Claiton Machado dos Santos (born 7 September 1984) is a Brazilian-Italian 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 defender.

Career

Bologna, Milan and loans

Claiton started his professional football career at

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

and played once in Serie A, on 17 June 2001. Bologna lost to

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

1−2. In January 2002, he was signed by

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and played for their Primavera team. On 18 December 2002, he made his debut for the club, coming in as a substitute for

Alessandro Costacurta Alessandro Costacurta (born 24 April 1966) is an Italian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Throughout his club career, Costacurta spent over twenty years with AC Milan ...

in the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

1/8 finals against

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

. He was also featured as an unused bench for Milan in Serie A on 24 May 2003, the game right before the

2003 UEFA Champions League Final The 2003 UEFA Champions League final was a Association football, football match that took place at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on 28 May 2003 to decide the winner of the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League. The match was contested by two Ital ...

and

2003 Coppa Italia Final The 2003 Coppa Italia Final was the final of the 2002–03 Coppa Italia, the top cup competition in Italian football. The match was played over two legs on 20 May and 31 May 2003 between Roma and Milan. This was the 12th Coppa Italia final a ...

, in which Carlo Ancelotti used 4 youth team players in the starting lineup and another 7 players on the bench. In 2003-04 season, he remain the member of U20 youth team. In the summer of 2004, he left for

Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

on loan, but in January 2005 returned to Milan. In the 2005-06 season, he was loaned out again, this time to

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

Varese

In the summer of 2006, he joined Serie C2 side

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

in a co-ownership deal for €500. He was not the absolute starter of the team, but also played 28 league matches at the champions winning 2008-09 season. In 2009–10 season, he played 20 league matches as starter in 25 league appearances. Varese promotion to Serie B in 2010.

Bari

On 8 July 2011, Claiton was signed by Serie B club

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

on a free transfer and put pen to paper on a three-year deal. However, due to the financial crisis of Bari, he left the club in summer 2013.

Chievo

On 14 August 2013, Claiton was signed by Serie A club

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

. Bari also signed half of the registration rights of Marco Calderoni for €90,000 on the same day.

Crotone

On 29 July 2014, Claiton was signed by Serie B club

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

on a free transfer. At the end of the 2015–16 season he was initially released by Crotone, but on 14 July 2016 he signed a new two-year contract with the club.

Cremonese

On 21 July 2017 he was signed by

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 ...

Catania

On 16 September 2020 Claiton signed a 2-year contract with

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

. On 9 April 2022, he was released together with all of his Catania teammates following the club's exclusion from Italian football due to its inability to overcome a number of financial issues.

Honours

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging ...

: 2009

References

External links

Profile at AIC.Football.it

Lega Serie B profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Claiton 1984 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Campo Grande Atlético Clube players Bologna FC 1909 players AC Milan players AC Prato players Calcio Lecco 1912 players SSD Varese Calcio players SSC Bari players AC ChievoVerona players FC Crotone players US Cremonese players Catania FC players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Goiás 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen