Marcelo de Freitas Costa (born 1 June 1994), known as Marcelo Freitas, is a Brazilian

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 plays as 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 ...

for Portuguesa.

Career

Born in

Engenheiro Coelho Engenheiro Coelho is a municipality in the east of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population is 21,249 (2020 est.) in an area of 109.94 km². It is located about from São Paulo and f ...

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 ...

, Freitas began his career with a local club in his hometown before representing Portuguesa,

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

Desportivo Brasil Desportivo Brasil Participações Ltda., commonly referred to as Desportivo Brasil, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Porto Feliz, São Paulo. The team competes in the Campeonato Paulista Série A3, the third tier of t ...

, Grêmio and

Figueirense Figueirense Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Figueirense, is a Brazilian professional club based in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina founded on 12 June 1921. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian fo ...

as a youth. In August 2014, he moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining German side

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

and being initially assigned to Dynamo Dresden II in the

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

. Released from Dresden in January 2015, Freitas spent five months before signing for KSV Baunatal on 25 June of that year. The deal later collapsed, and he signed for

Inter Leipzig Inter Leipzig is a German association football club located in Leipzig, Saxony. Their first team competes in the NOFV-Oberliga, the fifth tier of German football. History According to the Inter Leipzig mission statement, the club claims to becom ...

in the fifth-tier

NOFV-Oberliga Süd The NOFV-Oberliga Süd is the fifth tier of the German football league system in the southern states of the former East Germany. It covers the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony and southern Brandenburg. It is one of fourteen Ob ...

in October. On 16 January 2016, after scoring six goals in just nine matches, Freitas moved to

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

side Oberlausitz Neugersdorf. On 31 January of the following year, he agreed to a two-and-a-half-year contract with fellow fourth division side

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

. On 29 May 2019, Freitas joined

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

side

Chemnitzer FC Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 193 ...

. He played only three matches for the side before signing a three-year deal with Portuguese

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

side

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

on 26 August. Freitas left Nacional in January 2021, and returned to his home country in the following month after signing for

Londrina Londrina (, literally "Little London") is a city located in the north of the state of Paraná (state), Paraná, South Region, Brazil, and is 388 km (241 miles) away from the state capital, Curitiba. It is the second largest city in the state and f ...

. On 17 December, after being a first-choice as his side narrowly avoided relegation, he moved to fellow Série B side Chapecoense on a one-year contract. On 13 December 2022, Freitas was announced at Ituano also in the second division. A regular starter in the

2023 Campeonato Paulista The 2023 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Profissional da Primeira Divisão - Série A1 was the 122nd season of São Paulo's top professional football league. The competition was played from 15 January to 9 April 2023. Palmeiras won their 25th tit ...

, he left for

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

on 4 July of that year. In July 2024, Freitas switched teams and countries again, after signing for

UAE First Division League UAE First Division League is the second tier of football league competition in the United Arab Emirates. As of 2020–21, the league features 15 sides who play each other in a home and away round-robin format, with a total of 28 games for each t ...

side Hatta. On 9 June 2025, he returned to Portuguesa on a two-year deal, now as a first team member.

Career statistics

Honours

Energie Cottbus *

: 2017–18 *

Brandenburg Cup The Brandenburgischer Landespokal (), known as the ''AOK-Landespokal Brandenburg'' for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football cup competition, held by the (). It is one of the 21 regional cup competitions in Germany. The record winners of t ...

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 Nacional *

: 2019–20 Londrina *

Campeonato Paranaense The Campeonato Paranaense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is run by the Paraná Football Federation (FPF). List of champions Notes * In 1924 Internacional and América merged in ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

Profile
at kicker.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Freitas, Marcelo 1994 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo (state) Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders 3. Liga players Regionalliga players NOFV-Oberliga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Liga I players UAE First Division League players Dynamo Dresden II players FC Energie Cottbus players Chemnitzer FC players FC Oberlausitz Neugersdorf players Inter Leipzig players C.D. Nacional players Londrina Esporte Clube players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players Ituano FC players FC UTA Arad players Hatta Club players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen