Paulo Henrique Sampaio Filho, commonly known as Paulinho (; born 15 July 2000), is a Brazilian 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 plays as a forward or winger for

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

club

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 ...

and the Brazil national team.

Club career

Vasco da Gama

2017 season

Having progressed through

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 ...

's academy, Paulinho was promoted to the club's first-team squad under the management of Milton Mendes on 19 June 2017. On 13 July 2017, two days before his seventeenth birthday, Paulinho made his professional debut when he was brought on as a 93rd-minute substitute in a 4–1 Brasileirão Série A away win over Vitória. Minutes after entering the field of play, he recorded his professional assist when he set up teammate

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 ...

for his side's fourth goal. Eleven days later, he made his first professional start and scored twice in a 2–1 league away win over

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 ...

, becoming the youngest player ever to score at Brasileirão Série A and the first player born at 2000s to score at Brasileirão Série A. On 3 December 2017, Paulinho opened the scoring of a 2–1 home win over Ponte Preta at the last round of 2017 Brasileirão Série A and helped Vasco da Gama to reach a qualification to Copa Libertadores next season.

2018 season

Paulinho made his first

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 ...

assist when he set up

Evander Evander is a masculine given name. It is an anglicization of the Greek name Εὔανδρος (lit. "good man", Latinized ''Evandrus''). It has also been adopted as an anglicization of the Gaelic name Ìomhar (the Gaelic variant of the name Ivor) ...

to open the score in a 4–0 away win over

Universidad de Concepción Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

, by the 1st leg of Copa Libertadores second qualifying stage. On the 2nd leg, Paulinho made his first Copa Libertadores goal opening the score in a 2–0 home win over Universidad de Concepción. His goal made him the first player born at 2000s to score at Copa Libertadores.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 27 April 2018, German club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

announced that they had reached an agreement with Vasco da Gama for the transfer of Paulinho. The clubs agreed to a €20 million fee, a club-record deal for Vasco. He joined Leverkusen ahead of the 2018–19 season and signed a five-year contract.

Atlético Mineiro

On 1 December 2022, Paulinho joined

on loan until June 2023. He made his debut on 21 January 2023 in a

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 ...

2–1 win over Caldense and scored his first goal in the following match, a 2–1 win over Tombense. On 1 July, he signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with the club on a free transfer. On 27 August, Paulinho scored the first official goal in Atlético Mineiro's newly inaugurated stadium Arena MRV, with a brace in a Série A 2–0 win over Santos. Paulinho was the top scorer of the

2023 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2023 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (officially the Brasileirão Assaí 2023 for sponsorship reasons) was the 67th season of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top level of professional football in Brazil, and the 20th edition in a doubl ...

season, with 20 goals in 36 appearances. Paulinho announced his departure from Atlético Mineiro at the end of the 2024 season. During his two-season stint with the club, he scored 50 goals and provided 12 assists in 120 matches, winning the Campeonato Mineiro titles in 2023 and 2024. In addition to being the top scorer of the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2023, he was also the team's overall top scorer for both years (shared with

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...

in 2024) and became the club's second-highest scorer in

history, with 14 goals.

Palmeiras

On 31 December 2024,

announced the signing of Paulinho on a five-year deal with the club paying €18 million for his signature.

International career

Youth

In March 2017, Paulinho, along with

Vinícius Júnior Vinícius José Paixão de Oliveira Júnior (; born 12 July 2000), commonly known as Vinícius Júnior or Vini Jr., is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for La Liga ...

, Lincoln and

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, helped

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 ...

win the South American Under-17 Championship. He scored two goals during the tournament, including the opening goal in Brazil's 5–0 win over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

in the final. In October 2017, Paulinho helped Brazil reach 3rd place of

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international association football, football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India from 6 to 28 Octo ...

. Paulinho scored the winning goals against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at Brazil's debut,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

and in quarterfinals against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. On 17 June 2021, Paulinho was named in the Brazil squad for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. Coming on as a substitute, he scored in Brazil's opening game against

Senior

Paulinho received his first call-up to the Brazil senior team on 6 November 2023, making his debut in a World Cup qualifier against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

ten days later.

Personal life

Following the goal he scored in a 4–2 victory over Germany at the 2020 Olympics, Paulinho celebrated by imitating an archer in homage to Oshosi, a popular

orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The p ...

or spirit in

Afro-Brazilian religion African diaspora religions, also described as Afro-American religions, are a number of related beliefs that developed in the Americas in various areas of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Southern United States. They derive from traditional ...

. Paulinho later stated that he performed the celebration to draw attention to the prejudice that followers of

Candomblé Candomblé () is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West and Central Africa, especi ...

and other minority religions face in Brazil. He was subsequently invited by the Mocidade Samba School to participate in the next year's carnival. One of Paulinho's aunts is the television news commentator,

Flávia Oliveira Flávia Maria de Oliveira Paparella (born 27 October 1981) is a Brazilian bicycle racing, racing cyclist. She competed in the 2013 UCI Road World Championships – Women's road race, 2013 UCI Women's World Championship Road Race in Florence, as ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Vasco da Gama U17 *Taça Guanabara U17: 2015 Vasco da Gama U20 *Taça Guanabara U20: 2017 *Taça Rio U20: 2017 *Campeonato Carioca U20: 2017 Atlético Mineiro *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Brazil U15 *

South American Under-15 Football Championship The South American U-15 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 15, is a South American association football competition held every two years contested by male players under the age of 15 and is organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body for foot ...

: 2015 Colombia Brazil U17 *

South American Under-17 Football Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 17, is a football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tournament for the newly cre ...

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 ...

* BRICS U-17 Football Cup:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

Third place:

Brazil U21 *

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Brazil U23 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

gold medal:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A top scorer:

* Minas Gerais State Championship Team of the Year:

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

MVP:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

*Campeonato Carioca Team of the Year:

*Campeonato Carioca Best Young Player:

*"Revelação do Campeonato Brasileiro 2017" in vote held by

Esporte Interativo TNT Sports is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery in Brazil responsible for sports broadcasts on TNT and Space channels in the country. Esporte Interativo started as a television channel, inaugurated on January 20, 2007, with the live broadc ...

*60 of the best young talents in world football by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' *"30 Revelações do Brasileirão" by ''globoesporte.com'' *"Abusado da Rodada" in the 16th round of the Brasileirão 2017 in vote held by ''É Gol!!!'' from

SporTV SporTV is a Brazilian pay television sports network owned by Canais Globo, part of Grupo Globo, launched in 1991. It is the most watched sports network in Brazil. On 18 January 2013, were launched High-definition simulcasts of SporTV and ...

*"Pintura da Rodada" in the 16th round of the Brasileirão 2017 in vote held by ''É Gol!!!'' from

*"Abusado da Rodada" in the 4th round of the Campeonato Carioca 2018 in vote held by ''É Gol!!!'' from

*Best Player in the 1st match between

x Jorge Wilstermann by the qualifying stage of the Libertadores 2018 *2016 Montaigu Tournament top scorer: 4 goals * 2017 U17 World Cup: 3 goals (

's top scorer) Records *Youngest player to play for

at the professional era (16 years, 11 months and 29 days) *Youngest player to score a goal on Campeonato Brasileiro (17 years and 9 days) *First player born in the 2000s to score a goal in Campeonato Brasileiro *

's youngest player to score in the

(17 years, 6 months and 23 days) *First player born in the 2000s to score a goal in Copa Libertadores * First player born in the 2000s to score two goals in Copa Libertadores * 4th youngest Brazilian player to score a goal in Copa Libertadores (19 February 2018)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulinho 2000 births Living people Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian Candomblés Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football forwards CR Vasco da Gama players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Clube Atlético Mineiro players SE Palmeiras players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Bundesliga players Olympic footballers for Brazil Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Olympic medalists in football Olympic gold medalists for Brazil Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen