Marcelo dos Santos Cipriano (born 11 October 1969), known simply as Marcelo, is a Portuguese 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 striker. He played professionally in Portugal (most notably one season for Benfica), England, where he appeared for three First Division (second-tier) clubs, and Spain.

Club career

Académica and Benfica

Born in

Niterói Niterói () is a List of municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay, facing the city of Rio de ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

to Portuguese parents, Marcelo returned to their homeland still in his teens, entering the youth system of Académica de Coimbra, which loaned him to fourth division team Sertanense in the summer of 1989. After one season apiece with Académica and Feirense in the Segunda Liga, Marcelo made his

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 ...

debut with

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

, scoring three goals for the Barcelos-based club. His most successful period in his adopted nation would be at lowly Tirsense, which he helped to achieve top-flight promotion in 1994, subsequently netting 17 times in 1994–95 as the northerners achieved a best-ever eight-place in the competition. Marcelo's exploits earned him a transfer to Benfica, finishing his sole season as team top scorer in the league behind

João Pinto João Manuel Vieira Pinto (; born 19 August 1971) is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played mostly as a forward. Blessed with playmaking and goalscoring ability, he made his name mostly at a domestic level and as a key figu ...

, but his side did not win any silverware. He then spent

one year ''One Year'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Colin Blunstone, a member of the Zombies. It was released by Epic Records in 1971. It includes " Say You Don't Mind", which peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. Pr ...

in the Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

with Alavés, going scoreless in 26 total appearances.

England and later years

In the following five years, Marcelo played in England, starting in 1997 with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

, which signed the player for a fee of £400,000. In 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 ...

tournament of his first year, he helped to take the team to the semi-finals after scoring against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game on 30 ...

to set up the (eventually victorious) replay.

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

acquired Marcelo's services in 1999 for £500,000. He played on the losing side in the 2001 Football League Cup final, coming on as a second-half substitute and netting in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. He reached the First Division play-offs later that year, losing in the semi-finals to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in another shootout and missing his attempt this time around. He ended his career in the country at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, for whom he played nine times and scored once, against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. At nearly 33, Marcelo returned to Portugal and first professional club Académica, spending a further two seasons in the top division after which he retired from the game.

Honours

Benfica *

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 ...

: 1995–96 Tirsense * Segunda Liga: 1993–94 Birmingham City *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 2000–01

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcelo 1969 births Living people Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Niterói Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Sertanense F.C. players C.D. Feirense players Gil Vicente F.C. players F.C. Tirsense players S.L. Benfica footballers Segunda División players Deportivo Alavés players English Football League players Sheffield United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England