Uilson de Souza Paula Júnior (born 27 April 1989), commonly known as Júnior Caiçara, is a Brazilian

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 plays as a

right-back 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 ...

for

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

Career

Santo André and loans

Caiçara's first professional club is

. In 2009, after making his senior debut with their B-team in the previous year's

Copa Paulista The Copa Paulista de Futebol, formerly known as Copa FPF, also sometimes called Copa Federação Paulista de Futebol or, in English, São Paulo State Cup, is a tournament organized by Federação Paulista de Futebol Company every second half of ...

, he was loaned out to Brazilian team CSA. Back to Santo André in May 2009, Júnior Caiçara made his Série A debut on 16 May, starting and being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 4–2 away win over

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as heCoxa, is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909 by German immigrants, it is the olde ...

. In 2010, he was sent on loan to América-SP, where he featured in four

Campeonato Paulista Série A2 Campeonato Paulista Série A2 is the second tier of the professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF). Clubs 2025 Série A2 List of champions There a ...

matches before being released on 10 February. In June 2010, Caiçara goes to Portugal team

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

again on loan from Santo André. He made his debut on 29 August against Trofense in the second Portugal league. He helped his team to gain promotion in the

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 ...

and played with the team in their return in Primeira Liga.

Ludogorets Razgrad

After playing two seasons for

in Portugal, Júnior Caiçara joined Bulgarian side

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

on 5 June 2012. He signed a three-year contract and was given the number 80 jersey. On 11 July, Caiçara marked his debut for Ludogorets with a goal and first trophy. He opened the scoring in the

2012 Bulgarian Supercup The 2012 Bulgarian Supercup was the tenth Bulgarian Supercup match, a football match which was contested between the "A" professional football group champion, Ludogorets, and the runner-up of the Bulgarian Cup, Lokomotiv Plovdiv. As the Bulgari ...

against

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

, the match ended 3–1 to Ludogorets. On 18 July, he made his European debut against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Then he made his Bulgarian A Group debut, playing full 90 minutes in a 3–0 away win over

Cherno More Varna Cherno More () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on 3 March 1913, as an association football branch ...

on 11 August. Caiçara quickly established himself as Ludogorets's first choice right-back, making 28 league appearances during his debut campaign in Bulgaria. He collected his first A group title winner's medal at the end of the

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 ...

season. On 21 August 2013, Caiçara was sent off against

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in a 4–2 home defeat in the play-off round of the Champions League, his first red card in a Ludogorets shirt. On 12 December 2014, Ludogorets announced that Caiçara had extended his contract with a new two-year deal that will keep him at the club until 2017.

Schalke 04

On 25 June 2015, Caiçara signed with German club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

on a three-year deal for a fee of €4.5 million. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut in a 1–1 draw with

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

İstanbul Başakşehir

On 16 January 2017, Caiçara signed with Turkish club

İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. İstanbul Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü (), commonly referred to as Başakşehir or, due to sponsorship reasons, Rams Başakşehir, is a professional football club based in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul, Turkey. Known for its vibrant ora ...

on a 3.5-year deal for an undisclosed fee. Three days later he made his debut for the team in the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

coming as a substitute in the 61 minute in a match against

Yeni Amasyaspor Yeni can refer to: * Yeni, Acıpayam, Turkey * Yeni, Bago, Myanmar * Yeni, Katha Township, Myanmar * Yeni, Mahlaing Township, Myanmar * Yeni, Tavas, Turkey * Yeni language The Yeni language is an extinct language of Cameroon Cameroon, ...

. On 22 January, he completed his debut for the team coming as a substitute again in a match against Fenerbahçe in the

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 ...

. On 19 February 2023, Caiçara terminated his contract with the club.

Santos

On 21 August 2023, Caiçara returned to his home country after signing a contract with Santos in the top tier until the end of the year.

Santo André return

On 3 January 2024, Caiçara returned to Santo André for the season.

International career

Caicara is eligible for both

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 ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

since on 1 July 2014 he got a

Bulgarian passport A Bulgarian passport () is an international travel document issued to nationals of Bulgaria, and may also serve as proof of Bulgarian citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of Bulgarian citi ...

and became able to play for Bulgaria from 2017. He said that he would be happy to represent Bulgaria on the international level. On 25 February 2017, he mentioned again that he would represent Bulgaria if he got an invite since the old manager, Ivaylo Petev, wanted him, and he is waiting for a call from Petar Hubchev.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Gil Vicente *

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

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 ...

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

Runner-up: 2011–12 Ludogorets Razgrad * Bulgarian A Group:

, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament's format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

: 2013–14 *

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup () is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and the holder of the Bulgarian Cup at that time. ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

İstanbul Başakşehir *

: 2019–20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caicara, Junior 1989 births Living people Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Esporte Clube Santo André players Centro Sportivo Alagoano players América Futebol Clube (SP) players Gil Vicente F.C. players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players FC Schalke 04 players İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. players Santos FC players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Men's association football defenders Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Brazilian emigrants to Bulgaria Naturalised citizens of Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen