Paulo Vinícius de Souza Nascimento (born 12 August 1984), known as Paulo Vinícius, is a Brazilian

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 defender. He can occupy all three defensive positions. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Portugal, amassing

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 ...

totals of 126 matches and nine goals in representation of four clubs. In 2017 he signed with

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 ...

in Romania, where he won several club and individual honours.

Club career

Portugal

Born in

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city and the largest city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America and also forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várz ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

, Vinícius only played lower league football in his country. In 2006 he signed with Portuguese club Santa Clara, making his debut in the Segunda Liga on 27 August in a 1–0 away win against Portimonense where he played the full 90 minutes. He scored his first goal of the season on 14 January 2007, but in a 2–1 loss at

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

. Remaining in the country, Vinícius joined

Leixões The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinh ...

in the summer of 2007. His first match in the

took place on 3 November of that year, when he came on as a late substitute in the 3–0 home victory over

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

. During the 2008 January

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 ...

, still owned by Grêmio Anápolis, he moved to

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

. Vinícius signed for União de Leiria for 2008–09, netting twice during the campaign to help his team return to the top division after a one-year absence. In the following years he continued to be regularly used, notably scoring in a 1–0 away defeat of

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

on 12 December 2009. Subsequently, and save for a short spell back in his country with amateurs Operário, Vinícius continued to compete in the Portuguese top tier, featuring regularly at Braga but also dealing with injury problems and starting at Boavista. He helped the former side win the 2012–13 edition of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

notably playing the entire semi-final against Benfica where they emerged victorious after a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Apollon

In the summer of 2016, the 32-year-old Vinícius joined

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

from the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

. He scored a career-best six goals in his only season, also finding the net in the final of the domestic cup where his team defeated APOEL 1–0.

Romania

Vinícius signed for Romanian team

in June 2017. He scored his first goal on 14 August, helping to a 2–0

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 ...

away victory over Sepsi OSK. On 10 February 2018, he opened a 1–1 draw with title contenders

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football le ...

, being an undisputed starter in his first year as the club won the fourth national championship in its history. Vinícius left

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

in the summer of 2021 upon the expiration of his contract, after winning the national title in every possible season as well as two

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

. On 27 July that year, aged nearly 37, he agreed to a one-year deal with FCSB. His first goal came in a 6–0

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

rout of Dinamo București on 12 September.

Career statistics

Honours

Braga *

: 2012–13 Apollon Limassol *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 2016–17 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

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 ...

CFR Cluj *

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21 *

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 ...

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 * Foreign Player of the Year in Romania (Gazeta Sporturilor): 2020 *

Team of the Season: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, *

Team of the Regular Season: 2018–19, *

Team of the Championship play-offs: 2017–18, 2018–19,

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulo Vinicius 1984 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Cuiabá Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Cuiabá Esporte Clube players Operário Futebol Clube (Várzea Grande) players Mixto Esporte Clube players CE Operário Várzea-Grandense players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Santa Clara players Leixões S.C. players S.C. Olhanense players U.D. Leiria players S.C. Braga players Boavista F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Apollon Limassol FC players Liga I players CFR Cluj players FCSB players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Romania 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen