Claudinei Alexandre Aparecido (born 2 May 1980 in

Avaré, São Paulo Avaré is a city in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, located 270 km from the state capital, São Paulo. The population is 91,232 (2020 est.) in an area of 1213 km2. Established on 15 September 1861 by Major Vitoriano de Souza Rocha and ...

), known as Nei, 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 last played for

Trindade Atlético Clube Trindade Atlético Clube, commonly known as Trindade, is a Brazilian football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualifie ...

as a striker.

Football career

After solid performances in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

for A.D. Ovarense in the second division (he arrived in the country at the age of 21 from

Guarani Futebol Clube Guarani Futebol Clube, colloquially called Guarani, is a Brazilian association football club in Campinas, São Paulo. Guarani is the only club not based in a state capital or coastal city to have won the top tier of the Brazilian Championsh ...

), Nei moved in the January 2005

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

to Moreirense F.C. 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 ...

, making his debut on the 9th in a 1–0 home win against Académica de Coimbra and scoring four goals in the season's last three games – including one in a 1–1 home draw against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

– as his team eventually suffered relegation. Nei played one more year in Portugal in 2006–07, 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 ...

, his ten league goals being good enough for joint-fifth in the scorers' list, 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 finished 11th and retained their top level status. He then moved to

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 ...

with

PFC 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 Professional Football League, First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ' ...

, for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

500.000: in his only season he netted a career-best 14 goals, also helping the side to the

First Professional Football League 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 ...

championship. Nei signed a two-year deal with

Al-Shabab FC (Riyadh) Shabab Club also known as Al-Shabab () is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Riyadh that competes in the Saudi Pro League. Founded in 1947 as ''Shabab Al-Riyadh'' (; ), it was renamed ''Al-Shabab'' in 1967. The club earned it ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, being loaned to

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in his second year and being a relatively important attacking unit as the team won the double. In July 2010, he was sold to Changchun Yatai F.C. from China. On 11 January 2014, after having represented four clubs in quick succession, Nei returned to the Asian country, transferring to

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

's Tianjin Songjiang FC.松江内外援引进双丰收克劳迪内夏宁宁联袂加盟
Sports Enorth, 12 January 2014 (in Chinese)

Honours

;CSKA Sofia * Bulgarian League: 2007–08 *

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 ...

;CFR Cluj *

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

: 2009–10 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 2009–10

References

External links

*
Brazilian FA database
* * *
Slstat profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nei 1980 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo (state) Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Guarani FC players Grêmio Esportivo Anápolis players Boa Esporte Clube players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players A.D. Ovarense players Moreirense F.C. players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC CSKA Sofia players Saudi Pro League players Al Shabab FC (Riyadh) players Liga I players CFR Cluj players Chinese Super League players China League One players Changchun Yatai F.C. players Tianjin Tianhai F.C. players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China People from Avaré 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen