Mário Lúcio Costa Duarte (born 17 November 1980), commonly known as Aranha, is a Brazilian writer and 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. His professional playing career spanned nearly 20 years, during which he was mainly associated with Santos and Ponte Preta. After retirement, Aranha became a writer, focusing his work in the racial issues in Brazil. He published a book about

José do Patrocínio José Carlos do Patrocínio (9 October 1854 – 29 January 1905) was a Brazilian writer, journalist, activist, orator and pharmacist. He was among the most well-known proponents of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, and known as "''Tigre da Abo ...

in 2022.

Club career

Ponte Preta

Born in

Pouso Alegre Pouso Alegre is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in southern region of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, with a population of 152,549 in 2020. The area of the municipality is 543 km2. It lies in the valley of the Sapucaí River. Cities tha ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, Aranha graduated from Ponte Preta's youth system. His nickname emerged in his hometown, through his coach at the time (Ailton Custódio), as a reference to the Soviet goalkeeper

Lev Yashin Lev Ivanovich Yashin (; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990) was a Soviet professional footballer considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the sport. He was the first and only goalkeeper to win a Ballon d'Or, a feat whi ...

, known as "Black Spider" due to his kits and his great defenses. Aranha served his first six professional years mostly as a third-choice, behind

Alexandre Negri Alexandre Negri (born 27 March 1981) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and who works for Cypriot First Division club Doxa Katokopias as goalkeeping coach. He signed in 2007 from Aris Thessaloniki. Born in B ...

and Lauro. After the former's transfer to

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccien (), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French professional football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in the Ligue 2, the sec ...

in 2004, and the latter's move to Cruzeiro in 2006, he was still unable to appear regularly, due to the arrival of

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

. In the following year Jean left the side and Aranha was chosen as first-choice. On 21 February 2007, in a 0–1 loss at Villa Nova, he suffered a serious face injury which sidelined him for a month; after his return he saw a fellow youth graduate,

Denis Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, Bishop of Győr (13th century), Hungarian prelate * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), bar ...

, in great form and was thus relegated to the bench. In 2008, Aranha was named best goalkeeper of the

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), ...

, with his side eventually finishing second, losing to

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

. Despite attracted interest from other clubs, he remained at Ponte, signing a new three-year deal on 19 December 2008.

Atlético Mineiro

On 26 May 2009, Aranha moved to

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, after long negotiations. With ''Galo'' he only achieved mid-table positions, and despite appearing regularly in his first season, he served as a backup to young

Renan Ribeiro Renan Ribeiro (born 23 March 1990) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He began his career in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A with Atlético Mineiro and São Paulo. In January 2018 he moved to Portugal, where he ...

during his second. He was released by the club on 17 December 2010.

Santos

Four days after being released by ''Galo'', Aranha joined Santos. He served his first two seasons initially as a backup to

Rafael Cabral Rafael Cabral Barbosa (born 20 May 1990), known as Rafael Cabral or simply Rafael, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Real Salt Lake. Club career Santos Born in Sorocaba, Rafael joined Santos youth system in ...

, and extended his contract until the end of the 2013 season. In July 2013, after the departure of Rafael to

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

, Aranha was handed the first-choice goalkeeper status in the squad, and was later praised for his performances. On 31 August he signed a new two-year deal, remaining at Santos until 2015. On 13 January 2015, after his deal expired, Aranha took legal action against Santos due to unpaid wages, the fifth player to do so. Eight days later, he rejected two proposals of rescision from Santos, preferring to wait for another decision from the court; he subsequently canceled his legal action against the club.

Palmeiras

On 2 February 2015, Aranha signed a one-year deal with fellow league team Palmeiras, mainly as a backup to Fernando Prass. He started only one match for the club, a 2-2 draw against Ituano on 9 April 2015, and became a free agent after his contract expired at the end of the year.

Joinville / Ponte Preta return

In June 2016, the 35-year-old Aranha signed a short-term deal with

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B (commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B, the Série B or the Brazilian Série B to distinguish it from the Italian and the Ecuadorian Serie B), and currently officially called Brasileirão Série B ...

team

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...

. On 9 August, he returned to Ponte Preta.

Racism incidents

On 28 August 2014, when Santos was facing Grêmio in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

for the

Round of 16 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 ...

of the 2014 Copa do Brasil, Aranha was called ''macaco'' (monkey) by Grêmio supporters. He also accused them of making monkey sounds to provoke him. Grêmio later issued a statement in which the club condemns the acts of racism and promises to help identifying the racist supporters. The episode led to the return match against Grêmio being suspended until Brazil's superior sporting court can examine the case - the outcome could include Grêmio being disqualified from the championship, a punishment that was indeed made official on 3 September 2014. On 21 January 2015, Aranha was again victim of racist acts, this time from a very small part of Santos' supporters, through a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

group. The people who insulted the player were reprimanded and subsequently excluded from the group.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Santos *

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 ...

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 ...

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

;Palmeiras *

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, ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual

Team of the year:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aranha 1980 births Living people Footballers from Minas Gerais Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Santos FC players SE Palmeiras players Joinville Esporte Clube players People from Pouso Alegre Copa Libertadores–winning players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen