. It opened to the public in late 20 November 2016 and has a capacity of 32,500 spectators. It is the home ground of Eskişehirspor. It replaced the club's former home, Eskişehir A ...

on a permanent two-year contract. He remained in the Turkish top flight until the end of his career aged 35, with

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, and also called Bellona Kayserispor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium ...

and Gençlerbirliği SK.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diego Angelo 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Anápolis 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Goiás Men's association football central defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Santos FC players Ituano FC players Primeira Liga players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players Genoa CFC players Süper Lig players Eskişehirspor footballers Antalyaspor footballers Kayserispor footballers Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey