Wênio Moraes Pio (born 9 September 1979), known simply as Wênio, is a Brazilian former

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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He usually sported a distinctive peroxide blonde hair, and spent most 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 170 games and three goals over the course of eight seasons, mainly in representation of Marítimo.

Football career

Born in

Mineiros Mineiros, population 70,081, is a municipality in the southwest of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Mineiros is the westernmost city in Goiás and a great producer of cattle, soybeans, and corn. Mineiros is located 430 km from the state capital ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

, Wênio was relatively unknown when he signed for Marítimo from Corinthians Alagoano in 2002. However, he went on to become an essential midfield element for the

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

club, appearing in 30

games in the 2003–04 campaign as it achieved a final

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

spot. On 12 November 2007 he scored a rare goal, in a 2–0

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 ...

away win against

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

. In June 2008, Wênio signed a three-year contract with

Vitória Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

. After one season – and 16 top division matches – he was released, joining fellow league side

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 ...

shortly after. After a brieft stint in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

with

FC Baku FC Baku (), founded as Dinamo Baku in 1997, was an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku that had been an amateur club since 2016. Prior to that, Baku played 18 seasons in the Azerbaijan Premier League, winning the championship twice and the ...

, Wênio returned to his country and region and signed with amateurs Morrinhos. He continued to play in Brazil's lower leagues in the following years.CRB continua contratando e anuncia volante experiente para 2012 (CRB keep signing and announce experienced defensive midfielder for 2012)
Cada Minuto, 16 December 2011 (in Portuguese)

References

External links

* *
Futebol de Goyaz profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wenio 1979 births Living people Footballers from Goiás People from Mineiros Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Sport Club Corinthians Alagoano players C.S. Marítimo players Vitória S.C. players Leixões S.C. players FC Baku players Morrinhos Futebol Clube players Araguaína Futebol e Regatas players Mineiros Esporte Clube players Clube de Regatas Brasil players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Azerbaijan Premier League players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan