Manoel dos Santos Filho (; born 8 July 1980), commonly known as Itaparica, is a former

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian-born

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 an

attacking 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. ...

Club career

South China

Itaparica played in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A for several clubs, including Cruzeiro, Avai and Portuguesa. He joined

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is ...

and made his debut for the team on the away

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

game against

Lanwa Redbull Lanwa FC (), officially Dongguan Lanwa Football Club () was a Chinese professional association football club located in Dongguan, China. The club was founded in 1999 and played in the Chinese and Hong Kong football systems. History Lanwa was fou ...

on 15 September 2007, where the team won by 3–1. He scored his first goal for the team in

the league ''The League'' is an American television sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football l ...

match against Workable on 26 September 2007, where the team won by 6–1.

Pegasus

Since the 2009–10 season, Itaparica has been top scorer in Hong Kong three consecutive seasons. It was an outstanding achievement considering he played most of the time as an attacking midfielder for TSW Pegasus. He is able to score in all competitions he played with an amazing scoring percentage nearly 60%. With such superb and consistence performance he was named 'Hong Kong Best Eleven' in last 3 seasons. This article was not written by his agent.

South China

In the 2012–13 season, Itaparica rejoined

.2012–13 組軍消息 – 足主的話 – STEVEN LO'S BLOG

Eastern

On 11 June 2013, Eastern Salon announced their 22-men squad for the following season. Itaparica joined them after

opted not to extend his contract.

South China

Itaparica rejoins

for the third time in summer 2014.

Tai Po

After a season with

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

club Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard, Itaparica decided to return to Hong Kong. He signed with HKPL side

Tai Po Tai Po is an List of areas of Hong Kong, area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Mark ...

on 30 December 2016. On 18 March, Itaparica collided with a Southern player during a Premier League match. He sprained his right knee and was subsequently ruled out for six weeks. He returned in time for Tai Po's Sapling Cup Final match against

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

on 3 May during which he won his first trophy since returning to Hong Kong.

R&F

In July 2017, the

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

reported that Itaparica would join R&F. On 19 June 2019, head coach

Yeung Ching Kwong Yeung Ching Kwong (, born 7 May 1976) is a former Hong Kong professional footballer and a football coach. Managerial career Yeung worked previously as an assistant with Pegasus and South China. In 2015, he served as head coach of Eastern befo ...

revealed that Itaparica would not be retained. He announced his retirement from football after the season on 30 August 2019 and returned to Brazil in November of the same year.

International career

Itaparica was born and raised in Brazil. In September 2014, Itaparica applied for the HKSAR passport and was granted one on 4 November 2015. As a result, he became eligible to play for the Hong Kong national team. On 31 December 2015, he earned his first cap for the national team during the 38th Guangdong–Hong Kong Cup, an unofficial tournament. On 3 January 2016, Itaparica scored his first goal for the national team. He made his formal debut for Hong Kong in a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualifying 2-0 loss against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in March of that year.FIFA.com
/ref> On 24 March 2016, Itaparica made his international debut for

in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Career statistics

Club

''As of 14 July 2017''

International

International goals

:''As of match played 1 September 2016.''

Honours

Pegasus *

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. T ...

: 2009–10 South China * Hong Kong First League:

2012–13 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 ...

Eastern *

: 2013–14 Tai Po *

Hong Kong Sapling Cup Hong Kong Sapling Cup (), currently known as JC Sapling Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong domestic football (soccer), football competition contested by the Hong Kong Premier League teams. The objective of the Cup is to provide more p ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

*
Itaparica
at HKFA
F&Z Sports Brazil: ITAPARICA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Itaparica 1980 births Living people Footballers from Bahia Sportspeople of Brazilian descent Hong Kong men's footballers Hong Kong men's international footballers Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Brazilian emigrants to Hong Kong Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China Hong Kong expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in China China League One players Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Tai Po FC players Brasília Futebol Clube players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Associação Atlética Portuguesa (Santos) players Avaí FC players Associação Atlética Anapolina players Paysandu Sport Club players South China AA players Hong Kong Pegasus FC players Eastern Sports Club footballers Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard F.C. players R&F (Hong Kong) players Hong Kong expatriate men's footballers Naturalised footballers of Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI representative players People from Itaparica Island 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen