Carlão (footballer, born January 1986)

Carlão
Personal information
Full name Carlos Roberto da Cruz Júnior
Date of birth (1986-01-19) 19 January 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth São Paulo, Brazil
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Youth career
2005–2006 Corinthians
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2008 Corinthians 31 (1)
2008–2014 Sochaux 139 (2)
2014–2019 APOEL 160 (5)
2016–2017 → Torino (loan) 4 (0)
2020 Ferroviária 4 (0)
2020 Paysandu 3 (0)
2021 Mirassol 4 (0)
2021 Guarani 22 (0)
2022 Santo André 12 (0)
2022–2023 Ferroviária 12 (0)
2022 → Ituano (loan) 9 (0)
2023 Ituano 10 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 May 2023

Carlos Roberto da Cruz Junior, or simply Carlão (born 19 January 1986) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a central defender.

Club career

Corinthians

Carlão started his career with Brazilian powerhouse Corinthians where he played a total of 24 games, and scored 3 goals.

Sochaux

In July 2008, Carlão was transferred from Corinthians to the French Ligue 1 side FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, after completing a deal worth €800,000.[1] He played for Sochaux from 2008 until 2014, appearing in 128 matches and scoring 1 goal.

APOEL

On 19 June 2014, after six French Ligue 1 seasons, he signed a two-year contract with APOEL from Cyprus.[2] He made his APOEL debut against HJK Helsinki at Sonera Stadium on 30 July 2014, in a 2–2 first leg draw for the third qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League.[3] Carlão appeared in every group stage match in APOEL's 2014–15 UEFA Champions League campaign[4] and following his impressive performance at Camp Nou against FC Barcelona[5] for the first week of the group stage, he was included in UEFA.com's team of the week as the best central defender.[6] In his first season at APOEL, Carlão managed to win his first two career titles, as his team won both the Cypriot championship and the cup.[7]

He scored his first official goal in his second season at APOEL, netting the winner in his team's 2–1 home victory against Asteras Tripoli for the group stage of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League on 22 October 2015.[8]

On 3 August 2016, Carlão agreed to extend his contract with APOEL until May 2019.[9] However, on 10 January 2017, APOEL announced that they had agreed for his transfer to the Serie A side Torino, after the Italian club paid his €500,000 minimum release fee.[10][11]

Torino

On 9 January 2017 he arrived in Italy, signing with Torino for two and a half seasons.[12][13][14]

APOEL

Career statistics

As of 30 July 2018[15][16]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Sochaux 2008–09 Ligue 1 26 0 1 0 2 0 — — 29 0
2009–10 16 0 4 0 0 0 — — 20 0
2010–11 24 1 2 0 1 0 — — 27 1
2011–12 21 0 0 0 0 0 — — 21 0
2012–13 15 0 1 0 1 0 — — 17 0
2013–14 27 1 1 0 1 0 2[a] 0 — 31 1
Total 129 2 9 0 5 0 2 0 — 145 2
APOEL 2014–15 Cypriot First Division 20 0 4 0 — 10[b] 0 1[c] 0 35 0
2015–16 25 2 3 0 — 11[d] 1 1[c] 0 40 3
2016–17 15 0 0 0 — 12[d] 0 0[c] 0 27 0
Torino 2016–17 Serie A 4 0 0 0 — — — 4 0
APOEL 2017–18 Cypriot First Division 20 0 0 0 — 8[d] 1 0 0 28 1
2018–19 0 0 0 0 — 2[d] 0 0 0 2 0
Total 80 2 7 0 — 43 2 2 0 132 4
Career total 213 4 16 0 5 0 45 2 2 0 281 6
  1. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  3. ^ a b c Appearances in Cypriot Super Cup
  4. ^ a b c d Appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League

Honours

APOEL

References

  1. ^ "OFFICIAL, Sochaux signed Carlao". transfermarketweb.com. 18 July 2008. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Καταρχήν συμφωνία με Carlao" (in Greek). APOEL FC. 19 June 2014. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  3. ^ "APOEL comeback halts ten-man HJK". UEFA. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  4. ^ "APOEL FC Squad". UEFA. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Piqué the head boy as Barça edge past APOEL". UEFA. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  6. ^ "UEFA.com's team of the week". UEFA. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  7. ^ "APOEL secure league to wrap up Cypriot double". UEFA.com. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  8. ^ "APOEL come from behind to end eight-match wait". UEFA.com. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Ανανέωση συνεργασίας με Carlos Roberto da Cruz Junior" (in Greek). APOEL FC. 3 August 2016. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Συμφωνία μετεγγραφής Carlos Roberto da Cruz Júnior" (in Greek). APOEL FC. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  11. ^ Μόνο 500 χιλιάδες λένε από πλευράς ΑΠΟΕΛ (in Greek). balla.com.cy. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  12. ^ "Carlão: "Avevo tante offerte, ma ho scelto il Toro"". LaStampa.it. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  13. ^ "UFFICIALE: Torino, depositato il contratto del difensore Carlao". TUTTOmercatoWEB.com. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Carlão al Toro". Torinofc.it. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  15. ^ "Soccerway profile". Soccerway. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  16. ^ "Ligue 1 profile". Ligue1. Retrieved 13 January 2015.