is a former Brazilian Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who moved to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

at age 16 to complete his high school studies and obtained his Japanese citizenship in 1995. His son Maito Santos is also former footballer.

Playing career

Santos was born in

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

on March 28, 1968. In May 1985, he moved to Japan and entered high school in Japan. After graduating from high school, he joined

Japan Soccer League , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

club Yamaha Motors in 1987. He played in 30 matches as offensive midfielder. In 1992, he moved to new

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

club

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which began ...

. However he could hardly play in the games due to restrictions on foreign players. In September 1995, he obtained his Japanese citizenship. However he could hardly play in the games due to injuries. He retired at the end of the 1996 season.

Club statistics

References

External links

* 1968 births Living people Japanese footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players Júbilo Iwata players Shimizu S-Pulse players Brazilian emigrants to Japan Naturalized citizens of Japan Clube Atlético Juventus players Association football midfielders {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub