Cláudio Roberto da Silva (born 29 May 1976), commonly known as Cláudio Caçapa or simply Caçapa (), is a Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is the current assistant coach of

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. Having made his senior debut in 1996 for

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, Caçapa went on to play for

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, Cruzeiro, Évian and

Avaí Avaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 5,436 (2020 est.) in an area of 540 km2. Media In telecommunications, the city was served by Companhia Telefônica Brasileira until 1973, when it began to be serve ...

. He was capped three times by the Brazil national team.

Club career

Atlético Mineiro

Caçapa began his career in 1996 with Brazilian club

, where he established himself as a first team regular. He received the Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) award in 1999 after being voted the best defender in Série A that season.

Lyon

In 2001, Caçapa began attracting interest from European clubs and joined

on loan in 2001. He played his first game in the French Ligue 1 championship on 17 February 2001 and scored in the 2001 Coupe de la Ligue Final which Lyon won after extra time. In the summer, he signed a five-year contract with the club. He was captain of Lyon for five seasons, winning the French championship in each of these seasons. He became a French citizen in October 2006 after living in the country for over five years. His contract with Lyon expired in the summer of 2007 and he refused to sign a new deal with the club.

Newcastle United

Caçapa signed for

on a Free transfer after his contract with previous club Lyon expired, on 3 August 2007, signing an initial two-year deal with an option for a third. He made his debut for Newcastle as an 89th-minute substitute during the goalless draw against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on 18 August, and in doing so he became the 1,000th player to represent the Magpies in a competitive match. He scored his first goal for the club with a header against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

on 22 October in a 3–1 win. On 3 November, Caçapa was substituted out of Newcastle's game against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

after only 18 minutes. It was later announced that his poor play in the game was due to a "slight hamstring strain". He returned to the Newcastle squad on 15 December, when he was named Man of the Match in their away win at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. He scored his second goal for Newcastle on 16 January 2008 when they went through to the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

4th Round after a 4–1 replay victory over

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. He was ruled out for five weeks on 22 March after suffering a groin injury before the 2–0 win over Fulham. In the 2008–09 season he was utilised both as a defender and 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 ...

due to Newcastle having both a small squad and numerous injuries to players. Most of Caçapa's 2008–09 campaign was blighted by injury. He made his last appearance in December, failing to appear throughout 2009 as Newcastle were relegated before being released on 1 July 2009 when his contract expired.

Cruzeiro

After the Newcastle contract expired, he joined Atlético Mineiro archrivals Cruzeiro, where he played until the end of the

2010 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2010 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 54th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top-level of professional football in Brazil. It began on May 8 and ended on December 5. Flamengo came as the defending champion having won th ...

Évian

Caçapa returned to France to join Évian in the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

when he signed for a six-months contract on 25 January 2011. He helped the club to win the Ligue 2 and achieve promotion to the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

for their first time in their history.

Avaí

After his contract with Évian expired, he has received an offer from

and agreed to sign for the club on 25 July 2011. He was released from his contract after the end of the season and announced his retirement on 20 March 2012, also opening a football school called Arena Lyon in his hometown

Lavras Lavras is a municipality in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Located at an altitude of 919 m, it has a population of 104,761 inhabitants (2022). The area of the municipality is 564,495 km2. The average annual temperature is 19.6°C and t ...

International career

Caçapa's impressive form at Atlético Mineiro was rewarded with a call-up to the Brazil national team. He made his debut for his country on 23 February 2000 against

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and went on to make three international appearances and one unofficial international appearance in a match against Japanese club

Tokyo Verdy is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club currently competes in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2023. History Founded as Yomiuri Football Club in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the mo ...

Managerial career

Caçapa was hired as the manager of Brazil's under 15 national team in December 2013. He was sacked on 27 February 2015. He was appointed as the assistant manager of

in January 2016. On 30 June 2023, Caçapa was named interim head coach of

back in his home country. On 25 July 2023, Caçapa was named RWD Molenbeek new head coach. On 11 February 2024, he parted ways with the club. On 13 February 2025, Caçapa returned to Botafogo as a permanent assistant coach, being also named interim head coach of the main squad.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

Atlético Mineiro *

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

: 1997 *

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL () was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contest, similar to the ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Lyon *

: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07 *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: 2000–01 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Évian *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cacapa, Claudio 1976 births Living people People from Lavras Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders Clube Atlético Mineiro players Olympique Lyonnais players Thonon Evian Grand Genève FC players Newcastle United F.C. players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Avaí FC players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Footballers from Minas Gerais Brazilian football managers Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas managers Naturalized citizens of France R.W.D. Molenbeek (2015) managers