Thiago Santos Santana (born 4 February 1993), known as Thiago Santana, is a Brazilian 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

side

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

Career

São Carlos

Born in

Serrinha :''"Serrinha" is also the name of a microregion in Bahia.'' Serrinha is a city in the state of Bahia, in eastern Brazil. Geography The population is 81,286 people. The mayor is Adriano Lima of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party The ...

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

, Thiago Santana began his career with

São Carlos São Carlos (Saint Charles, in English, ; named after Charles Borromeo, Saint Charles Borromeo) is a Brazilian city and municipality in the Interior of São Paulo, interior of the state of São Paulo, 254 kilometers from the city of São Paulo. ...

, making his senior debuts in 2011

Campeonato Paulista Série A3 Campeonato Paulista Série A3 is the third tier of the professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF). The tournament has been known as Série A3 since the ...

. In 2012, he moved to Internacional, returning to youth football. On 13 February 2014, Thiago Santana joined Caxias. On 15 January of the following year he signed for Atlético Ibirama. Thiago Santana was the club's top scorer in the year's

Campeonato Catarinense The Campeonato Catarinense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It is run by the Santa Catarina Football Federation (FCF). History The Catarinense has had different names throughout ...

(the second best overall), with ten goals. On 8 May 2015, he joined Série A club

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 ...

. Thiago Santana made his debut in the main category of Brazilian football on 7 June 2015, starting and scoring the winner in a 2–1 home success over

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

. The following January he was loaned to Náutico of the

Campeonato Pernambucano The Campeonato Pernambucano is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. It is run by the Pernambuco Football Federation (FPF). History The first edition of the Campeonato Pernambucano was played i ...

, and was released in June before the Série B season due to a poor scoring rate.

Vitória Setúbal

On 11 June 2016, Thiago Santana moved abroad for the first time when he signed for

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

in Portugal's

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 ...

. In 23 total games, he scored once to open a 2–0 win at Benfica Castelo Branco in the fourth round of the

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 ...

on 20 November.

Santa Clara

In June 2017, Thiago Santana moved to Santa Clara of the

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 ...

. He scored 15 times in 33 games in his first season in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

as they won promotion as runners-up to

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 ...

; this put him behind only

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 ...

and compatriot

Carlos Vinícius Carlos Vinícius Alves Morais (born 25 March 1995) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Fulham. He will become a free agent on 1 July 2025. With Benfica, Vinícius was awarded the Bola de Prata for his 18 ...

in the overall top scorers. He scored his first goal in Portugal's top flight on 19 August 2018, starting a comeback from 0–3 down at half time to draw at home to

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

. On 1 April 2019, Thiago Santana signed a new three-year deal with Santa Clara. He scored six times in the upcoming season as they retained their place in the league, including two on 5 June 2020 in a 3–2 home win over Braga, played in Oeiras near

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

due to COVID-19 complications. Thiago Santana scored in a 2–1 home loss to

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

on 24 October 2020. He therefore surpassed Zé Manuel's record of 12 top-flight goals for Santa Clara.

Shimizu S-Pulse

On 13 December 2020, Thiago Santana moved to

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

of the Japanese

, for a fee of €1 million. In February 2021, he scored on his debut in a 1–3 league victory over

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

. He scored 14 goals in 40 appearances across all competitions in his debut season with the club. In his second season, Thiago Santana finished as the league's top scorer, with 14 league goals in 27 appearances. He was also inducted into the season's Best XI at the end of season awards. His performances were not enough to prevent Shimizu from being relegated to the second tier at the end of the 2022 season. Thiago Santana remained with Shimizu S-Pulse in the

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

and continued to be an important player, scoring 14 goals in the season and helping the club to a fourth-placed finish. He also scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 9–1 thrashing of

Iwaki FC is a football (soccer) club based in Iwaki, a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The club competes in the J2 League, the second tier of Japanese football league system. History Founder Club Iwaki FC was founded in 2012, before getting ...

Urawa Red Diamonds

In January 2024, it was announced that Thiago Santana would be moving to J1 League club

ahead of the 2024 season. He made his debut for the club in a 2–0 defeat to

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima () is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Hiroshima. The club competes in the J1 League, top flight of the Japanese football league system. Sanfrecce is one of the most successful clubs in Ja ...

. He didn't score a goal in his 4 games for the club, but scored in his fifth appearance in a 2–1 win over

Avispa Fukuoka is a Japanese professional football club based in Hakata, Fukuoka. They currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. History Earlier years in Fujieda The club were originally based in Fujieda, Shizu ...

, also scoring in the next two games as well. In the match against Albirex he scored again

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

J.League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...

Top Scorer:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only on two occasions there has been a full-Japanese Best X ...

: 2022

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Thiago 1993 births Living people People from Serrinha Footballers from Bahia Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players J1 League players J2 League players Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul players Clube Atlético Hermann Aichinger players Figueirense FC players Clube Náutico Capibaribe players Vitória F.C. players C.D. Santa Clara players Shimizu S-Pulse players Urawa Red Diamonds players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen