Clayton Ferreira Cruz (born 19 July 1975), known simply as Clayton, 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 ...

. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

or winger, he operated preferably on the left. His 16-year professional career was spent, other than in his country, in Portugal – five teams represented, mainly

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

with which he won five major titles, including one

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 ...

championship and one

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 ...

– and

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

(three clubs).

Football career

Clayton was born in

São João do Paraíso São João do Paraíso is a city in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. In 2020 its population was estimated to be 23,709 in a total area of 1,921 km2. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the microre ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

. After a solid career in native Brazil, mainly with

Clube Atlético Mineiro The Clube Atlético Mineiro (), commonly known as Atlético Mineiro and colloquially as the Galo (, "Rooster"), is a professional association football club in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Minas ...

, he moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in 1999, joining

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

' C.D. Santa Clara. In December 1999, Clayton signed for fellow

club

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, and went on to become an important attacking element. On 25 May of the following year, in the replay match of the final of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

, he was directly involved in both of his team's goals in a 2–0 win over

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 17 October 2001, in the season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, Clayton scored a brace against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in a 3–0 home triumph. He was also a part of the

-winning side in 2002–03, although he did not play in the final against the same opponent. For 2003–04, Clayton moved to Sporting. After appearing scarcely throughout the campaign he was loaned to lowly F.C. Penafiel, representing

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, popularly known as Vitória de Guimarães or sometimes just Vitória, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Est ...

subsequently. After another Brazil spell with

Sport Club do Recife Sport Club do Recife (), commonly known as Sport Recife or simply Sport, is a Brazilian sports club, located in Recife, Pernambuco. Founded in 1905, the club currently competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top tier of football i ...

, and another season at Penafiel (now in the Portuguese second level), Clayton moved to

. Starting 2007–08 with

Alki Larnaca FC Alki Larnaca (, ''ALKI Larnakas'') was a Cypriot football club based in the town of Larnaca. The club was founded in 1948 and it was dissolved on the 6th of May 2014 due to financial issues. The club's colours were blue and red. They reached th ...

, he joined

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also Romanization of Greek, transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional multi-sport club, esta ...

in the following 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 ...

. In January 2009, Clayton moved teams in the same country, signing with

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

. He returned to Brazil aged 35, playing the remainder of his career in amateur football.

Honours

Porto *

: 2002–03 *

: 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

: 2001; Runner-up 2000 *

: 2002–03 AEL *

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 ...

: Runner-up 2008–09

References

External links

CBF data
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton 1975 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Guarani FC players America Football Club (Rio de Janeiro) players Sport Club do Recife players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Santa Clara players FC Porto players Sporting CP footballers F.C. Penafiel players Vitória S.C. players Cypriot First Division players Alki Larnaca FC players AC Omonia players AEL Limassol players UEFA Europa League–winning players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus