Jucilei da Silva (born 6 April 1988), known simply as Jucilei, 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 central or

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Career

Jucilei started his career with Malucelli and was transferred to

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

after being voted the best player of Malucelli in Paraná State Championship. He made his debut for Corinthians against

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the ...

on 10 May 2009, as the team lost 1–0. On 26 July 2010, he was called, by his former Corinthians coach

Mano Menezes Luiz Antônio Venker Menezes (born 11 June 1962), known as Mano Menezes, is a Brazilian professional football Coach (sport), coach, currently the head coach of Grêmio FBPA, Grêmio. Menezes managed the Brazil national football team, Brazil na ...

, to his first appearance for the Brazil national team. On 22 February 2011, Corinthians president Andrés Sánchez confirmed that big spending Russian side Anzhi had signed Jucilei, in a deal worth €10 million. After making 99 appearances in all competitions for Anzhi in just under three years, Jucilei moved to Al Jazira in the

UAE Arabian Gulf League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

on 13 January 2014. He acquired Palestine citizenship to be counted as an Asian player, thus avoiding the foreign quota. On 28 June 2015, it was announced that Jucilei signed with

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Jinan, Shandong, that competes in . Shandong Taishan plays its home matches at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium, located within Lixia District. Their c ...

in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

. On 1 May 2016, Jucilei scored his first goal for Shandong Luneng in

Asian Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

against

Buriram United Buriram United Football Club () is a Thai professional football club based in Buriram. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the majority of their existence and competes in the Thai League 1. The club was founded in 1970 as P ...

. He was also awarded for the player of the match. On 12 February 2017, Jucilei was loaned to

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 ...

for one season.

Style of play

According to his former coach Cuca, Jucilei is a great

, "that has technique to advance with the ball and that marks very well." He also can play as

centre-back 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 ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Corinthians * Brazilian Cup:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Individual

* Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year:

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 ...

* Bola de Prata: 2010

References

External links

* *
Profile on Al Jazira official website

1988 births Footballers from São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders J. Malucelli Futebol players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players FC Anzhi Makhachkala players Al Jazira Club players Shandong Taishan F.C. players São Paulo FC players Boavista Sport Club players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Russian Premier League players UAE Pro League players Chinese Super League players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen {{Brazil-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub