Nílton Pinheiro da Silva (born 5 November 1954), known as Nílton Batata, 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 ...

Club career

Nílton Batata played for Athletico Paranaense and Santos in Brazil, then he joined

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

in Mexico. Later on, he moved to the USA to play

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

for

Los Angeles Lazers The Los Angeles Lazers were an indoor soccer team that played in the Major Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1982 to 1989. History Jerry Buss, the owner of California Sports, the parent company of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los ...

. Then he played for

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...

, before returning to indoor soccer by joining

Chicago Power The Chicago Power were an indoor soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois, that competed in the American Indoor Soccer Association and National Professional Soccer League. After the 1995–96 season, the team was sold to Peter Pocklington, m ...

International career

He played in four matches for the

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 ...

in 1979. He was also part of Brazil's squad for the

1979 Copa América The 1979 edition of the Copa América association football tournament was played between 18 July and 12 December. It was not held in a particular country, all matches were played on a home and away basis. Defending champions Peru were given a bye ...

tournament.

Later career

Nílton has owned a football academy since 1983. He also coached Sockers FC Chicago U13–U14. In 2012, Nílton joined the Spanish-language sports television network

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...

, where he served as a commentator alongside reporter Richard Méndez for matches in Brazil.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batata, Nilton 1954 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Footballers from Londrina Men's association football forwards Club Athletico Paranaense players Santos FC players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Club América footballers Liga MX players Los Angeles Lazers players Chicago Sting players Chicago Power players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Brazilian expatriate men's footballers 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen