Sérgio Araújo de Melo, usually known as Sérgio Araújo (born September 12, 1963, in Timóteo, Minas Gerais), was an association football winger. He is currently a farmer in

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 ...

Playing career

Having been born and raised in the region of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

it was in the famous club

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

that Sérgio Araújo started to show his speed and moves, scoring goals and assisting his teammates. Naturally Sérgio was picked by Brazilian manager to play for his national team, playing his first international match (a friendly) against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

(March 1987). In the following month he scored his first goal for

against

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

(2–2 was the final result). His final international match was in December 1987 against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

(another friendly). During this short period he played 10 international matches, playing aside well known players such as

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

Bebeto José Roberto Gama de Oliveira (born 16 February 1964), known as Bebeto (), is a Brazilian former professional football player who played as a forward. He entered politics in the 2010 Brazilian general elections and was elected to the Legis ...

, Valdo,

Raí Raimundo Souza Vieira de Oliveira (born 15 May 1965), popularly known as Raí (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. The younger brother of Sócrates,

Müller Müller may refer to: Companies * Müller (company), a German multinational dairy company ** Müller Milk & Ingredients, a UK subsidiary of the German company * Müller (store), a German retail chain * GMD Müller, a Swiss aerial lift manufacturi ...

and

Ricardo Gomes Ricardo Gomes Raymundo (born 13 December 1964) is a Brazilian retired professional footballer and manager. As a player, he played as a central defender, in a 14-year professional career, for Fluminense (six years), Benfica (four) and Par ...

. At

he, as well as Aílton, was part of the team that won the Conmebol Cup in 1992. Between 1988 and 1989, he played 39 games and scored nine goals for

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

. In late 1993, Sérgio Araújo moved to Portuguese club Vitória Setúbal, joining a team where

Yekini Rashidi Yekini (23 October 1963 – 4 May 2012) was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward. Known by his Nigerian team mates and fans as 'The Goals Father', he scored over 480 goals in over 670 games in his careehttps://mediu ...

was the star. He played his first match against Benfica in an astonishing 5–2 win, scoring one goal in his debut. Araújo played around 20 games that season, only scoring for 3 times. Just before the 1994–1995 season, the Nigerian striker Yekini moved to Olympiacos Piraeus, and the team was severely weakened. Vitória Setúbal only won three games, and was relegated. Sérgio Araújo, due to several injuries could not be of great help to the club, and was dismissed in the end of the season. He ended his career in

, returning to

to be a successful farm owner. Besides having played for Atlético Mineiro, Flamengo and Vitória de Setúbal, he has also played for Fluminense, Vasco, Grêmio, Guarani, Ponte Preta,

XV de Piracicaba Esporte Clube XV de Novembro, commonly referred to as XV de Piracicaba, is a professional association football club based in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The club competes in the Série D, the fourth tier of the Brazilian football league sys ...

, América (SP), Internacional de Limeira, Villa Nova, and Serra.

Managerial career

After retiring, he worked for two years as Operário (VG)'s manager, leaving the club in 2008 to work as Villa Nova's youth squad manager.

Honours

Copa Conmebol The Copa CONMEBOL () was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contest, similar to the ...

1992

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Araujo, Sergio 1963 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Brazilian football managers Men's association football midfielders Clube Atlético Mineiro players CR Flamengo footballers Fluminense FC players CR Vasco da Gama players Grêmio FBPA players Guarani FC players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Vitória F.C. players Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Piracicaba) players América Futebol Clube (SP) players Associação Atlética Internacional (Limeira) players Villa Nova Atlético Clube players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian farmers People from Timóteo 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal