Wílton Aguiar Figueiredo (; born 17 March 1982) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

or forward.

Career

Ceará and GAIS

A native of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Brazil, Figueiredo played with such talents as AC Milan's

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime at A.C. Milan, AC Mil ...

and Inter Milan's

Adriano Adriano is the form of the Latin given name ''Hadrianus'' commonly used in the Italian language; the form Adrião can be used in the Portuguese language while the form Adrian is used in the English language. Notable people with the name include: ...

at youth level. Figueiredo himself has never played at the top flight in Brazil. After a season with second division side Ceará FC he went to Sweden for a try-out session with AIK. After 40 days he was rejected and went to try out with GAIS. AIK had just been relegated from the top level and were not willing to take any economic risk, and thus did not offer the free agent a contract. Instead upon hearing of this news, GAIS acted quickly and signed Figueiredo for three years.

AIK

After having scored only two goals during the second half of the

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

campaign he still garnered the interest of AIK who moved for a swoop during the pre-season of 2006.

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

willingly agreed. Figueiredo enjoyed massive success in 2006, starting all but two games and scoring eleven goals for his new club in his debut season. The team finished as second in Allsvenskan, missing the title with only one single point. On 19 January 2007, Figueiredo signed a new contract with AIK until the end of 2009.

Al Rayyan

A capable striker with a drilling shot and a strong ability to keep the ball at his feet while at the same time being able to find the through passes, Figueiredo was considered one of the best strikers in the Swedish league and attracted the interest from international clubs. In September 2007 he signed a five-year long deal with Qatari side

Al Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipalities of Qatar, municipality in Qatar. Its primary settlement is the Al Rayyan (city), city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and is a part of the Do ...

. However, he moved on loan to

Al Kharaitiyat Al Kharaitiyat () is a town in the municipality of Umm Salal in Qatar. Etymology "Kharaitiyat" is the plural form of the Arabic term "khurat", which roughly translates to "map-like". The town received its name from a nearby depression that was na ...

in August 2008.

Malmö FF

In April 2009 Figueiredo moved to

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

in Sweden. Intended as the replacement of

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

-bound

Ola Toivonen Nils Ola Toivonen (; (Värmländsk pronunciation: la Tôjvônen; born 3 July 1986) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and forward. After beginning his career in his home town team of Degerfors, h ...

, Figueiredo was considered one of the most expensive purchases of a Swedish club ever. He was given the number 9 shirt and there were big expectations for the 2009 season, However Figueiredo scored only four goals in 24 games and was considered a disappointment by some. In his second season with Malmö, Figueiredo was moved down to the central midfield, where he had much greater success, being a key player in Malmö's resurgence during the spring of 2010, scoring quite a few spectacular goals from long range as well. He formed a strong and balanced midfield in the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

season together with teammate Ivo Pekalski where Figueiredo worked the offence and Pekalski the defence. At the end of the season Figueiredo won his first title ever with Malmö being at the top of the table. Still playing as central midfielder, Figueiredo managed to score five goals for the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

season as well. Figueiredo played slightly less for the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

season and produced the same number of goals as the last season. On 5 November 2012, after the last league fixture of the season it was announced that Figueiredo would leave Malmö FF when his contract ends on 1 January 2013.

Gaziantepspor

On 8 January 2013, Wilton Figueiredo joined

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

in the

Turkish Süper Lig Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The wor ...

on a free transfer.

Viborg FF

On 14 October 2013, Wilton Figueiredo joined

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening (), also known as Viborg FF or VFF for short, is a Danish professional association football, football club based in the Central Denmark Region, Central Jutland city of Viborg, Denmark, Viborg. They compete in the Danish ...

in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

Career statistics

Honours

Malmö FF *

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

References

External links

Malmö FF profile
*

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Figueiredo, Wilton 1982 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo São Paulo FC players Ceará Sporting Club players GAIS players AIK Fotboll players Al-Rayyan SC players Al Kharaitiyat SC players Malmö FF players Gaziantepspor footballers Viborg FF players Superettan players Allsvenskan players Süper Lig players Danish Superliga players Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Qatar Stars League players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen