Marcos Antônio Malachias Júnior (; born 30 April 1982), commonly known as Marquinhos, is a retired 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Born in Brazil, he represented the Bulgaria national team.

Club career

Born in

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

, Marquinhos started his career at Guaçuano in 2004. In February 2006 he signed with Bulgarian club

Belasitsa Petrich OFC Belasitsa () is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Petrich, currently playing in the Second League. The team was founded in 1923. They play at the Stadion Tsar Samuil in Petrich, which has a capacity of 9,500. The club last played ...

from Guaçuano. He made his debut for the club on 4 March 2006 in an

A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

match against

Naftex Burgas PFC Naftex Burgas () is a former football club from Burgas, Bulgaria. History The club was created in 1962 by a group of workers, laying the foundations of the future Petroleum Refinery Neftochim, which had not yet been named. The team startе ...

. Marquinhos made 13 league appearances to the end of the season, scoring five goals, helping the club avoid relegation. In the following 2006–07 season he finished the league campaign with 12 goals in 28 appearances. On 28 May 2007, Marquinhos moved to

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

. The deal was reported to be worth around €150,000. Marquinhos's competitive debut for the club came in CSKA's opening match at away to

Litex Lovech FC Lovech (; formerly Litex Lovech) is a Bulgarian professional association football, football club based in Lovech, that competes in the Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria), Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Spor ...

on 11 August. On 8 March 2008, Marquinhos scored his first CSKA goal in a 3–1 away win over his previously club

Belasitsa Belasica ( Macedonian and Bulgarian: , also translit. ''Belasitsa'' or ''Belasitza'', Ottoman Turkish: بلش Turkish: ''Beleş''), Belles (, ''Bélles'') or Kerkini (, ''Kerkíni'';), is a mountain range in the region of Macedonia in Southe ...

. He scored the equalizing goal in the 1–1 away draw against Derry City on 6 August 2009 to enable his team to progress to the next stage of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. He suffered an injury in December 2009, which took him out of play for a couple of months. On 4 November 2010, Marquinhos scored the winning goal against

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

in a 2–1 away victory of

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

group stage. On 25 May 2011, he assisted

Spas Delev Spas Borislavov Delev (; born 22 September 1989) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Lokomotiv Sofia. Club career Youth career Born in Klyuch, part of Petrich Municipality, Delev started to play football in Piri ...

in a 1–0 win over

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia 1913 () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground is the Stadion Aleksandar Sh ...

in the

final 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 ...

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 ...

. Marquinhos announced retirement on 16 December 2016 after leaving

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

and would start studying in NSA and focus on manager career. However, in March 2017 he joined the amateur Brazilian club Cascavel. On 9 January 2018, Marquinhos returned again from retirement to play for the Brazilian club Caldense in

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 ...

International career

On 27 May 2011, Marquinhos was named to the Bulgaria national team's squad for the friendly match against

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

and Euro 2012 qualifier against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, just days after receiving citizenship from his adopted country. He made his debut four days later, appearing as a substitute for the second half. His official debut came on 4 June against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

; Marquinhos was booked in the 54th minute and the match was drawn 1–1.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

CSKA Sofia *

: 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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquinhos 1982 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Brazilian men's footballers Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers América Futebol Clube (MG) players OFC Belasitsa Petrich players PFC CSKA Sofia players Anorthosis Famagusta FC players Changchun Yatai F.C. players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad players FC Montana players FC Cascavel players Associação Atlética Caldense players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Chinese Super League players Cypriot First Division players Brazilian emigrants to Bulgaria Naturalised citizens of Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in China Footballers from Campinas 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen