Kléber Giacomazzi de Souza Freitas (born 12 August 1983), known simply as Kléber, 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 ...

Club career

Kléber started his career playing for

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 ...

, in 2003. The young forward – he was 20 years old – shined in the

2003 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2003 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 47th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. The first edition with only a double round-robin and no playoffs, it began on March 29, 2003, and reached its end on December 14. The competition w ...

, when

finished in third place, and in the

2003 Copa Sudamericana The 2003 Copa Nissan Sudamericana was the second edition of CONMEBOL's new international club tournament. It was won by Peruvian club Cienciano, who won the first international trophy for their club and the country. They also qualified to play in ...

, a competition where the club was eliminated in the semifinals, against Argentinian side, River Plate. In December, Kléber also won the

2003 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 14th FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. Brazil claimed their fourth title, becoming the first country to simultaneously hol ...

, along with other future Brazilian soccer stars, such as Nilmar,

Dagoberto Dagoberto is the name of: Football *Dagoberto (Brazilian footballer) * Dagoberto Currimilla, Chilean footballer * Dagoberto Fontes, Uruguayan footballer * Dagoberto Ojeda, Colombian footballer *Dagoberto Portillo, Salvadoran footballer * Dagoberto ...

, Daniel Alves and Jefferson. In 2004, Kléber was sold to Ukrainian side

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

for US$2 million. On January 14, the player was presented in his new club. In 2008, after four years of playing in Europe, he came back to Brazil, being loaned out to

Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with an ...

from

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet ...

. He was part of the transfer of

Guilherme Guilherme is a Portuguese given name, equivalent to William in English. The feminine form of this name is Guilhermina. Diminutive forms include Guilhermino. Vilma (Portuguese form of Wilma) is another female variant of the name. Brazilian foot ...

Dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...

which sent Kléber in the opposite direction to Cruzeiro in February 2009 arriving from Palmeiras. He signed a contract until February 2014. In his first match for Cruzeiro, De Souza Freitas scored two goals and was dismissed in the first half, playing in the

2009 Copa Libertadores The 2009 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2009 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 50th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. The ...

. After the match, he stated that he would stop being so aggressive in games and would only dedicate himself for the club. He helped Cruzeiro reach the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the Libertadores, eventually losing to Estudiantes, from Argentina, in the decisive second leg match. After the shocking defeat in the

Mineirão Mineirão (; , named after its large structure), officially known as Governador Magalhães Pinto Stadium (, ; , named after Magalhães Pinto), is an association football stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Owned by the state of Minas Gerais, it ...

stadium, he injured himself in training and played only 15

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

matches in 2009, although he helped Cruzeiro finish in fourth place and qualify to the

2010 Copa Libertadores The 2010 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2010 Copa Santander Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st edition of the Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de Améric ...

, scoring a decisive goal against

Santos Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...

Vila Belmiro Vila may refer to: People *Vila (surname) Places Andorra * Vila, Andorra, a town in the parish of Encamp Brazil * Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade, a municipality in the State of Mato Grosso * Vila Boa, Goiás, a municipality in the State of ...

in the final minutes of the last match of the year. In July 2010, after a good season start, scoring two goals in four matches in the 2010 league for Cruzeiro, he agreed a transfer to his former club, Palmeiras, where he had played in 2008. He was very well received by the club that had a great affection for him. In Palmeiras, the fans nicknamed him "''Gladiador''" (Gladiator), for his strong determination and high talent on the field. In October 2011, he strongly criticized Palmeiras coach Luis Felipe Scolari in a television interview, saying that, "80 percent of the squad do not like him." He was removed from the squad right away, following friction with the coach. Although he was under contract with the club until 2015, the board of Palmeiras confirmed that he would never represent the club again. In November 2011, he signed a five-year contract with Grêmio, after Palmeiras agreed to sell the 50 percent of his playing rights. In June 2014, Grêmio loaned him to

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 ...

until the end of the season. On 2015, Kleber returned from his loaned to Grêmio, the Coach from Grêmio at the time was Luis Felipe Scolari, the same coach Klebler criticized back in 2011, and they said that Kleber was going to be negotiated. After more than three months not receiving his salary, Kleber "broke the contract" with Grêmio and make an agreement with the Worker Justice and Grêmio to receive about 60 payment from R$220,000. In June 2015, Kleber signed with

Coritiba Foot Ball Club Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as heCoxa, is a List of football clubs in Brazil, Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Paraná s ...

. On 29 June 2017, Kleber was given a 15-game ban for spitting at and striking Bahia defender Edson.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Dynamo Kyiv *

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

: 2004–05, 2007–08 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07 Palmeiras *

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), ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Cruzeiro *

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 ...

: 2009 Austin Bold * Copa Tejas: 2019

International

Brazil U20 *

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Individual

*Troféu Telê Santana XI: 2009 *

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

Best Goalscorer:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleber 1983 births Living people Men's association football forwards Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Osasco São Paulo FC players SE Palmeiras players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players Grêmio FBPA players Cruzeiro EC players CR Vasco da Gama players Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Austin Bold FC players USL Championship players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen