Paulo Sérgio Betanin (born 10 January 1986), more commonly known as Paulinho, 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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He also holds an Italian passport through Venetian descent.

Club career

Paulinho started his career at

Esporte Clube Juventude Esporte Clube Juventude (), or simply Juventude, is a Brazilian football (soccer), football club in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul. The club currently competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the Brazilian football league system, fi ...

. He was signed by

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

on loan in January 2005. He made his Serie A debut on 17 April 2005 against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

. In 2007–08 season he left for Serie B side

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

and in 2009–10 season left for

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

. His loan was extended in July 2010. With Livorno, he won promotion to Serie A in 2009, only a year after the team had been relegated from the same division. Livrono promoted back to Serie A in 2013. However, the club relegated again in 2014. In 2014 Paulinho was sold to Al-Arabi for €8 million (€7.6 million to LivornoA.S. Livorno Calcio S.r.l. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2014 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> and €400,000 as solidarity contribution.) On 23 August 2017, Paulinho returned to Italy for

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

. On 1 February 2019, he was released from his Cremonese contract by mutual consent.

International career

Paulinho was capped for the Brazilian under-20 team at the

2005 South American Youth Championship The 2005 South American Youth Championship (Sudamericana sub-20) was a football competition contested by all ten U-20 national football teams of CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in Colombia between 13 January and 6 February 2005, it was the 22nd t ...

. He played four matches and scored once.

Career statistics

References

External links

* *
Football.it Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulinho 1986 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Qatar Stars League players Esporte Clube Juventude players US Livorno 1915 players US Grosseto 1912 players Sorrento Calcio 1945 players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players US Cremonese players Men's association football forwards Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Footballers from Caxias do Sul Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian people of Venetian descent 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen